- Electricity Board sources say that due to non-payment of electricity bills, electricity supply to nearly eight lakh houses across the island has been disconnected so far this year: also state that “red notices” have been sent to around 12 lakh more houses across the country: the total number of electricity consumers in SL is about 70 lakhs.
- Former CB Governor & Raj Rajaratnam’s co-director at Galleon, Dr Indrajith Coomaraswamy says SL has done “extremely well” on the economic front during the last 18 months: admits however that the economy shrank by 10% last year: concedes it will take SL about 3 years just to reach where it was in 2021: commends CB Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe for reducing inflation which was
70% in Sep’22 to 1.5% now: Coomaraswamy was also at the forefront of those who advocated the sovereign debt default in April’22. - Tourism Development Authority Chairman Priantha Fernando says SL’s tourism industry has demonstrated a robust resurgence, surpassing over USD 1.75 bn in earnings during the first 11 months of the year, accompanied by the arrival of over 1.27 mn visitors.
- President Ranil Wickremesinghe engages with Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at the COP’28 in Dubai: President’s Media says Gates expressed the commitment of the BMGF to support SL in building a robust and climate-resilient nation.
- NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake says the NPP will create a new political culture where politicians will travel in public buses & trains: also says the JVP MPs had never used police personnel for their private security.
- Attorney General makes arrangements to adopt facial recognition identification technology into the country’s justice system for the first time during the Trial-at-Bar on the killings of MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala & his bodyguard, which took place on May 9 last year in Nittambuwa during the height of the “Aragalaya”.
- Consumer confidence falls again in October’23, continuing its slide from its peak in April’23, according to the Institute for Health Policy: IHP also says all indices remain at pessimistic levels.
- Ports Ministry says the construction of the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port is to be completed by mid next year: also says the new terminal will be 1,400 metres long upon completion, allowing 3 mega ships to berth simultaneously: an investment of USD 585 mn has been allocated for the development.
- Spin-bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan says the Cricket team’s performance in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup was very disappointing and something which he wasn’t expecting, with SL winning just 2 matches & losing 7.
- SL Cricketers Angelo Mathews & Wanindu Hasaranga listed among the top registered players for the Indian Premier League auction set to take place in Dubai on Dec 19. Mathews’ is among 25 players registered at a base price of Indian Rs. 2 crore, while Hasaranga is registered among the 20 players with a base price of Indian Rs. 1.5 crore.
