News

Public servants may get extra allowance

Published

2 years ago

March 12, 2023

editor

The Government will consider providing an additional allowance for public sector employees in the fourth quarter of this year following an assessment of the economic situation in consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe told the Media.

He said that after six months, with the restructuring program also in place, the government was expecting an improvement in the economy after which the assessment would be made.

Mr Semasinghe, however, said the tax policy would remain the same and no changes would be made, despite protests. “There are reforms which have been agreed with the IMF and we cannot work beyond them. If we break the agreements it would affect our next installments.”

He said the Government was expecting the first instalment of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility by the end of this month.

“With the receipt of the IMF facility a full package of about US$ seven billion will be unlocked by giving access to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other agencies,” he said.

The state minister said already the foreign reserves had moved up to US$ 2.2 billion and there were further signs of the rupee appreciating against the US dollar.

Source – The Sunday Times

News

Gota’s national schools project, scrapped

Published

7 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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The government has decided to abolish the project launched under former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to upgrade 671 provincial schools as national schools.

Under the project, each school was allocated Rs.02 million – totaling over Rs.1340 million – for emergency renovations and new national school name boards, with some costing over Rs.500,000.

Schools have now been instructed to remove these boards, along with the “National School” title, official seals, and letterheads, and revert to their previous identities.

The initiative aimed to increase the number of national schools to 329,000, but only 05 schools in the Western Province were converted.

Professor Kapila Perera, Secretary of the Ministry of Education at that time, now serves as Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Highways.

(Source: Aruna)

News

Gazette issued on 2026 Public & Bank Holidays

Published

7 hours ago

May 31, 2025

editor

The Government of Sri Lanka has officially declared the list of Public and Bank Holidays for the year 2026, through an Extraordinary Gazette issued on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

The gazette issued is as follows :

2438-22_E Download

News

Postal strike ends

Published

8 hours ago

May 31, 2025

editor

The Union of Postal and Telecommunications Officers says postal services will operate as usual today (May 31).

Secretary Manjula Jayasundara stated that striking union members returned to work from yesterday (May 30) afternoon, and distribution of over 2,000 delayed mail bags has begun.

This strike, launched over 10 demands including delays in recruitment, has reportedly drawn the attention of the relevant authorities.