News
Labour Minister blasts Treasury mandarins for ignoring economic and social realities
Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara yesterday slammed Finance Ministry officials for their failure to protect the fisheries industriy and the fishing community.
Addressing a meeting held at his Ministry, Minister Nanayakkara said that as a result of lack of understanding of realities, the Finance Ministry officials had not been able to prepare a viable programme to protect fishermen and develop the country’s fisheries sector.
Minister Nanayakkara pointed out that the Ministry of Finance officials’ actions indicate they did not have a proper understanding of the valuable contribution made by the fisheries sector to the development of the economy.
The meeting held at the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment was attended by the stakeholders of the fisheries sector.
The meeting was part of a series of such events organised under the “Garu Saru” programme, initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment to uphold the dignity, security and professional status of all those employed in the informal economic sector in the country.
“In other countries, whether a person is a fisherman, a plumber, a doctor or an engineer, they have the same level of respect. In our country, people are divided on party lines, ethnicity and also according to their professions. This is to take various advantages.
“But as our main programme, our Ministry started an initiative to ensure that the workforce in the informal sector of this country gets the dignity, security and professional status enjoyed by those engaged in the so-called formal sector.
“There are only 2.5 million employees in the country on record. But there are another six million who contribute to the economy. You are among those people. But there was no programme to protect this group. That is why we have started this programme to give dignity, security and respect to these 6 million workers. Also, we aim to introduce a proper social security mechanism for these workers to protect them when they are unable to work and when they are old.
As per the provisions of section 51 of the Public Finance Managaement Act No. 44 of 2024, the public should be issued with a report on the final budgetary situation for each year and, the report is then published in the official website of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Thereby the report has to be submitted to the Parliament. The final budgetary situation report (Annual Report) – 2025 has been prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and published. The report contains the Public Finance Policy, strategies and challenges, economic trends in 2025, macro – economic and socio – economic indicators covering all sectors of the economy as well as description on the global economic growth.
Furthermore, it accompanies a detailed description government revenue and expenditure, cash flow management, financing the budget deficit and the loan structure.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to submit the Report on the Final Budgetary Condition (Annual Report) – 2025 to Parliament.
Business
Cabinet nod to accept increased Loan Grant provided by the Asian Development Bank under Policy Based Loan Facilities – 2026
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 16.03.2026 to obtain United States Dollars 380 million from the policy – based loan facilities of the Asian Development Bank in the year 2026.
United States Dollars 100 million out of it is allocated for Trade, Investment and Industries Development Programme – Sub Programme 1. However, amidst the economic uncertainty resulting from the current Middle East crisis and the climatic tragedies, the Asian Development Bank has agreed to assist
by increasing a supplementary financing package of United States Dollars 100 million so that it will beMincreased up to United States Dollars 200 million.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to take further measures to obtain the said loan grant.
News
Submission of Revenue Protection Order Prepared under the Provisions of the Revenue Protection Act No. 19 of 1962 to the Parliament for its approval.
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was given at the meeting held on 23.02.2026 to impose the custom import duty amounts under four (04) categories as 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% which had been executed only under three (03) categories in order to increase the target export income of the country, to execute the
recommendations of the national customs duty policies committee, and to implement new national sub division customs codes for promoting the local agricultural and industrial sector.
Imposing provisions in relation to the above, the Revenue Protection Order – No. 01/2026 under the Revenue Protection Act No. 19 of 1962 has been published in the extraordinary gazette notification No. 2478/03 of 03.03.2026.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to submit the said revenue protection order to Parliament for its concurrence.
Report on the Final Budgetary Condition (Annual Report) – 2025 submited to parliament
Cabinet nod to accept increased Loan Grant provided by the Asian Development Bank under Policy Based Loan Facilities – 2026
Submission of Revenue Protection Order Prepared under the Provisions of the Revenue Protection Act No. 19 of 1962 to the Parliament for its approval.
Resettlement of unauthorized settlers affected by the Land Acquisition process for the implementation of Phase III of the Baseline Road Extension Project
Cabinet approves project to modernize school hostel facilities during the 2026–2028 period at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,008 million
New National Action Plan for Human-Elephant Conflict Management to be drafted
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News5 days agoCIABOC summons Yoshitha over his participation in British Navy training programme
-
News7 days agoLocal firms move millions of dollars overseas for phantom imports: Govt.
-
Midweek Review7 days agoJuly 09: An inexcusable overall security failure and exceptional contingency plan
-
Sports2 days agoTharanga set for high-profile javelin clash in Ostrava
-
News4 days agoCommonwealth lawyers urge Lanka to uphold rule of law
-
News5 days agoJustice Minister responds to social media claims he represented Easter Sunday ringleader
-
Features3 days agoPolitics of protected species
-
News7 days agoAI raises concerns over arrest of Sallay and rapper under PTA