News
ADB country chief hopes Lanka could sustain policy reforms despite elections
ECONOMYNEXT –The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects Sri Lanka not to reverse its International Monetary Fund-led policy reforms despite elections soon, the ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Takafumi Kadono said.
The island nation has witnessed repeated reversals of policy reforms in the past due to greedy politicians who misled the people to vote for them by sowing the seeds of subsidy mentality with unsustainable debts at expensive borrowing costs, economists say.
That led the country into an unprecedented economic crisis in 2022 with a sovereign debt default. Sri Lanka is still struggling to come out of the crisis.
The IMF has strictly placed some reforms including in state sector enterprises, fiscal and monetary sectors.
Sri Lanka has implemented the painful IMF reforms so far including higher personal income taxes, but economists have raised concerns over the sustainability of the current reforms due to possible changes in the policies in the event of a new president or government comes to power after democratic elections.
“If that kind of reversal happens, we also cannot justify our support,” ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Takafumi Kadono told EconomyNext on late on Wednesday.
“We do expect these policy reforms to be sustained. So that is our expectation. That is the premise which we are providing our budget support. If they reverse, the whole premise will be collapsed. That kind of policy reversal cannot happen.”
The island nation had sought IMF bailout package for 17 times including the ongoing support. However, the authorities have failed to complete most of the past IMF loan disbursements due to politically motivated contradiction with the global lender’s tight fiscal policies.
Sri Lanka has shown some signs of recovery in the third quarter of 2023 with the economic growth turned to positive from contraction for the first time in seven quarters.
However, opposition political parties have promised to revisit the IMF deal if they come to power.
Higher taxes, soaring cost of living, and lack of salary hike have made President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government unpopulour among the public, analysts say.
Wickremesinghe has said the country will hold both presidential and parliamentary election by 2025.
Some government politicians have told EconomyNext that the higher taxes would be eased from April and the authorities will try their best to meet the IMF conditions for the third disbursement in June this year.
The presidential polls should be held by October this year, but opposition parties have said President Wickremesinghe is in the process to delay the poll.
However, Wickremesinghe’s office last week said Presidential Election will be held “within the mandated period”, without giving an exact time.It also said the General Election will be held next year, “according to the current timeline”.
Protesting Development Officers continued their hunger strike near the Presidential Secretariat, Colombo yesterday (01), for the seventh consecutive day.The protesters, who are members of the Lanka School Development Officers’ Association, are demanding that they be absorbed into the teacher service as they have served as teachers in state-run schools for nearly seven years.
Secretary of the Association, Viraj Manaranga, said the protesters were seeking an urgent meeting with the President. He added that a presidential aide had visited the protest site and offered to arrange for a meeting with the President on 03 Feb., but the union insisted on an earlier date. Manaranga warned that failure to grant a meeting could trigger a massive protest in Colombo today (02).
Four officers participating in the hunger strike have been hospitalised due to deteriorating health, while two more joined the fast on Saturday (31).
In a bid to raise awareness of their grievances, on 30 January a delegation of the All Island Development Officers’ Association visited Most Venerable
Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera, Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, and subsequently with the Chapter’s Registrar, Ven. Dr. Medagama Dhammananda Thera. The prelates said promises that had been made to them should be fulfilled.
The protest began on 26 January as a satyagraha, after authorities failed to respond to repeated requests to integrate the officers into the teaching service. The escalation into a fast-unto-death underscores the protesters’ frustration over the prolonged delay
by Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon
The long-vacant post of Auditor General would be filled on 03 Feb., after months of controversy and delays, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake said on Friday (31) in Kandy.
The Constitutional Council met at the Parliamentary complex on Friday to discuss the appointment but failed to reach a decision on a suitable candidate. The President had previously proposed four names on four separate occasions, all of which were rejected. The Council is now set to consider the fifth nominee.
The post has remained vacant since April 2025, following the retirement of Chulanta Wickramaratne, who served as the 41st Auditor General. More than 10 months have passed without a permanent appointment.
Sources said a female officer in the Auditor General’s Department has been nominated again, though her previous recommendation was rejected due to some allegations against her.
Meanwhile, senior audit officer Dharmapala Gammanpila, with 31 years of service and the department’s most senior official, has received backing from the Mahanayake Theras of the three Nikayas, the Maha Sangha, and several civil society groups for appointment as the 42nd Auditor General.
Sources noted that the three civil society representatives on the Constitutional Council will play a crucial role in the final decision.
by Chaminda Silva and SK Samaranayake
Two 18-year-old youth were arrested by the Southern Division of the Western Province Crime Division on 31 January for allegedly aiding and abetting two murders carried out in Dehiwala and Kohuwala. ICE (crystal meth) was found in their possession at the time of arrest.
The suspects are residents of Mount Lavinia and Boralesgamuwa, according to the police. They are accused of having helped carry out a murder at a hotel in the Dehiwala Police Division on 9 January, 2026, and an attack on a person travelling in a three-wheeler at Bodhiyawatta, Kohuwala, on 12 December, 2025.
Police said the charges included sending photographs of the victims to a criminal living overseas.
Investigations revealed that the youth had acted under the direction of a criminal known as Sando.
Under the guidance of Janaka Kumara, Director of the Southern Division of the Western Province Crime Division, investigations are being led by Police Inspector Hemanta Kumara, assisted by Sub-Inspectors Prasanna Gunathilaka and Prasanna (40248), and Constables Chaminda (72987), Anil (79598), Kumar (88762), and Senanayake (19363), who are continuing the probe.
by Norman Palihawadane and Chaminda Silva
China executes four more Myanmar mafia members
No decision yet on ICC meeting to discuss Pakistan boycott
Shoulder injury casts doubt over Eshan Malinga’s T20 World Cup
Showers expected in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, Western, Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Central provinces
Development Officers threaten to intensify their protest
Auditor General to be appointed tomorrow
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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