- State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya confirms review of property tax collection system: IMF Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer says “property tax” could significantly contribute to SL’s tax effort as “a progressive & equitable means of raising revenue from those with greater wealth”.
- SJB Economic Guru Dr Harsha de Silva (who has been a strong advocate of high Govt Revenue) confirms the approval of Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance for the VAT increase to 18% for several previously exempted key items including infant foods: meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of families struggle to provide well-balanced meals for their children, especially those under 5 years.
- SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam says 4 persons have been proposed for the 2024 Presidential candidacy: confirms businessman Dhammika Perera is among them: asserts the SLPP is taking necessary steps to face any upcoming elections very strongly: laments the SLPP has to provide the “necessary strength” to the Govt in Parliament, although it is not in full agreement with all its policies.
- SLPP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa says President Ranil Wickremesinghe has successfully restored law & order, and hence, the duty of the SLPP is to ensure a stable government until the next elections: urges people to pay attention to the tax policy & past economic practices of the political party they vote for at upcoming elections: warns of attempts to hustle people blindly in various directions through ramped up propaganda & social media hysteria.
- Presidents Office says SL received USD 337mn as the 2nd IMF tranche, USD 200mn from ADB for various programs, & USD 250mn from the World Bank, in Dec’23: adds that these disbursements totalling USD 787mn have strengthened “budget support and enhanced the country’s external buffers”.
- Finance Ministry says the USD 780mn inflows of forex to the Govt in Dec’23 will enable the Gross Official Reserves to surpass USD 4bn by end-2023: analysts point out that, as of now, SL is in arrears of a massive sum of over USD 6bn to bilateral & private Creditors, and that re-structuring efforts have not led to any “hair-cut” being agreed to by any Creditor, other than the captive & helpless EPF.
- Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva says candidates seeking employment as Air Hostesses at SriLankan Airlines should have clear facial skin, an unblemished midriff, as well as proficiency in English: SriLankan Airlines has held interviews of nearly 6,000 applicants, of whom 196 air hostesses were selected.
- Social media goes viral with a story that a well known international fast-food chicken brand outlet had served “rancid chicken” and that Public Health Inspectors.are conducting investigations.
- Ministry of Public Security says 2,296 persons were arrested while 1.1 kgs of Heroin, 648g of ICE, 126,060 Cannabis plants & 19,507 pills were recovered during an islandwide special operation.
- Dr Palitha Bandara Subasinghe of Kandy National Hospital says a recent survey has revealed that 6,307 complaints of “rape of girls under 16 years of age” had been received by police stations all over the country from 2018 to 2021, and that 5,055 of them had been raped “with their consent”.
