News
Sajith: Rating downgrade will make borrowing more expensive
Cabraal: Opposition deriving perverse pleasure at the expense of people
By Saman Indrajith
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa in a special statement to Parliament yesterday, said the country was in the midst of a severe financial crisis.
“Moody’s Investors Service recently downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign credit rating by two notches, stating that our country would be hard-pressed to secure funding to service its huge foreign debt. On Sept 28, Moody’s downgraded Sri Lanka from “B2” (high credit risk) to “CAA1″ (very high credit risk). Now we are in the company of countries such as Angola, Mali, Barbados, Gabon and Iraq. This down grading would have a severe blow for the economy which needs to borrow around four billion US dollars from 2020 to 2025. As at August, our foreign reserves were at 7.4 billion US dollars. In that context, the Government repaid a billion US dollars due on international sovereign bond (ISB). That is not a move favourable for the country’s economy,” he said.
Premadasa said that the need of the hour was urgent economic reforms through collective efforts.
The Opposition leader said that the downgrading of Sri Lanka by Moody’s, which, he said, would make borrowing in the international market more expensive and harder to obtain for Sri Lanka.
He said owing to the downgrade interest rates Sri Lanka would have to pay for Bonds and loans would go up and it would be very hard for us to raise money to settle loans.
Responding to Opposition Leader Premadasa, State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said: “When this issue was raised, my mind went back to 2007. We were trying to raise funds by issuing bonds. The then Opposition leader and his supporters did their utmost to prevent us raising funds. They surrounded HSBC and threatened not to buy the bonds which they would not honour under a future government of theirs. Later, when I travelled overseas to bring foreign investors, I saw each of them had a copy of a document sent from here telling them not to give funds to us. That was the time we were in a critical situation as a fierce war was raging. We somehow managed to win on both war and economic fronts. It seems that the Opposition is deriving perverse pleasure as the expense of people. that we are confronting challenges. They may be dreaming of that we will fail to manage the economy. Trust me we will deny the Opposition that pleasure. We shall prevail!”
The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Udaygiri departed the Port of Colombo today, 11 September 2026, following the successful completion of a four day official visit.
On her departure, the Sri Lanka Navy bade farewell to the ship in accordance with time-honoured naval traditions.
During the visit, naval personnel from both navies engaged in joint initiatives to strengthen bilateral ties. These included a friendly volleyball match, a beach cleanup along the Galle Face
promenade, and a training exercise on Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy Special Boat Squadron (SBS).
As part of the visit, the Indian Navy handed over a consignment of spares and supplies to the Sri Lanka Navy. Visiting crew members also toured key tourist attractions in and around Colombo.
Official interactions of this nature aim to enhance cooperation and knowledge-sharing between the two maritime forces, supporting joint responses to evolving regional maritime challenges.
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and representatives of the Sri Lanka Scout Association was held at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (10) afternoon .
The President was briefed on the 11th National Scout Jamboree, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in January 2027, as well as the current status and progress of its organisational arrangements.
The official logo of the National Scout Jamboree was also presented to the President and officially unveiled on the occasion.
Views were also exchanged on the programmes currently being implemented by the Sri Lanka Scout Association and its future plans.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake emphasised the importance of expanding the Scout Movement to more schools and the contribution that the Scout Movement can make to the Government’s programmes to combat drugs.
President’s Senior Additional Secretary Roshan Gamage; Chief Scout Commissioner, Attorney-at-Law Manoj Nanayakkara; President of the Sri Lanka Scout Association Ransiri Perera; Deputy Chief Scout Commissioner (Acting) Kapila Perera; Chairman of the Executive Committee Kamalnath Jinadasa; and Jamboree Co-Organising Commissioner, Engineer Amil Abeysundara, were among the senior representatives of the Sri Lanka Scout Association who attended the occasion.
[President’s Media Division]
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Catholic religious leaders, led by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, was held at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (10).
Special attention was given to the Government’s programme to strengthen coexistence, peace and reconciliation among all communities in the country and to ensure national unity by preventing any form of racist or religiously motivated hate activity.
The progress of investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks was also discussed.
Lengthy discussions were held on measures that could be taken to prevent environmental damage and destruction affecting the lives of the people.
The Catholic religious leaders commended the measures taken by the Government to safeguard trust among all communities and expressed their fullest support for these efforts.
The issues faced by Catholic communities, including infrastructure development in areas where Catholic people reside, as well as measures that should be taken to address these issues, were also discussed at length.
Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini, Rev. Fr. Julian Patrick and other priests, as well as Deputy Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs Muneer Mulaffer, President’s Senior Additional Secretary Roshan Gamage and others, were also present at the meeting.
President’s Media Division (PMD)
INS Udaygiri departs Colombo concluding formal visit
President meets representatives from Sri Lanka Scout Association
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Meeting between Catholic religious leaders and President
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