News
Debt restructuring strategy ready this month
More bitter medicine to come
By Rathindra Kuruwita
The government would announce Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring strategy within this month, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitya told the media on yesterday (04.)Siyambalapitya said that the government would reduce taxes and bring down the debt to GDP ratio in the next five years, as the economy stabilise.
Tax revenue targets would be met upon further expansion of the tax base in the coming years, the state minister said, adding that the current debt to GDP ratio was 128 percent and it would be reduced to 95 percent in a few years.
However, there were more difficult targets to achieve and the government would have to take more unpopular decisions in the coming years, he said.The state minister said that the Central Bank had previously planned to announce a debt restructuring strategy in April.
However, the strategy is still being formulated and will be presented within the month.
Sri Lanka needs to confront the challenge of restructuring domestic debt while maintaining financial stability, IMF Asia and Pacific Department Director Krishna Srinivasan said Wednesday.
Srinivasan said inflation has reduced in the country and that Sri Lanka needs to emphasise macroeconomic stabilisation and reducing inflation.
“Fiscal consolidation is based on revenue based consolidation. That’s partly because Sri Lanka has among the lowest in terms of revenue mobilisation, tax collection. And that goes back to the policy mistake they made pre-pandemic, wherein they cut taxes across the board, whether it’s VAT, corporate tax, and personal income tax. So the IMF supported programme is a revenue-based consolidation programme which provides stability to the economy,” he said.
Based on the prevailing disaster situation and the upcoming festive season, arrangements have been made to provide a nutrition allowance worth Rs. 5,000 to pregnant mothers.
This allowance, which will be provided only once, will be given to pregnant mothers who were registered at maternal clinics on or before 30 November 2025.
The distribution will take place through the Divisional Secretariat offices from 16 December, as a program of the National Secretariat for Early Childhood Development, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.
The Situation Report released by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) at 6:00 AM today (13th December 2025) confirms that 640 persons have died and another 211 persons are missing due to flooding and landslides that took place in Sri Lanka within the past two weeks.
A meeting between representatives of UNICEF and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya was held on the 10th of December at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the discussion, an initial review of the new digitalization policy draft was conducted, and it was emphasized that the new digital policy must be formulated to align with the ongoing education reforms.
The Prime Minister highlighted that the digital policy should be developed in a way that supports all five core pillars of the current education reforms, including curriculum reform, infrastructure development, and administrative restructuring.
It was further noted that the current draft is primarily focused on curriculum-related matters, and the digital policy should be structured to influence the overall education reform process.
Extensive discussions were also held on the importance of digital literacy, NEMIS, the provision of digital infrastructure, and minimizing the existing digital divide.
Attention was also drawn to the gaps in the current teacher training mechanisms , and the Prime Minister stressed the need to reduce paper usage.
The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives Dr. Emma Brigham and Deborah Wyburn, Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Additional Secretary A.B.M. Ashraff, and several other officials.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
Pregnant Mothers to receive Rs 5000 Nutrition Allowance in December
640 deaths, 211 missing as at 6:00AM today (13)
New Digitalization Policy draft reviewed
The government is taking steps to streamline trade facilitation, customs processes, investment approvals, and improving export facilities – Prime Minister
Showers will occur in the Northern, North-Central, Eastern, Uva, Central and North-Western provinces.
Big fossil fuel companies are responsible for climate crisis but poor countries like Sri Lanka are battered by it – Greenpeace South Asia
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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