Economy

Panel allows Sri Lanka central bank staff to get high salaries

Published

2 years ago

June 19, 2024

Sri Lanka’s central bank staff could continue to get high salaries for up to five years, and not three years as set out in a collective agreement, a committee that went into the matter after a public outcry has recommended, a legislator said.

A panel that went into the salary hike that the central bank staff had paid themselves had criticized the salary hike and a defined benefit pension plan, but said changing it would lead to legal problems, Chairman of the Committee of Public Enterprises, Harsha de Silva said.

The Committee had said it was wrong to apply the same salaries to office assistants and management assistants as senior officers in ‘mission critical’ roles.

The office assistants and management assistants should be given the same salaries as the rest of the government.

Economy

Sri Lanka literacy hits record 97.4%, gender gap closes for first time

Published

3 hours ago

April 12, 2026

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Sri Lanka has achieved a historic education milestone, with literacy rising to 97.4% in 2024, up from 95.7% in 2012.

For the first time since 1881, the literacy gender gap has closed, with males at 97.9% and females at 97.0%.

Digital literacy has reached 67.6%, while computer literacy stands at 34.7%, highlighting Sri Lanka’s growing digital transformation.

Economy

$ 900 m in four months: Port City Colombo signals new investment era

Published

1 day ago

April 11, 2026

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From November 2025 to March, Port City Colombo secured approximately $ 900 million in investments, an almost unprecedented surge for a project that had seen gradual traction in its early years amid broader macroeconomic challenges. The timing is not accidental.

After a prolonged period marked by the Easter Sunday attacks, the global shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sri Lanka’s economic collapse, the project remained largely in a holding pattern.

International marketing efforts began to gain momentum from late 2025 onwards, as conditions began to stabilise.

“The macro story had to align first,” Aluwihare explained. “You cannot market a country when the fundamentals are unstable. Now, we are seeing recovery, policy alignment, and growing confidence, and we are finally seeing the results.”

From real estate to a ring-fenced financial ecosystem

Port City Colombo’s most significant transformation has been conceptual rather than physical. Originally envisioned as a waterfront real estate development, it has evolved into a fully ring-fenced services export Special Economic Zone (SEZ), enabled by the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act.

Economy

Sri Lanka’s Official Reserves fall 3.5%in March – CBSL

Published

3 days ago

April 9, 2026

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Sri Lanka’s Official Reserve Assets have decreased by 3.5% to USD 7,019 million in March 2026, according to the latest data of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The CBSL states that the decrease is from USD 7,270 million reported in February 2026.

The CBSL further states that the figure for March includes the swap arrangement with the People’s Bank of China.