News
Air ticket prices go up 25-27 percent as rupee depreciates further
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka outbound travellers will need to pay 25- 27 percent more when booking airline tickets as the rupee continues to depreciate against dollar, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.
With the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) deciding to let the rupee float, it depreciated further against the dollar as was quoted at 265/275 on Friday (11).
The devaluation of the rupee has affected multiple industries, and most fast moving consumer goods have increased prices overnight due to the increased cost.
“This is the same as what happened to fuel and other products, due to the effect of devaluation, the prices will increase 25-27 percent when booking airline tickets,” CAA Chairman Upul Dharmadasa told EconomyNext on Friday.
Even though international prices in the dollar rate are stable, Sri Lanka’s outbound travellers will need to pay up to 27 more than the previous price due to devaluation.
“This will affect all airline prices,” Dharmadasa said.
Confirming the price increase in airline tickets, Chairman of Sri Lankan Airlines Ashoka Pathirage told Economy Next that the airline has increased their prices by 27 percent from March 11 onwards.
“Every business will have to increase their prices due to the current situation of the currency,” Pathirage said.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to award the contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates for the Department of Motor Traffic for a period of five (5) years to M/s South Asian Technologies based on the recommendations of the High-Level Standing Procurement Committee and the Procurement Appeal Board.
The National Lotteries board has been established subject to the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. Having identified the requirement of amending that act which was imposed around 62 years to cater the current requirements of the lottery market, the Cabinet of Mnisters at their meeting held on 14.02.2017 granted approval to draft a new bill for the purpose.
Accordingly, the National Lotteries Board has recognized further amendments to be performed to the fundamental draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsmen.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the
resolution furnished by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to direct the Legal Draftsmen to finalize the formulation of the draft bill for the National Lotteries Board as soon as possible including the proposed new amendments as well.
The Werahara office of the Department of Motor Traffic performs issuance of temporary driving licenses in this country based on the driving licenses issued overseas, and measures have been initiated to render the service from a service window of the Department of Motor Traffic established at the Bandaranayake International Airport from 03.08.2025.
The fees charged for issuing temporary driving licenses have been published in Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 prepared under the provisions of the Motor Traffic (Authority 203) Act.
But, as the fee of Rupees 2,000/- charged for the service is not sufficient, the requirement of amending the regulations has been recognized.
The regulations for introducing the revised fees have been published in the government extraordinary gazette
notification No. 2463/04 dated 17.11.2025. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development to
submit the regulations to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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