- Cabinet approves the release of the “required amount of water” from Samanalawewa reservoir to Uda Walawe reservoir & from there to farmers for cultivation: Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara says the options for the release of the maximum amount of water for agriculture, while ensuring a continuous power supply without any power cuts, has been shared with the Cabinet.
- Irrigation engineers say the Udawalawe reservoir that has a total capacity of 217,800 acre-feet now has only 956 acre-feet of water, just 0.5% of the total capacity; also say that about 32,000 acre-feet of water is usually released for agriculture during the farming season but only 934 acre-feet of water was released for agriculture on Sunday.
- CB says Reserve Assets have increased by 1% to USD 3,762 mn in July’23, from USD 3,724 mn in June’23; analysts say this includes SWAPs of USD 1,400 mn from China, USD 400 mn from India, & USD 200mn from Bangladesh, “hot-money” investments of around USD 550 mn in Govt Treasuries, and USD 330mn loan from the IMF: meanwhile, unpaid Forex Debt in 2022 was USD 2,832 mn, and in 2023 upto June’23 estimated at USD 3,000 mn, totalling nearly USD 6,000 mn.
- Several political parties represented in Parliament, including the SLPP, SJB, and SLFP, to submit proposals to the Presidential Secretariat re. the 13th Amendment: Freedom People’s Congress (FPC) and JVP-led National People’s Power decide not to do so.
- Training SLAF air craft that took off from China Bay air-strip crashes, killing both the trainer & trainee: SLAF Commander Air Marshal Udeni Rajapaksha appoints a committee to probe the incident.
- President Ranil Wickremasinghe appoints High Court Judge M C B Sanjeeva Morais as a Court of Appeal Judge & Court of Appeal Judge Sobitha Rajakaruna as the Acting President of the Court of Appeal.
- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi meets Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in Tehran: says “Iran is ready to share its scientific and technological knowledge and expertise” with Sri Lanka: emphasizes need to activate the joint commission for economic cooperation between the two countries.
- Tourism Minister Harin Fernando says tourist arrivals so far this year has crossed the 800,000 mark: highlights its positive impact on the sector’s vitality.
- Disaster Management Centre says 12 districts are currently facing drinking water shortages owing to the prevailing dry weather conditions: also says around 48,000 families have been affected: assures that arrangements are being made to distribute drinking water to nearly 156,000 persons affected individuals within these 12 districts using bowsers.
- Planters’ Association of Ceylon renews calls for urgent action from policymakers to allow diversification into more lucrative crops like oil palm, in the wake of a sharp reduction in prices of tea and rubber over the first half of 2023.
