Category: Daily Financial Times

The Sri Lanka Air Force has promoted Commonwealth Games gold medallist Rumesh Tharanga from the rank of Corporal to Sergeant in recognition of his historic men’s javelin throw victory at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The promotion was conferred by Commander of the Air Force Air Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe, recognising Tharanga’s performance, which secured Sri Lanka’s first Commonwealth Games athletics gold medal.

The Air Force Commander also commended coach Retired Warrant Officer Tony Prasanna for his role in preparing the athlete and acknowledged the contribution of masseur Corporal Chandima Gurusinghe for his support throughout the campaign.

The Sri Lanka Air Force said the recognition reflected not only Tharanga’s individual achievement but also the collective effort of the team behind his success, describing the accomplishment as one that brought honour to both the Air Force and the country.

Major upsets highlighted the semi-final stage of the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy Junior Golf Championship at the Royal Colombo Golf Club, with the tournament being sponsored by Perera and Sons for a record 10th consecutive year.

The biggest surprise came in the Boys Gold Division, where Lavidu Premarathna stunned tournament favourite Reshan Algama to book his place in the final. In the other semi-final, Adithya Weerasinghe defeated Jacob Norton in another unexpected result, setting up an exciting title clash between Premarathna and Weerasinghe.

The Girls Gold Division final will feature Kaya Daluwatte against Deepika Ganesan. Daluwatte continued her impressive form to reach the final, while Ganesan also produced a solid performance to earn her place in the championship match.

In the Silver Division, Udeera Bandara and Adli Azemi progressed to the Boys final, while Genali Weerakoon will meet Mashifra Muzzamil in the Girls final.

The Bronze Division finals will see Hesandi Gayansa take on Dilkini Kangara in the Girls event. In the Boys category, Jaeden Sathasivam advanced to his third successive final, having progressed from the Copper Division to the Bronze Division over the years. He will face the in-form Yuvan Ratjikanth as both players battle for the championship title.

Chasing a 200-plus score in the fourth innings on a wicket where three teams had passed the 200-run mark was certainly going to be tricky and so it proved when Kandy Royals collapsed in a heap losing seven wickets for 42 to be bowled out for 135 against Colombo Kaps who won the LPL Eliminator by 68 runs in the second match played at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Colombo Kaps will meet Galle Gallants in Qualifier 2 tomorrow (7) for a place in the final.

Lahiru Udara the tournament’s leading run-getter once again set the tone for Kandy Royals’ chase with a rapid 50 off 36 balls (5 fours, 2 sixes), but once he fell it was a procession of wickets tumbling resulting in Kandy Royals’ elimination from the tournament. It was the spell by Player of the Match Wanuja Sahan (2/8 off 4 overs) that resulted in the downfall of Kandy Royals. Their middle order was once again found wanting and with a captain who was hampered by injuries it proved too much of a task to chase down such a tall target.

Colombo Kaps came with the intention of batting the opposition out and when the toss went in their favour they had no hesitation of taking first lease of a wicket where 470 runs had been scored.

Ben McDermott, son of former Australian fast bowler Craig McDermott smoked seven sixes and a four in a 39-ball blitz for 71 which laid the foundation for the big-hitters like Janith Liyanage (32 off 19) and James Neesham (42* off 23 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) to provide the perfect finish to help Colombo Kaps to 203-7.

Scores:

Colombo Kaps 203-7 (20) (Ben McDermott 71, Kamindu Mendis 28, Janith Liyanage 32, James Neesham 42*, Shaheen Afridi 2/39, Nuwan Thushara 2/31, Zahir Khan 2/32) vs. Kandy Royals 135 (18.4) (Lahiru Udara 50, Pawan Sandesh 21, Shahnawaz Dahani 2/16, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/41, Wanuja Sahan 2/8, Malsha Tharupathi 2/23, Milan Rathnayake 2/23)

The Court of Appeal yesterday sought clarification from the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) on whether recent amendments to the Inland Revenue Act affect an ongoing tax dispute involving Sri Lanka’s national men’s and women’s cricket captains before delivering its judgement.

The writ applications were heard before a bench comprising Court of Appeal President Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya, PC and Justice K. Priyantha Fernando.

The Court noted that Parliament had recently amended the Inland Revenue Act to classify ‘sports persons’ as Independent Service Providers (ISPs), a category that does not attract Advance Personal Income Tax (APIT), and asked the IRD whether it would reconsider the decision under challenge in light of the legislative change.

Deputy Solicitor General Manohara Jayasinghe, appearing for the IRD, submitted that the amendment had no bearing on the case, maintaining that national cricketers are employees because they are engaged under contracts with Sri Lanka Cricket and urging the Court to proceed with its judgement.

Appearing for the male national captains, Counsel Nishan Sydney Premathiratne argued that the amendment reflected Parliament’s intention to classify sports persons as ISPs alongside professionals such as doctors, lawyers, architects, and singers rather than as employees for tax purposes.

He told the Court that national cricketers had been treated as ISPs for more than 15 years before the IRD reclassified them as employees to impose APIT. He also said payments due to the players over the past seven months had been withheld because of the dispute.

The Court said it had already prepared its judgement but deferred delivery to obtain clarification on the implications of the legislative amendment.

The bench granted both parties one week to file written submissions and fixed 31 August for judgement.

The Government has expanded investigations into the $ 2.5 million cyber theft from Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt repayment system, with bank and digital transaction records being sought from six countries while international law enforcement agencies assist efforts to trace the stolen funds.

Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament yesterday that investigations into the cyber fraud remain under the supervision of the Fort Magistrate, with 91 officials questioned to date.

He said authorities had sought banking and digital transaction information from the US, Australia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Switzerland, and Zambia under Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) provisions, while Interpol and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were assisting investigations into suspected transactions.

Wijepala said the Government was committed to identifying those responsible, recovering the stolen funds where possible, and strengthening controls at both the Treasury and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).

‘The Government is committed to investigate and get to the bottom of this and tighten processes at the Treasury and CBSL and take all necessary steps,’ he said.

Opening the parliamentary debate on the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) report into the cyber fraud, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Kabir Hashim called for an independent forensic audit of the Treasury and the CBSL.

Quoting from the Committee’s report, Hashim said Parliament had established that a cybercrime-linked fraud involving approximately $ 2.5 million in public funds had occurred, while stressing that criminal investigations must determine whether public officials were negligent, incompetent, or complicit.

‘The criminal liability is not the CoPF’s scope. Criminal investigation must determine if officials were ignorant, incompetent, or had deliberate involvement,’ he said.

Hashim also questioned why four middle-level officers had been suspended when the CoPF report concluded that responsibility for several governance lapses rested at the level of the Secretary to the Treasury and the CBSL Governor.

He further questioned whether adequate secondments had been made from the CBSL to support the transition of debt management functions to the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO).

Hashim warned that the cyber fraud had implications extending beyond the value of the stolen funds, arguing that weaknesses in sovereign debt operations could undermine confidence in Sri Lanka’s public financial management.

‘As a country trying to come out of its 2022 sovereign default and still rebuilding international confidence, these findings have repercussions far beyond the $ 2.5 million,’ he said, calling for an immediate forensic audit by independent foreign experts.

The CoPF report concluded that governance, procedural, and operational failures across multiple institutions heightened the risk of the cyber fraud but stated that determining criminal liability falls outside Parliament’s oversight mandate. It recommended stronger internal controls, cybersecurity improvements, and tighter verification procedures for sovereign debt repayments.

If a country is guided by the right ideas about the main things, it will not go too far wrong, but if it is not, it won’t succeed sustainably-whatever assets it may have.

All it takes is one big bad idea. For example, there was never any chance that the tiniest fraction of the daily output of global knowledge flowing through the world in the English language, the closest humanity has to a universal language, could ever be translated into Sinhala. Therefore, ‘Sinhala Only’ would have been a disastrously counter-productive idea even if the entire island had been populated only by Sinhalese or Sinhala-Buddhists. Each day is a day of loss of the most precious commodity-knowledge-for the nation. This is mostly so for the Sinhalese (unlike Tamil) because it is a native language spoken by a large collective only on this island.

Currently Sri Lanka is adrift, misled by five falsehoods:

1. Corruption is the main problem and root cause of the economic crisis. Combatting corruption is and should be the main priority.

2. The present Government has been elected after a 75-year post-Independence decline.

3. This Government represents the first ever rule of the non-elite ‘subaltern’ classes and must be preserved by any means necessary (including a grossly a-historical misperception and grotesque misapplication of China’s political model).

4. Above all there must be no return to the post-Independence past or the old elite as represented by the established or mainstream Opposition parties, either singly or in whatever permutation or combination.

5. With all its defects the JVP-NPP is more progressive than the Opposition and is therefore to be preferred.

In an essay on ‘Hannah Arendt and Evil’ in the anthology ‘Reappraisals’, Tony Judt observed that:

‘…In various essays and later in ‘The Human Condition’ and ‘The Life of the Mind’ she [Arendt] argues that evil comes from a simple failure to think.’

Sri Lanka is headed for another calamitous cycle towards the end of this decade because of the simple failure, unwillingness or inability of our society-especially its intelligentsia-to ‘think through’ these currently dominant false doctrines.

Red herring

Corruption and its elimination have never been the top priority in the history of political or economic thought. It has been moved to the top of the agenda by a strategic ideological move from the global metropoles, to counter the focus on structures, strategies, policy models and regimes of accumulation. ‘Corruption’ is a diversion from ‘big picture’ thinking.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis isn’t the result of corruption. We are trapped in a debt crisis, the core of which is private foreign debt. This is compounded by the constrictions of an IMF program. We don’t produce and earn enough to pay for our imports without recourse to international loans, which we find burdensomely difficult to repay, so we borrow more to repay old debt. It is a vicious circle/cycle. The most literate Marxist economist of Sri Lankan origin alive today, Prof. Howard Nicholas has pointed to President Premadasa’s rapid province-based industrialisation drive as the only time we had a strategy which could have avoided a debt trap or got us out of it rapidly and placed us on a sustainable high-growth trajectory, similar to Vietnam. Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa this country earned enough to pay back any international private debt it incurred.

AKD chose not to use the pool of experts he had ready access to in the form of the ‘Debt Justice’ signatories (Joe Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh et al), to strive to negotiate a better deal from the IMF and the international private creditors. Instead, he uniquely chose to appoint Duminda Hulangamuwa, at the time Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, as one of two presidential advisers on Economics and key negotiator with both the IMF and the private creditors (why Hulangamuwa rather than Howard Nicholas?). Hulangamuwa now heads the Board of Investment (BOI). AKD secured one of the most minimal ‘debt haircuts’ on the global record.

The AKD Government has compounded the problem of foreign debt by engaging in foreign borrowing-to be repaid with interest of course. The Government’s stated intention is to upgrade its international ratings so as to facilitate return to the international money markets.

Exiting this or any future IMF program or staying in one whatever the cost, is a debate for dogmatists of left and right. Instead, we should assess each program on its own merits and in its context. The crucial line of demarcation lies elsewhere: whether our economic strategy entails a return to the private international money markets as distinct from bilateral (State-to-State) and/or multilateral (institutional) loans. While selective, exceptional, tactical recourse to the international money markets is permissible, we must eschew strategic dependence on such a return.

‘Declinist’ lie

The JVP-NPP didn’t inherit and isn’t bearing the burden of a 75-year decline. There’s almost no sector in which the AKD administration has bettered its predecessors, and certainly not as a totality, except for the calamitous three years of the Gotabaya Presidency. In one respect even Gotabaya was better than AKD: he didn’t take foreign loans, increase foreign debt.

There are many sectors, especially in terms of what the UNDP calls ‘multidimensional vulnerability’, i.e., intersecting and interacting poverty, inequality, malnutrition, school attendance etc-in which we are doing worse under this Government than we ever have. CEPA’s Prof. Sirimal Abeyaratne says that in the matter of poverty and its alleviation we have regressed a quarter-century. I’d say we are undergoing a process of social underdevelopment on the JVP-NPP’s watch.

Furthermore, this Government has made numerous damaging moves on major strategic issues that no other government thought of or dared to. The plethora of agreements with neighbouring behemoth India (with its Ramayana-ideology and Akhand Bharat doctrine), the contents of which still-outrageously-remain secret. From what can be gleaned from the Indian media, Anura Dissanayake has granted India a larger footprint in areas of strategic importance to Sri Lanka, than has any predecessor. The military entanglement with the USA is greater than before. Morally most despicable, is Vijitha Herath’s proud announcement of the export of 10,000 Sri Lankan workers to genocidal Israel-to occupy jobs that Palestinians used to be employed in and were evicted from (this on top of apparent immunity for Israelis who behave with boorish impunity in Arugam Bay, Weligama, and our streets and sidewalks).

Sri Lanka has lost more of its sovereignty-and more rapidly-under the AKD-JVP-NPP administration than at any time before and after the IPKF presence on the island. It was easier to be rid of the IPKF than it will be to disentangle ourselves from the trap that Anura has walked us into with the India-USA-Israel triangle.

Meanwhile, by keeping the Provincial Councils in a deep coma, the JVP-NPP has not only made the combatting of dengue more difficult, it has made politically impossible the ‘containment’ and constraining of (increasingly manifest) immoderate Tamil nationalism .

Political economy: JVP model

The biggest lie or the most dangerous half-truth is that the JVP-NPP Government is the first ‘non-elite’ regime to hold State power. It is a lie because President Premadasa broke the class-caste ‘glass ceiling’. It is a half-truth because the JVP-NPP model is one in which the ‘subaltern classes’ have been allowed to take over political, i.e., governmental/ State power, while economic power and control of economic decision-making, as well as the economic direction and destiny of this country have been transferred to the top corporate capitalists, the big comprador bourgeoisie, as never before in Ceylon/Sri Lanka’s post-1948 history.

There’s been a massive structural transformation in the relationship between Sri Lanka’s big capitalists and the State. Never before has the State and Government ceded such a degree of direct control, power and influence to a microscopic elite whose chosen vocation has been the accumulation of immense private profit and wealth, rather than serving the broader national and public interest.

With the intermittent exceptions of Peradeniya’s Dr. Kalpa Rajapakse, product of the New School for Social Research, New York, and veteran Marxist political economist, Dr. Sumanasiri Liyanage, most left intellectuals camouflage the structural changes in political economy with a portrait of the ‘leftwing’ AKD-JVP-NPP Government as victim, trapped by the evil IMF and US imperialists.

However, the stark reality obfuscated by leftist intellectuals been grasped by the editorialist of a mainstream liberal English-language Sunday paper. Tellingly entitled ‘The Rise of The Oligarchs’ (5 July, 2026) it provides a clear scan:

“…More troubling is the growing perception that political power is increasingly intersecting with concentrated corporate influence. Across several of the country’s most important economic institutions, senior executives and influential figures from some of Sri Lanka’s largest private conglomerates have of late assumed prominent advisory and decision-making positions, as opposed to mere lobbying in the past. Individually, many of these appointments can be defended on grounds of competence and expertise. A bankrupt nation undoubtedly requires capable professionals to help steer economic recovery. But expertise is not a substitute for independence.

When individuals with extensive commercial interests participate directly in shaping policies affecting their own sectors, legitimate questions arise about conflicts of interest. Even where no impropriety exists, public confidence depends upon transparency, accountability, and the absence of undue influence. This is how oligarchies announce themselves. They do not seize power overnight through coups or constitutional crises, they emerge gradually through the fusion of political authority, economic power, and privileged access, under the language of efficiency, expertise, and national service.

The danger lies not in any single appointment but in the cumulative concentration of influence among a relatively small circle…”

Students of political history are aware that such a division of labour, i.e., political control ceded to a lower-middle class movement with socialistic pretensions or provenance, and economic control handed over to monopoly capitalists, was precisely the Faustian bargain between big capital and fascist movements in Europe in the crisis-ridden 1930s. That was the nature of the fascist bloc: the Krupps, Thyssen and the National Socialists (Nazis).

The drastic shift in political economy under this administration is driven by choices and changes made freely, unprecedentedly and locally by AKD, his Cabinet and his party-not imposed on them by the US or the IMF.

The shift which structurally endows the capitalist oligarchy with greater overlordship over the economic agenda and decisioning than before, cannot but impact on two other sectors: policy and politics. There is a causative correlation between the greater role of the big bourgeoise and greater and growing poverty and inequality under this administration. The bigger the role, influence and stakeholder share of decisioning unprecedentedly enjoyed by the 1%, the greater the shift and share of national wealth to that 1%, away from the 99%.

The evidence of the worsening of material conditions and prospects under the JVP-NPP’s new political economy is the accelerating migration of the educated, especially from the State universities and most employable professions (medicine, agriculture etc).

The second domain upon which the larger weight and ‘specific gravity’ of the top corporate owners cannot but impact, is the political ‘superstructure’, causing an orientation towards centralisation. At a time of global economic volatility, the top corporates are likely to recommend or endorse greater political authoritarianism, or at the least push for measures, e.g., liberalising land and labour markets and slashing agricultural subsidies, which would generate discontent and require greater authoritarianism to tamp down. This isn’t mere speculation:

‘…Traditional agricultural subsidies will be replaced by capital co-investments in precision farming, drip irrigation and cold storage logistics to create sustainable agribusiness…’

Normality is the lesser evil

Given that the loss of national sovereignty, the rise of the top capitalist oligarchy and the proliferation of poverty have been unprecedented under AKD and the JVP-NPP, it is wildly illogical to maintain that the post-1948 past is the worst of all possible political multiverses and the mainstream Opposition is the worst of all available choices which should never be permitted to return.

If a left provenance rather than actual practice makes the JVP-NPP more progressive than the mainstream Opposition, then Hitler’s ‘National Socialist Workers’ party or Mussolini’s Socialist Party roots (formerly Editor of Avanti, the Italian Socialist newspaper), made them more progressive than the older, pre-war bourgeois-democratic and liberal-conservative imperialist parties. Mercifully the Communist International didn’t reach that conclusion.

When the European left aligned with their own bourgeoisies during WWI, Lenin ruptured with those parties, however large, old and respected. His analysis of imperialism took as a distinctive vector the mutation of capitalism such that it could foster an ‘aristocracy’ in the working-class movement and co-opt/corrupt the Marxist left into betrayal.

When Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of the radical-left Syriza pivoted sharply to the right under the patronage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and accepted the EU debt repayment program the very night of winning a national referendum against those repayment terms, Yanis Varoufakis didn’t continue to define his old friend, leader or Cabinet colleagues as leftists unavoidably entrapped by imperialism. His point was that a better deal could have been negotiated leveraging but respecting the result, and that he had already made progress towards it.

In a short text captioned ‘On Ascending a High Mountain’ in a longer piece entitled ‘Notes of a Publicist’ (1922) Lenin argued that if one is stuck in an impossibly impassable place while mountain-climbing, one simply has to retrace one’s steps, however risky, complicated and heartbreaking it may be, to one’s original point of departure and then hope for and attempt to find a better path up the mountain to the summit.

Lenin was referring to the ruling Bolsheviks, but his general methodological principle is true for societies and individual lives too.

With the solitary exception of the irrational Gotabaya episode, Sri Lanka and its people fared developmentally, materially, better under every previous post-Independence administration than during the current dispensation. The ‘forces of production’ grew appreciably, unlike today. There wasn’t a massive outflow of university-educated young people, especially young Sinhalese, from the island even in the worst of wartime.

The Buddha insisted that actions not origins (birth) determine definition (higher/lower caste status). Samir Amin frequently quoted with delight, Stalin’s dialectical flip (‘Foundations of Leninism’,1925) that given their comparative practice in the world arena, ‘the Emir of Afghanistan is more progressive than the British Labour Party leadership’.

The Emir represented an archaic elite and the British Labour Party leadership a modern, trade unionist elite or British non-elite. Clearly then, the JVP-NPP line that the emergent elite or non-elite should by definition be supported against the older elite, is counterfeit Marxism.

The JVP’s leftism, closest in the late 1980s to Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, never rose to approximating universal left standards such as those (currently) of Spain’s Pedro Sanchez or Brazil’s Lula.

In power, the JVP-NPP isn’t progressive or leftist but has degenerated to abnormality, an aberration, making the Opposition which can return us to the democratic and developmental mainstream, the distinctly lesser evil.

Two five-star ASEAN NCAP-rated models broaden Perodua’s offering with fuel-efficient, practical mobility for Sri Lankan families and businesses Unimo Enterprises Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of United Motors Lanka PLC and the authorised distributor for Perodua vehicles in Sri Lanka, officially unveiled the all-new Perodua Traz and Perodua Alza at Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo. The introduction of the five-seater Traz SUV and seven-seater Alza MPV expands Perodua’s local portfolio with two distinct mobility solutions designed around, high efficiency, safety, comfort and everyday practicality and affordable price.

The launch brought together representatives of Perodua Malaysia, the leadership of United Motors Lanka PLC and Unimo Enterprises Ltd., corporate partners, financial institutions, customers, media and other industry stakeholders. It follows the introduction of the Ativa and Myvi to Sri Lanka and reflects Unimo Enterprises’ strategy of offering a broader range of trusted Perodua vehicles for changing customer lifestyles.

The Malaysian manufacturer recorded 359,904 vehicle registrations in 2025 in Malaysia and estimated its domestic market share at 43.9%, reinforcing the scale, customer acceptance and manufacturing experience behind the brand. In Sri Lanka, this global capability is complemented by United Motors Lanka PLC’s established automotive expertise and islandwide aftersales support.

The all-new Perodua Traz strengthens the brand’s presence in the increasingly important compact SUV segment. Its contemporary stance, spacious five-seat cabin and adaptable storage are intended for urban commuting, family travel and the varied demands of daily life. Convenience features available on the model include rear air-conditioning vents and a powered tailgate with a kick sensor, while its 1.5-litre powertrain is engineered to balance responsive everyday performance with economical operation.

Perodua reports fuel efficiency of 21.3 km/l for the Traz under the Malaysian Driving Conditions. The model also achieved a five-star ASEAN NCAP rating. ASEAN NCAP’s report identifies six airbags, Vehicle stability control, autonomous emergency braking for city, inter-urban and pedestrian scenarios, blind-spot detection, lane-departure warning, forward-collision warning, lane-keep assist and ISOFIX child-seat anchorages among the safety provisions fitted as standard across the assessed variants.

The Perodua Alza is a versatile seven-seater MPV created for customers who require genuine passenger capacity without sacrificing manoeuvrability or efficiency. Flexible seating allows the cabin to adapt between people and luggage, making it suitable for larger families, school and office travel, leisure journeys and business mobility. With the third row folded, luggage capacity increases from 137 litres to 498 litres, adding useful flexibility for daily and longer-distance travel.

Powered by a 1.5-litre Dual VVT-i engine paired with a D-CVT transmission, the Alza delivers a manufacturer-stated fuel-efficiency figure of up to 22.0 km/l under the Malaysian Driving Condition. It too carries a five-star ASEAN NCAP rating. The assessed Alza included six airbags, together with vehicle stability control, anti-lock braking, autonomous emergency braking and front and rear seatbelt reminders, providing independently evaluated reassurance for family-focused customers.

‘The arrival of the Traz and Alza marks another important step in broadening the choices available to Sri Lankan motorists. Customers today are looking beyond the initial purchase price; they want fuel efficiency that helps manage day-to-day running costs, practical space and dependable aftersales support. These two models address those needs in different yet complementary ways.To date, more than 20,000 Perodua vehicles have been sold in Sri Lanka. Since the lifting of vehicle import restrictions in 2025, we have sold close to 3,000 vehicles, clearly demonstrating the strong trust Sri Lankan customers continue to place in the brand. Supported by Perodua’s proven manufacturing capabilities and the United Motors Group’s extensive sales and service network, we are confident that the Traz and Alza will further strengthen this trust among Sri Lankan families and businesses,’ said United Motors Lanka PLC Group Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Chanaka Yatawara.

Perodua customers are served through showrooms at Hyde Park Corner, Kandy, Kurunegala, Ratnapura and Matara. Aftersales support is available through a wider network covering Hyde Park Corner, Orugodawatta, Ratmalana, Ratnapura, Matara, Kandy, Kurunegala, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura and Jaffna. This network provides customers with access to trained technical expertise, maintenance support and genuine parts through authorised channels.

With the Axia, a fuel-efficient compact hatchback, Bezza, a spacious and economical compact sedan, Ativa, a 1,000cc turbocharged compact SUV, Myvi, a stylish and high performance hatchback, Aruz, a practical seven-seater SUV, Alza, a spacious seven-seater MPV and Traz, a versatile 1.5-litre SUV Perodua now offers a comprehensive range in Sri Lanka.

Priced from Rs. 8.8 million to Rs. 20 million, the range provides affordable and value-driven mobility solutions across multiple vehicle segments. All Perodua vehicles are backed by a comprehensive manufacturer’s warranty of five years or 150,000 kilometres, whichever occurs first, offering customers greater confidence and peace of mind.

Through this expanded portfolio, Unimo Enterprises is well positioned to meet the diverse mobility needs of individuals, families and businesses. The range reflects Perodua’s ‘Building Cars, People First’ philosophy by placing practical design, safety, efficiency and long-term ownership value at the centre of the mobility.

Customers are invited to experience the new Perodua Traz and Alza at any authorised Perodua showrooms or call 0117 565 170 for further information. As a special introductory offer, first 50 customers can own the Perodua Traz (with Body Kit) for Rs. 19,950,000/-, the Perodua Traz (without Body Kit) for Rs. 19,200,000/-, or the Perodua Alza for Rs. 19,950,000/-. (All prices are inclusive of VAT)

Pan Asia Bank yesterday said it has appointed B.D.A. Perera as Chairman and Ayodhya Iddawela Perera as Deputy Chairperson with effect from 3 August 2026, further strengthening the bank’s leadership as it continues to advance its strategic priorities and long-term growth agenda.

Perera succeeds to the role after serving on the Board since April 2021 and as Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director since November 2024. A respected financial services professional with over two decades of experience in the leasing and finance industry, he currently serves as Executive Director of LB Finance PLC, where he has played a pivotal role in driving business growth and strengthening operational excellence. He also serves as an Executive Director of LB Finance PLC’s subsidiary in Myanmar, LB Microfinance Myanmar Company Ltd.

Perera brings extensive expertise in asset management, finance and corporate leadership, having previously held senior positions at Commercial Leasing Company Ltd., Lanka ORIX Leasing Company PLC and Merchant Bank Bangladesh. He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK), holds a BSc (Business Administration) Special Degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and has successfully completed the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA. He succeeds veteran banker Aravinda Perera, who served as Chairman of Pan Asia Bank for nine years.

Joining him in the bank’s leadership is Iddawela Perera, was appointed to the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director in April 2026 and now assumes the role of Deputy Chairperson. Widely recognised as one of Sri Lanka’s most accomplished banking professionals, she brings more than 36 years of distinguished experience in the banking industry, both locally and internationally. Prior to joining Pan Asia Bank, she served as Managing Director of Sampath Bank PLC from July 2023 to September 2025, following a long and successful career across diverse areas of banking.

Her extensive governance experience includes serving on the Boards of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd., LankaPay Ltd., National Credit Guarantee Institution Ltd., Sampath Centre Ltd., the Lanka Bankers’ Association and the Governing Board of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK), and has completed her banking studies up to Associateship level. In recognition of her contribution to the banking profession, she has also been conferred the Senior Fellowship of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.

The combined experience, strategic insight and leadership of the two well respected appointees will further strengthen the bank’s governance framework while supporting the continued execution of Pan Asia Bank’s long-term strategic priorities as it builds on its momentum in digital transformation, customer-centric innovation, sustainable finance and operational excellence.

The 10th Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship 2026 for the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy reaches its decisive semi-final stage today at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC), with the country’s top young golfers battling for places in tomorrow’s finals.

The Gold Division, recognised as a World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) event, promises the biggest attraction of the day. In the girls’ semi-finals, Kaya Daluwatte takes on Aaraadhi Samararathne, while Kaitlyn Norton faces Deepika Ganesan in another exciting contest. The boys’ semi-finals will see leading junior Reshan Algama meet Lavidu Premarathna, with Jacob Norton taking on Adithya Weerasinghe for the remaining place in the final.

The Copper Girls’ title will be decided today, with Dinara Perera meeting Kyra Cader in the championship final. The Copper Boys’ semi-finals feature Abiman Abeywardhana against Dihen Vitharane and Usara Nugegoda facing Thisura Premaratne.

The Bronze Division will also witness keen competition as Heshanthi Gayansa meets Senumi Heetiarachchi and Dulkini Kangara takes on Ananya Kishanthan in the girls’ semi-finals. In the boys’ category, Jaeden Sathasivam faces Anusara Perera, while Yuvan Rathiskanth meets Prabagaran Thuwakaran.

The Silver Division semi-finals will see Genuli Weerakoon play Vihara Herath and Mihneli Herath face Mushfira Muzaami in the girls’ event, while Udeera Bandara meets Yogaraja Abeensh and Mohamed Adly takes on Vihanga Liyanga in the boys’ competition. With places in the finals at stake, another day of quality junior golf is expected at RCGC.

Sometimes the most powerful measure of a nation’s health isn’t the one we notice.

When conversations turn to the economy, most of us instinctively think about the rising price of groceries, the value of the rupee against the dollar, interest rates, or whether more jobs are being created. These are the figures that dominate television debates and newspaper headlines. Economists also rely on measures such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation, unemployment, exports, public debt, and foreign reserves to understand where a country is heading.

These indicators are important. They tell us whether the economy is expanding or slowing down, whether prices are stable, and whether businesses are investing with confidence. But there is another indicator that quietly captures many of these stories at once. It rarely becomes the centre of public discussion, even though it reflects the behaviour of millions of people every single day.

That indicator is taxation.

To many people, taxes are simply deductions from a salary, a payment made to the Inland Revenue Department, or an obligation that arrives once a year. But economists and policymakers often see something much bigger. They see taxes as one of the clearest mirrors of a country’s economic health. Not because governments need money, but because taxes reveal how an economy functions, how citizens behave, and how much confidence people have in their institutions.

Imagine visiting a doctor for a routine medical check-up. The doctor does not rely on a single measurement to judge your health. Your blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol level, blood sugar, and many other readings together create a picture of your wellbeing. One number alone cannot tell the whole story. Countries are remarkably similar.

GDP tells us how much a nation produces. Inflation tells us whether prices are stable. Employment figures show whether people have opportunities to earn a living. But taxation often connects all of these measures. When businesses grow, people earn more, consumers spend more, and investments increase, governments usually collect more revenue, not because tax rates have increased, but because the economy itself has become stronger. That is why taxation is often described as the economy’s “silent report card.”

One of the most widely used measures around the world is the tax-to-GDP ratio. Although the term sounds technical, the idea is surprisingly simple. It measures how much tax a country collects compared with the total value of everything it produces in a year.

Think of it this way: Imagine two neighbouring countries with economies of exactly the same size. One country collects taxes equal to 18% of its GDP, while the other collects only 8%. The difference is not merely about money flowing into the Treasury. It suggests deeper differences in the way the two economies operate. The country with the stronger ratio is likely to have more businesses operating formally, more workers earning declared incomes, better tax administration, and higher levels of voluntary compliance. It may also have greater capacity to fund education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social protection without relying excessively on borrowing.

The country with the weaker ratio may be facing a very different reality. Large parts of its economy may remain informal. Many eligible taxpayers may remain outside the tax system. Tax administration may struggle with enforcement, while governments become increasingly dependent on debt to finance public services. This is why international organisations such as the IMF, World Bank, ADB, and OECD pay close attention to tax-to-GDP ratios. They are not merely interested in how much money governments collect. They are interested in what those numbers reveal about the strength and resilience of an economy.

For Sri Lanka, this lesson carries particular significance. In 2022, our tax-to-GDP ratio dropped to a concerning 6.7%, exposing the vulnerabilities of an underfunded State. While recent economic reforms have helped push that figure up to nearly 14.7% by early 2026, the underlying lesson from the crisis remains unchanged. It reminded us that Government cannot continuously spend more than they earn. Borrowing may provide temporary relief, but no household can survive indefinitely by relying only on loans. Nations are no different. Sustainable development ultimately depends on sustainable domestic revenue.

That does not mean collecting more taxes at any cost. A healthy tax system is not measured simply by the amount collected. It is measured by how that revenue is collected. This brings us to another equally important indicator: tax compliance.

Compliance is much more than paying taxes on time. It reflects whether people willingly register when they become liable, maintain accurate records, file correct returns, and meet their obligations without constant enforcement. In many ways, tax compliance is a measure of trust. People are generally willing to contribute when they believe the system is fair, the rules apply equally to everyone, public money is managed responsibly, and Government services improve their quality of life. When these conditions exist, paying taxes gradually becomes a normal civic responsibility rather than an unpleasant burden.

The opposite is equally true. If people believe others are avoiding taxes without consequences, or if they see waste, corruption, or unfair treatment, voluntary compliance begins to weaken. The issue is no longer about tax law. It becomes a question of confidence. This is why modern tax administrations around the world increasingly invest not only in audits and enforcement but also in education, digital services, taxpayer rights, transparency, and easier compliance. Building trust is often less expensive, and far more effective than building fear.

Taxation also tells us another important story: the size of the informal economy. Across Sri Lanka, thousands of hardworking entrepreneurs earn their living through small shops, home-based businesses, online selling, transport services, farming, and countless other activities. Many contribute enormously to the economy, but some remain outside the formal tax system.

When a large share of economic activity remains informal, governments collect less revenue, businesses compete under unequal conditions, reliable national statistics become weaker, and access to finance becomes more difficult for entrepreneurs themselves. Formalisation is therefore not simply about paying taxes; it creates opportunities. Businesses with proper records are more likely to obtain bank loans, attract investors, participate in exports, and grow into larger employers.

Perhaps the most overlooked truth is that taxes measure something that no economic formula can easily calculate. They measure the relationship between citizens and their country. Every tax return submitted on time represents confidence in a system. Every honest declaration reflects personal integrity. Every rupee collected contributes to services that benefit society as a whole, from classrooms and hospitals to roads, public transport, national security, and disaster response. Viewed this way, taxes become much more than revenue. They become an expression of shared responsibility.

Sri Lanka is now rebuilding its economy after one of the most challenging periods in its history. As reforms continue, discussions often focus on tax rates and new legislation. These debates are important, but perhaps they are not the most important conversation. The bigger question is whether we are building a tax culture founded on fairness, simplicity, transparency, and mutual trust.

This requires a shared commitment. The Government must ensure absolute transparency, fair enforcement, and visible accountability in how public funds are utilised, proving to the public that their contributions are valued. Simultaneously, citizens and businesses must embrace formalisation and honest compliance, recognising their critical role in the nation’s recovery. If more citizens willingly comply because they understand why taxes matter, and if governments continue strengthening accountability, then stronger revenue will naturally follow.

In the end, the healthiest economies are not necessarily those that collect the highest taxes. They are the ones where citizens contribute because they believe they are part of something larger than themselves.

The next time you hear economists discussing GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, or foreign reserves, remember that there is another number quietly telling its own story.

Sometimes the most revealing measure of a country’s economy is not how much wealth it creates. It is how willingly its people invest in their shared future through a tax system they trust.