Sep 17 (TM) Sri Lanka is set to launch the National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC) next week, as a central mechanism to help businesses and investors resolve issues involving state agencies, as a part of the economic transformation needed to further develop the economy, Senior Additional Secretary to the Prez Seevali Arukgoda said. Arukgoda said: “We are planning to start the NBFC by next week, 22 Sept as planned, where the Govt has determined that the country must undergo more..

Sep 17 (FT) In a strategic move to expand SL’s export footprint, SL Export Development Board (EDB), in collaboration with SL High Commission in the Maldives and key private sector partners, organised a dedicated SL Country Pavilion at the Food and Hospitality Asia Maldives (FHAM) 2026 held from 7 to 9 Sept, in Hulhumalé, Maldives for Giftware and Lifestyle products sector. SL country pavilion featured the exclusive/ niche products of the 10 selected SMEs under Creative SL 2030 more..

Sep 17 (TM) As SL is yet to finalise on its tariff agreement with the US, with 90% of the paperwork involving the agreement through with, it must reckon with the marked shift of the US administration’s interests in trade, from focusing on it though multilateralism to leveraging it as a strategic geopolitical tool, former Ambassador of SL to the US Mahinda Samarasinghe said recently. “I would say that we have finished 90% of the content more..

Sep 17 (TM) India topped Sri Lanka’s largest source market by a significant margin, as SL’s tourism sector has surpassed the 1.6 million arrivals threshold for 2026, making 25.3% of the 1,609,759 arrivals Sri Lanka has seen so far in the year. India was followed by the UK with 155,798 tourists, and China with 105,294 tourist arrivals, the report stated. During the first 14 days of September, India led all markets by delivering 22,541 arrivals, representing a 30% share of total tourist entries, more..

Sep 17 (EN) Sri Lanka Customs has reached Rs. 2 trillion revenue this year through September 15, its spokesman said, as the revenue-collecting body’s performance shows potential of exceeding the target for the second year. SL Customs have reached 2 trillion rupee revenue on Tuesday (15). Customs’ 2026 revenue target was set at 2,207 billion rupees for this year. However, the revenue-collecting body collected over 90% of the target through Sept 15. It has exceeded the monthly targets more..

Sep 17 (FT) SL’s High Grown tea production fell to 3.1 million kilograms (MnKg) in August, the lowest monthly output recorded from the elevation category in any month since the El Niño-affected year of 1992. The 1992 El Niño remains one of the most damaging weather events to have hit the industry; High Grown production that year fell to just 2.2 MnKg in April. Citing Dept of Meteorology records from 1992, more..

Sep 17 (DN) SL have made two last-minute changes to their women’s cricket squad for the Asian Games in Japan, with Hansima Karunaratne and Anushka Sanjeewani joining the team as replacements for the injured Nilakshika Silva and Vishmi Gunaratne. Women’s Cricket Selection Committee chairman Hemantha Devapriya said both Nilakshika and Vishmi would remain sidelined with their respective injuries, forcing the selectors to make late changes to the squad, which left for Japan on Tuesday. more..

Sep 17 (FT) In a clarion call to step up good governance in the private sector, Secretary to PM Pradeep Saputhanthri this week stressed that strong institutions need leaders who understand that authority carries responsibility. Speaking at the SLID 25th anniversary celebrations, he also shared several useful insights to the importance of good governance, leadership, and corporate success. He said that advancing the practice of corporate governance matters today more than ever. more..

Sep 17 (FT) Roar Global has introduced Roar AI, SL’s first AI gateway, giving developers, startups and businesses access to over 200 leading frontier and open-source AI models through a single platform. Built in Sri Lanka, Roar AI is designed to address some of the practical barriers organisations face when building with artificial intelligence - from fragmented access to multiple models and complex international payments to application hosting, cost management and data governance. more..

Sep 17 (FT) Hettich, the globally renowned German manufacturer of furniture fittings and architectural hardware known for its state-of-the-art manufacturing plants and magical interior solutions across the world celebrated a significant milestone in SL, marking 10 years of presence in the country with its inaugural Partner Meet in Colombo. Landmark event brought together Hettich’s key partners, stakeholders and industry leaders to celebrate a decade of growth, collaboration & more..

Sep 17 (FT) CT Smith Securities, in an analysis of CB data, said that the construction sector is expanding at pace on the ground, but bank lending to the industry is growing more slowly than credit to the rest of the economy. CT Smith Securities Associate Vice President – Research Kasun Herath said real construction sector GDP grew 16.3% in the first quarter and 13.9% in the second, & construction PMI has continued to expand. more..

Sep 17 (Island) Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) will bring the country’s wildlife conservation debate directly to the institution responsible for much of it, when the Director General of the DWC, Ranjan Marasinghe, delivers the Society’s September Monthly Lecture. Titled SL’s Wildlife Heritage: Conserving Nature for Future Generations, the Nations Trust WNPS lecture comes at a time when the country’s wildlife is facing increasingly complex pressures more..

Sep 17 (ST) I never thought SL had enemies. I mean enemies who required our artillery to be turned to the skies to bring them down from wherever they came. The only time we turned to the skies in some trepidation was when Minister Basil Rajapaksa told some visiting airline high-ups about the crows. Apparently too many crows in the Katunayake area made flying difficult because of the vast numbers of kaputas, as he called them, taking flight and making it rather hazardous for aircraft operating more..

Sep 17 (TM) DCS has just published its Labour Force Survey for 2025. Alarmingly, just 49.4% of Sri Lankans aged 15 and above are in the labour force, leaving more than 8.6 million people of working age neither working nor looking for work. Unemployment, at a mere 3.9%, will be read by some as good news. It is not. A low jobless rate is meaningless if half the country has already stepped out of the race. Compare this with the rest of the world and the problem becomes clear. more..

Sep 17 (Island) The police have been grappling with a chronic manpower shortage, but they have not allowed it to stand in the way of investigating Opposition politicians. They are going to probe an NGO activist’s complaint that the LTTE, a banned organisation, was promoted at a recent SLPP rally in A'pura. Presumably, the complaint is about Jaffna District MP Ramanathan Archchuna’s admission during his speech at the SLPP rally on 12 Sept, that he was a Tiger (LTTE member). more..

Sep 17 (Island) Brain drain in SL is at an all-time high. The latest Human Flight and Brain Drain Index for 2024 shows that we are 16th of 175 countries on this count, and first in South Asia. That this is a crisis goes without saying. Brain drain affects all sectors, and is a huge strain on the resources of a developing country. Particularly in SL, where considerable public investment is made in the moulding of professionals through the system more..

Sep 17 (GV) On Sept 16, 2000, M.H.M. Ashraff boarded a SL Air Force helicopter in Colombo. Its destination was Ampara, the Eastern soil from which much of his political life had grown. He never arrived. The helicopter crashed near Aranayake, bringing to an abrupt end one of the most consequential political careers in contemporary SL Muslim history. Ashraff was only 51. Twenty six years later, his photographs still return to public stages every September, his speeches more..

Sep 17 (DM) 18th BRICS summit held at New Delhi on Sept 12–13 managed to resolve sharp internal contradictions and produced a joint declaration, which was the best that could be, given the complexities of international politics, individual members’ concerns and ambitions, and above all the need to keep the organisation together in the face of unprecedented challenges from the US under the mercurial Prez Trump. Delhi Declaration (DD) of 2026, was forthright in demanding more..

Sep 17 (TM) Open Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok this week, and you will quickly notice that half of the internet has decided to travel back in time to the 1980s. Your daily feed is likely overflowing with soft, glamorous studio lighting, thick retro sweaters, and grainy film textures. Friends, family members, and old colleagues have smoothly transported themselves into a decade that many of them barely remember, and some never more..

Sep 17 (CT) Ape Aanduwa; Wasara Dekayi, Ratata Subai is the strategic narrative advanced by President AKD and the NPP govt to mark their two-year milestone in office. The ruling dispensation formally translates it as Our Govt: Two Years – Good for the Country. The word Subha (සුභ) in Sinhala literally means auspicious,. It is not just plain good. It is promisingly good. In English it conveys of something such as boding well. It portends a bright future. more..

Sep 17 (DM) As if justifying the delay in the implementation of govt’s promises, Deputy Minister Dr. Prasanna Gunasena has stated that although his party, the NPP has gained power of govt, it has not gained the state power in its entirety. He apparently means that state machinery, mainly the officialdom, is not under the full control of the party and hence, things are not moving at the pace the party and the govt desire. This is the standpoint of the NPP leaders since they took the reins 2 years ago. more..

Sep 16 (NW) Sri Lanka and Thailand underscored the importance of finalizing the Labour Cooperation MOU and the Agreement on the Employment of SL Workers in Thailand, during talks between SL’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath and Thailand’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sarun Charoensuwan in Bangkok. During the meeting held yesterday, Thai side expressed readiness to welcome SL workers while ensuring their safety, rights, and welfare. more..

Sep 16 (DN) Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake said, he cannot agree to the Railway Union demands to remove the General Manager. The Transport Ministry Secretary held a discussion with railway trade union representatives on Monday (14) but the talks concluded without an agreement to cancel the planned 48-hour strike. They have presented two demands and the immediate removal of the Railways General Manager was one demand among them. more..

Sep 16 (DM) Representatives of KELEER (Hear our Voices), a Forum for Gender-Just Family Law and Legal Practices and the Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum (MWRAF) met with members of the Caucus of Women Parliamentarians in Parliament on September 10 to raise longstanding concerns affecting women’s access to justice, protection from violence, family law rights and economic security. more..

Sep 16 (NW) Emirates Airlines and Boeing have held preliminary discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) on the potential introduction of Boeing 777-9 aircraft operations to Sri Lanka. Representatives from Boeing and Emirates met Director General of Civil Aviation Capt. Daminda Rambukwella at the CAASL headquarters to discuss the regulatory, airworthiness, airport and operational requirements for introducing the aircraft. The meeting was attended by more..

Sep 16 (DM) The Railway Technological and Operating Service Union has announced that it will join the joint trade union action scheduled for September 17 and 18, while calling for the intervention of the authorities over issues affecting the railway service. In a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Railway Joint Trade Union Alliance, the union expressed support for the proposed trade union action and said it would actively participate in the process. more..

Sep 16 (AD) PM Harini Amarasuriya stated that the new National Youth Policy, being formulated to address the current challenges faced by SL’s youth and fulfil their aspirations for the future, is scheduled to be finalised and implemented by the first quarter of 2027. The PM made these remarks on Sept 16, while addressing the 1st National Research Symposium on Youth Development – NRSYD 2026, jointly organised by Open Uni more..

Sep 16 (FT) Sri Lanka should move beyond its traditional role as a transshipment hub and build a broader logistics ecosystem capable of capturing higher-value activities and attracting foreign investment, A.P. Moller-Maersk Singapore Managing Director Rene Piil Pedersen said. Speaking during a panel discussion at the Colombo International Maritime and Logistics Conference 2026 last week, he said the combination of Colombo’s strategic location and stronger logistics capabilities more..

Sep 16 (PMD) Construction of the new Cardiology Unit building at the District General Hospital, Trincomalee commenced this morning under the patronage of Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake, with the aim of providing comprehensive and modern cardiac care services to the people of the Eastern Province at a single location. The project is being implemented at a cost of Rs. 2,403 million with financial assistance from the Govt of Japan through the Japan Int'l Cooperation Agency (JICA), more..

Sep 16 (AM) Attorney-at-Law Manoj Gamage has denied allegations that former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa misappropriated State or public funds through the Siriliya Saviya Foundation, claiming that all money collected by the organisation remains untouched in its bank account. Responding to allegations raised by govt politicians, Gamage said the Siriliya Saviya Foundation had initially collected funds to purchase a PET scanner for children receiving cancer treatment. more..

Sep 16 (FT) Vidullanka PLC yesterday said it has subscribed to 1,000,000 ordinary shares in Vidul Biomass II Ltd., for a total consideration of Rs. 100 million, representing the first equity infusion toward its 6.6 MW Medawachchiya Dendro Power Project. Vidul Biomass II is the project company undertaking to build, own and operate the proposed greenfield plant in Medawachchiya, Anuradhapura District, with an installed capacity of 6.6 MW gross and 5 MW net. The facility will be the Group’s second more..