News
Lankans throng to Kandy for rare display of Buddhist relic
Kandy (Sri Lanka) (AFP) — Thousands of pilgrims camped overnight outside Sri Lanka’s holiest Buddhist temple in anticipation of Friday’s display of a prized relic that will be shown to the public for the first time in 16 years.
Around 10,000 police have been deployed to safeguard the Temple of the Tooth as it launches a 10-day exhibition of what Sri Lankan Buddhists believe to be Buddha’s left canine.
Police said armed troops will reinforce security at the 16th-century temple in Kandy, which was targeted by Tamil separatists in a 1998 suicide attack that killed 16 people.
“We expect about two million devotees to visit Kandy during the 10-day exhibition,” a police officer told AFP.
“There will be airport-style security at the entrance,” he added, warning that bags and cameras would be prohibited.
Classes in Kandy have been cancelled as the schools have all been repurposed to house the large number of security forces sent to the city.
Queues to enter the temple stretched over two kilometres (1.2 miles) before the exhibition was due to open on Friday afternoon, according to a live map updated by police.
Over a million people were estimated to have visited the UNESCO-designated temple when the tooth relic was last displayed in March 2009.
The 1998 bombing of the temple destroyed walls and windows, and in the process revealed 18-century murals that had been plastered over several times in the course of the site’s history.
A section of the exposed murals is displayed in the temple’s tightly guarded museum, which says they date back to between 1707 and 1739, a period when Kandy was the seat of the monarchy that ruled over the island.
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’
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