News
Plans for 2026 on the journey towards a digital economy Under President’s review
A discussion to review the progress of projects implemented under the Ministry of Digital Economy in 2025 and to examine new projects planned to be implemented under the 2026 budgetary allocations was held on Monday (19) morning at the Presidential Secretariat under the patronage of the Minister of Digital Economy, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Special attention was paid to the plans and progress of programmes to promote a cashless economy.
Accordingly, an extensive discussion was held on the progress of projects planned by the Government to promote a cashless economy in Sri Lanka, including the digitalisation of government institutions, promotion of QR transactions, establishment of a Cloud infrastructure centre, a national programme to provide high-speed broadband facilities, provision of single-window facilities, the digital identity card project and the project to digitalise payment of traffic spot fines.
Noting that much of the economic activity of rural communities remains in the informal sector, the President emphasised the need to formally document these activities and stressed that this is essential when formulating future economic and development plans.
The performance, progress and future plans of institutions under the Ministry of Digital Economy, including Sri Lanka CERT, the Data Protection Authority and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), were also reviewed.
The current status and new recruitments of the GovTech institution, established to implement the Government’s digitalisation programme, were also discussed.
Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, Eranga Weeraratne, Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Senior Presidential Adviser on Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Roshan Gamage, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy, Varuna Sri Dhanapala, senior officials of the Ministry and heads of institutions under the Ministry also participated in the discussion.
News
Cabinet nod to increase the number of new automated passenger clearance gates at the Bandaranayake International Airport to 12
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 19.05.2025 to purchase four (04) automated passenger clearance gates for Bandaranayake International Airport.
In addition, it is expected to extend the automated passenger clearance gates facility so far given only to the Sri Lankans
parallel to the e – passport issuance system to be introduced in the year 2027 also to the foreigners who travel to and from this country.
Furthermore, considering also the number of air passengers rapidly increasing with the fast – forwarding business and tourism field, the appropriateness to increase the total automated passenger clearance gates up to twelve (12) in number has been recognized.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers, approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs to initiate the procurement and installation of 12
automated passenger clearance gates altogether with the already approved four (04) and another eight (08) automated passenger clearance gates adhering to the formal procurement procedure
Based on the observations submitted by the Task Force on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing for Terrorism, approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 18.12.2024 to amend the Trust Ordinance No. 9 of 1917 including amendments proposed by the Financial
Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, clearance of the Attorney General has been granted for the Trust (Amendment) Draft Bill formulated by the Legal Draftsman.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Justice and National Integration
to publish the said draft bill in the government gazette notification and thereby, submit the same to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Action was taken to provide a fuel relief for the fuel consumers during the months of April, May and June of 2026 to redress by minimizing the impact caused to the day today life of the citizens of this country as well as the entire economy due to the price hike of petroleum fuel in the global market resulting from the war situation in the Middle East.
Government mediation is essential for minimizing the impact on the day to today life of citizens in this country due to that war situation not being ended further. Therefore, it has been planned to redress on the sale price for Auto Diesel and Industrial Diesel for a period of 03 months by the Government to provide relief to the public as well as to maintain the prices at a bearable level to the consumers without escalating the fuel prices in this country compared to the escalation of fuel prices
in the international market.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to
allocate provisions subject to the monthly limitations respectively as rupees 15 billion for the month of October, rupees 13.5 billion for the month of November and rupees 12.15 billion for the month of December to provide the said relief
Cabinet nod to increase the number of new automated passenger clearance gates at the Bandaranayake International Airport to 12
Draft Bill for amending the Trust Ordinance
Implementing further relief programme to Public sffected by the Middle East conflict situation
Establishment of a Spectrum Management and Monitoring System and a Quality of Service and Quality of Experience System for the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka
Appointment of a Committee for the Restitution of Sri Lankan Cultural Heritage Held Abroad
Ten-Year National Action Plan on the Social Protection Sector (2026–2035)
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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