The Nawaloka Hospital is in danger of collapsing due to obtaining loans amounting to nearly 2.3 billion rupees from five local banks in Sri Lanka, it is learnt.
Accordingly, the hospital has to pay Rs.335 million as its monthly loan installment.
The hospital has obtained loans from the Hatton National Bank, People’s Bank, Bank of Ceylon, DFCC Bank and the Commercial Bank.
If the hospital collapses without being able to pay debts, experts in the health sector said that it will have a negative impact on the health sector.
The Nawaloka Hospital has a large treatment capacity of about 800 beds and there is no other private hospital with such a large capacity.
Health sector sources said that the Asiri Hospital can treat only 650 in-house patients.
However, the Hatton National Bank had issued notices for the auction of the land in Colombo 02 where the Nawaloka Hospital is located.
The Dharmadasa family headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa owns the majority of shares in Nawaloka Hospital.
The list of its shareholders and directors is given below.
Meanwhile, sources in the business sector said that the only way out of the current debt situation is for the hospital to sell more shares.
Meanwhile, it was reported that prominent businessmen Harry Jayawardena, Ishara Nanayakkara, Dhammika Perera and Ashok Pathirage had shown interest in buying more shares of the hospital.
Sources said that these businessmen own a large amount of shares in several banks from which the Nawaloka Hospital has taken loans and this will place the hospital at a great risk in the future.
03 young Sri Lankans have been featured in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia list for 2025.
They are : Nikin Matharaarachchi, in 2021, founded Sri Lanka-based Synapse AI Labs is the company behind Kommon Poll, an AI-powered social listening tool. Kommon Poll provides businesses marketing insights by analyzing keyword performance across multiple online platforms, including news sites, blogs and social media.
Charith N Silva, known for videos showing him preparing dishes in outdoor settings, launched the YouTube channel ‘Wild Cookbook’ in 2020 during the pandemic. With over 600 videos, ‘Wild Cookbook’ is now Sri Lanka’s largest YouTube channel with over 10 million subscribers, and Silva has over 2.3 million Instagram followers. In November 2024, he opened a restaurant in Colombo called Wildish.
Yanika Amarasekera-Siyaguna, a UC Berkeley and Imperial College London alumna, founded Silver Aisle, Sri Lanka’s first online wedding registry, in 2019. The e-commerce platform has since expanded beyond wedding gifts to include presents for all occasions as well as dining ,vacation packages and lessons in horse riding, golf and pottery, among others. In 2023, Amarasekera-Siyaguna was appointed an independent director of LB Finance, one of Sri Lanka’s largest finance firms.
Sri Lanka and India have signed a USD 930.8 million debt restructuring deal recently on Sri Lanka’s present External Debt Restructuring Process.
The signing of Bilateral Amendatory Agreements between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of India took place on March 25, 2025 and April 03, 2025, respectively.
The deal concerns 07 Line of Credit and 04 Buyer’s Credit Facility agreements with the Government of India.
Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, Mr. K.M. Mahinda Siriwardana, signed the agreements on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government.
General Manager of the EXIM Bank of India, Mr.Nirmit Ved, signed the Line of Credits, and Deputy General Manager of the EXIM Bank of India, Mr. Amith Kumar, signed the Buyer’s Credit Agreements.
Issuing a statement, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development stated that the signing of these bilateral amendatory agreements marks a significant milestone in Sri Lanka’s ongoing External Debt Restructuring Process.
A total of 965 people have died between January 01 – May 13 due to various road accidents across Sri Lanka.
During this period,1,842 accidents including 902 fatal accidents were recorded, according to police reports.
The main causes cited for these accidents include negligence, reckless driving and improper vehicle maintenance.
To address the rising number of accidents, police have planned a special island-wide program focused on reducing traffic incidents, including driver awareness initiatives.