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Another tax imposed on rice

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Some traders who are close associates of politicians are hoarding another 200,000 metric tons of rice imported from India, President of the United Rice Growers’ Association Muditha Perera said.


He said rice is being imported when there is a rice surplus in Sri Lanka.

He said that the production of rice in the previous 2020/21 Maha Season was 5 million metric tons. Despite this record harvest, Mr. Perera said rice was imported not due to a lack of harvest resulted in from organic farming but because of lack of commissions.

Meanwhile, he said that a social security tax of 2.5% would be imposed per kilo of rice from October 1, and this tax amount would also be added to a kilo of rice.

In order not to collect the tax amount from consumers, he said the new tax amount will have to be reduced when purchasing paddy from the farmer.

Mr. Perera said that the price of rice has gone up due to stubborn actions of one large-scale rice mill owner, and that this situation has arisen due to the lack of straightforwardness and decision making of the agricultural officials.

“The officials of the Agriculture Ministry kept mum while waiting for imported rice. Therefore, rice was imported on loan unnecessarily. It is a crime to try to use the country’s rice production for chicken feed when people don’t have anything to eat. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has been misled,” he said.

He said that more than 700 small and medium scale rice mills and more than half of the large scale rice mills have been closed. However, he said the paddy harvest will increase in great quantity next year.

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Over 18,000MT of salt imported to address shortage

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Sri Lanka has imported 18,163 MT of salt between May 22 and June 07, according to Customs.

The total cost of these imports amounted to approximately Rs.1,291 million, with Rs.720 million paid as taxes.

The imports are part of efforts to address the ongoing salt shortage, with a total target of 30,000 MT to be brought into the country.

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CBSL advises banks to further assist affected SMEs

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The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), with a view to facilitating sustainable revival of businesses that were adversely affected during the recent past has advised the licensed commercial banks and licensed specialised banks (hereinafter referred to as licensed banks) to provide further concessions to those SME borrowers who commenced discussions for business revival with the respective banks by 31.03.2025. 

These relief measures are in line with Circular No. 04 of 2024 dated 19.12.2024 on Relief Measures to Assist the affected SMEs and the Addendum Circular No. 01 of 2025 dated 01.01.2025.

Accordingly, licensed banks have been advised to provide further concessions including interest reliefs and new lending to affected borrowers while the timeline given to the licensed banks in Circular No. 04 of 2024 to enter into reschedulement agreements with eligible SME borrowers has been extended from 15.06.2025 to 30.06.2025.

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Qantas to close budget airline Jetstar Asia

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Singapore-based budget airline Jetstar Asia will close down at the end of July, its Australian owner Qantas has announced.

The low-cost carrier has struggled with rising supplier costs, high airport fees and increased competition from other airlines in the region.

Qantas says the closure will provide it with A$500m ($325.9m; £241.4m) to invest towards renewing its fleet of aircraft, adding that it will redeploy 13 planes for routes across Australia and New Zealand.

The closure of Jetstar Asia will not impact its Australia-based Jetstar Airways operations, nor those of Jetstar Japan, according to a statement from Qantas.

“We have seen some of Jetstar Asia’s supplier costs increase by up to 200 per cent, which has materially changed its cost base,” said Qantas Group Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson in the statement.

The discount airline, which has operated flights for over 20 years, is set to make a A$35m loss this financial year.

(BBC News)

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