News
Lowering of guard within prisons, due to corona, opened floodgates for contraband – Sudarshini
By Saman Indrajith
The security at check points in prisons had become lax in recent times due to COVID-19 and mobile phones had found their way into the prisons, State Minister of Prison Reforms and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation, Dr Sudarshini Fernandopulle told Parliament yesterday.
“There are inmates with mobile phones in the prisons.”
She said that despite the measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus, the clandestine activities, like smuggling goods, had become a main reason for the spread of COVID-19 in prisons. A large number of drug dealers and addicts were now behind bars due to recent raids and that’s why the number of inmates had increased, the Minister said in response to a question raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.
Opposition leader Premadasa: “I did not raise this question on behalf of the narcotic dealers. We are supportive of the government’s anti-narcotic campaign. My objective of raising the matter was to point out that a probe into the incident at Mahara by ministry officials is not sufficient.”
JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake: “When there is a crisis, some ministers come out with various hypotheses. Even a Sherlock Holmes could not make such deductions. We know that the numbers of prisoners has increased and that there is heavy congestion. But it is the government’s responsibility to protect them. Recently, one inmate died at Mahara Prison due to COVID-19.”
Ratnapura District SJB Hesha Withanage: “One Cabinet minister stated that a tablet had been smuggled into the prisons and distributed among inmates. Who are the persons behind this or is it just an allegation. This should be investigated.”
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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