- Foreign Minister M Ali Sabry reconfirms he takes responsibility for the “debt default” of 12 April 2022 as the then Finance Minister: also says the decision to default was a “collective decision” suggested by the Monetary Board: further says CB Governor & Treasury Secretary had briefed him on the matter, and he had a specialist team comprised of Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy, Shantha Devarajan & Ms Shamini Coorey: claims the debt default decision made the country to gain economic recovery.
- President Ranil Wickremesinghe meets Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland: discusses digitization programs and shares strategies for addressing climate change.
- Bakery Owners’ Association says the price of a 450g loaf of bread & other bakery products will be reduced by Rs.10 each.
- “Link Samahan”, the flagship brand of Link Natural receives a landmark listing on the “online market-place” of Walmart and Amazon.
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk encourages Sri Lanka authorities to implement own recommendations: says the Govt has engaged with the UNHRC on the ground, although it has rejected aspects of the Council’s resolutions related to accountability: during this year’s UNHRC sessions, final outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of 13 States, including Sri Lanka to be considered.
- State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe says the govt is confident that debt restructuring with all bilateral creditors will be concluded by the 1st review of th IMF: it is now over 14 months since the govt has tried to restructure it’s debt, without success: also says the govt relaxed some import restrictions after consulting with stakeholders and that the govt can’t ask for relief from friendly nations while imposing import restrictions.
- Qatar Airways introduces its 5th daily flight to/from Colombo from 22nd June: Air Seychelles to launch direct flights between Seychelles and Colombo from today: Colombo to Seychelles on Wednesdays and Sundays: Seychelles to Colombo on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
- State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe says Sri Lanka is expecting to give welfare benefits up to Rs.15,000 to about 2.3 mn persons under a World Bank backed program: also says about 3.7 mn persons had applied for the scheme.
- “Yoga exercises” being performed by several Ministers including Transport Minister Dr Bandula Gunawardene, Education Minister Dr Susil Premajayanth and Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, under the shelter of umbrellas held by security personnel, go viral in social media.
- Pakistan Cricket Team to arrive in Sri Lanka on July 9 to play a 2-match test series against Sri Lanka as part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle: 1st Test from July 16-20 in Galle: 2nd Test from July 24-28 at SSC, Colombo.
