News
Communist Party: It is farcical to go after people who ate and swam at President’s House, Temple Trees
Law enforcement authorities are engaged in a farcical attempt to find the people who entered the President’s House the Presidential Secretariat, and Temple Trees and used the swimming pool and consumed the food items there, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) says.
“Tens of thousands of people participated in these incidents, and efforts are being made to arrest selected persons. Meanwhile, the student leaders who participated in a demonstration and campaigned recently have been arrested. Those who are arrested are detained and interrogated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,” CPSL said.
The CPSL said it strongly opposed the attempt to use the Prevention of Terrorism Act to suppress the peaceful agitation and insists that all those who have been taken into custody since 09 May and are currently in custody should be dealt with under the general law.
It said that they had paid close attention to the agitations and riots taking place in the country after 09 May and the responses of the authorities.The party said that violence was unleashed from Temple Trees on 09 May, and the subsequent riots showed an organized nature.
“In July, some people entered the presidential palace, the presidential secretariat office and Temple Trees, and later the private residence of Ranil Wickramasinghe was torched. The Communist Party of Sri Lanka, which drew attention to this, requested the authorities to appoint a ‘Truth Commission’ with appropriate powers to identify the persons responsible for all the violent acts that took place from May 9 onwards and to recommend appropriate punishments. It was not fulfilled and after the appointment of Ranil Wickramasinghe as the President, people’s opposition is emerging again,” CPSL said.
The request to appoint a presidential commission was ignored and instead the law enforcement authorities are engaged in a farcical attempt to find the people who entered the above places and committed acts of violence as well as those who used the swimming pool and consumed the fruits and food items in the presidential palace, CPSL said.
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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