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Home » ColumnsHe didn’t forget to remember our four-legged friends
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake made sure he did not forget the welfare of pet animals when he presented the Budget to Parliament on Friday. Among the budget proposals was one to allocate Rs.100 million to develop a system to take care of stray dogs and pets in urban areas in collaboration with the local authorities [...]
Budget has not presented programme to achieve economic growth: Harsha
By Sandun Jayawardana The first day’s debate on the second reading of Budget 2026 saw sparks fly between the government and opposition benches yesterday, hinting at more stormy exchanges among MPs in the coming days and weeks. Opening the second reading debate for the opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dr Harsha De Silva pushed [...]
Economic objectives of 2026 budget: Will it achieve fiscal consolidation to spur growth?
The economic objectives of the NPP government’s second budget should be to achieve fiscal consolidation—a prerequisite to enable economic stability and growth. Fiscal consolidation A low fiscal deficit should be the foremost objective of the 2026 budget, as the economic growth that is expected this year can be accelerated only if there is fiscal consolidation. [...]
Fair political weather or foul; the NPP’s foot-dragging over provincial council elections
When then Presidential hopeful Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared mid last year to the National Peoples’ Party (NPP)’s overseas faithful that Sri Lanka’s Provincial Council (PC) system will ‘continue till a new system is identified to create harmony among the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities’ (London, June 2024), no one quite questioned as to what that [...]
Easter Sunday attacks: What happened to Sara Pulasthini? Ask Anandan
In recent months, the public discourse has been dominated by daily reports of violent underworld clashes, drug-related killings, and major narcotics detections. Yet, in this flurry of criminal investigations and dramatic arrests, one of the most heinous crimes in Sri Lanka’s modern history — the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks of 2019 — has quietly slipped [...]
Windmills of Power on the rocks as Govt bows to people protests
The Government has called a sudden halt to the winds of power that will blow across the Mannar isle in the near future. This sudden decision, taken at the eleventh hour, when mass protests against Hayleys’ 50 million dollar wind power project rise to a climax and threaten Hayleys’ launch of the first phase in [...]
So now a faithful ally of the once castigated IMF
Some said he will. Some said he will not. Still others stood in numbed silence waiting for what they believed would be post-budget shell shock. By the time this column appears, days after Finance Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake, also the president of Sri Lanka among other portfolios, which has now become a habit of incoming [...]
President on a roll as some parts of Budget speech sounded like top of the pops ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation
Allocations for president’s flagship programme “A Nation United National Operation” Opposition compares proposals with pledges the NPP made in its election manifesto, ‘A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life’ SJB hierarchy left in the dark over Sajith’s visit to India On Friday morning, ahead of the presentation of the National People’s Power (NPP’s) first [...]
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