Category: Daily Financial Times

United Southern SC who were pursuing leaders SSC in the Tier B 3-day league tournament lost ground when they were beaten by Negombo CC in their match concluded at the Air Force grounds, Katunayake yesterday.

Needing 70 to win, Negombo CC completed the formalities scoring 73-2 to win by eight wickets and move to fourth place behind United Southern SC who have dropped to third place.

Second place behind SSC is now occupied by Moratuwa SC after their win against Kandy Customs SC.

Sri Lanka’s workers’ remittances surged to a historic high of an estimated $ 7.8 billion in 2025, marking the largest annual inflow ever recorded and underscoring a strong post-crisis recovery in external foreign exchange earnings.

Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath announced the milestone yesterday, noting that the figure surpasses the previous decade-high of $ 7.24 billion achieved in 2016.

The 2025 performance reflects an 8% increase over that earlier record and a robust 19% year-on-year (YoY) growth, despite the Central Bank yet to formally confirm December inflows.

‘December remittances are estimated at between $ 650 million and $ 700 million, which would lift total inflows for the year to around $ 7.8 billion,’ Herath said.

He described the achievement as a significant turnaround for a country that endured a severe foreign exchange crisis just a few years ago, adding that the rebound reflects renewed confidence among Sri Lankans in rebuilding the economy.

The rebound in remittances has been particularly pronounced since the economic crisis. In 2022, inflows slumped to a 12-year low of $ 3.78 billion. This was followed by a sharp recovery in 2023, when remittances jumped by 57% to $ 5.96 billion. The momentum continued in 2024, with a further 10.1% YoY increase to $ 6.57 billion, supported by a surge in outbound labour migration as many Sri Lankans sought overseas employment after the economic collapse.

Historically, between 2014 and 2018, Sri Lanka averaged around $ 7 billion a year in workers’ remittances about $ 600 million per month, highlighting the sector’s long-standing role as a stabilising pillar of the economy.

‘The bulk of remittances in 2025 originated from Middle Eastern destinations, including Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel, alongside inflows from Romania, Japan, the Maldives, Oman, South Korea, Australia and the US,’ Herath said.

Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Deputy Minister Arun Hemachandra said that in 2025, a total of 310,915 skilled and semi-skilled workers left the country for foreign employment, comprising 190,609 men and 120,036 women.

He also noted that total departures declined by 1.2% YoY, indicating that even with fewer workers going abroad, remittance inflows increased as migrants sent more money back home.

It also noted that workers’ remittances remain a critical non-debt source of foreign exchange, helping to offset balance of payments (BoP) deficits, improve liquidity in the domestic foreign exchange market, strengthen international reserves and enhance Sri Lanka’s overall creditworthiness.

In addition, remittances help the broader socio-economic benefits, including poverty reduction and the promotion of savings and investment.

Despite the strong performance, high remittance costs remain a key concern for migrant workers globally. The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for reducing remittance costs to 3% by 2030 as part of efforts to reduce inequality within and among countries.

The Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Ministry said business registration for export, manufacturing, and other enterprises affected by Cyclone Ditwah has resumed under a second phase and will be extended until 16 January.

The Ministry said the registration was restarted following requests from manufacturing and small-scale industrial operators.

It also said a disaster relief grant of Rs. 200,000 will be extended to small and medium-scale factories that have yet to register with the Ministry, with payments to be channelled through the Divisional Secretariats in the affected districts.

According to a Ministry assessment, 29,649 export, manufacturing, and small and medium-scale businesses have already registered through the newly introduced hotline, while a further 9,628 export and manufacturing factories fall directly under the Ministry’s supervision.

The Ministry said follow-up assistance is being provided to all affected enterprises, with around 1,500 officials deployed to support the process.

Match tickets for the 3-match T20I series of Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka can be obtained through the following methods, states a Sri Lanka Cricket media release:

Online: https://mycricket.com.lk

Physical Counters:

Match tickets will be available for purchase from 5 January at the following locations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RDICS, Dambulla, and Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters counter at Maitland Place.

Matches will be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on 7, 9 and 11 January.

Category Type Ticket Price (LKR)

Level 3 – AC Box (per seat) Seating 10,000

Grand Stand Level 3 Seating 5,000

Block A Seating 2,000

Block B Seating 2,000

Block C Lower Seating 2,000

Block C Upper Standing 1,000

Block D Lower Seating 2,000

Block D Upper Standing 1,000

Block E Lower Seating 2,000

Block E Upper Standing 1,000

Block F Lower Seating 2,000

Block F Upper Standing 1,000

Block H Lower Seating 2,000

Sigiriya End (Standing) Standing 750

NOLIMIT, Sri Lanka’s leading Fashion Retail Brand, is proud to announce the grand opening of its 28th store in the heart of Jaffna, a city celebrated for its distinct Northern identity, deep-rooted traditions, and a culture shaped by heritage, learning, and close-knit community life. From its vibrant marketplaces and cuisine to its arts, crafts, and enduring spirit of enterprise, Jaffna stands apart as one of Sri Lanka’s most culturally significant and fast-evolving urban centers. Reflecting this character, NOLIMIT’s newest store in Jaffna is designed to complement the city’s modern aspirations while offering residents and visitors a more elevated, family-friendly shopping experience. This milestone further solidifies the brand’s commitment to providing Sri Lankans with an unparalleled shopping experience while continuing its expansion across the island and beyond. The new store, located within Jaffna town’s main commercial precinct, offers a wide selection of menswear, womenswear and kids wear,

alongside shoes and accessories, as well as Homeware, toys, Travel and Luggage and cosmetics, bringing a complete lifestyle retail experience under one roof. The Jaffna store spans four stories, offering customers a convenient, affordable, and familyfriendly shopping environment with ample parking and easy access. Customers can explore a broader and more diverse product range curated to reflect both global fashion trends and local preferences. Founded in 1992, NOLIMIT has grown into the largest Fashion Retail Chain in Sri Lanka with a strong presence across the island. It has also expanded internationally with four stores in the UAE. Known for its customer-centric approach and award-winning service, NOLIMIT has established itself as a leader in Sri Lanka’s fashion retail sector, consistently setting new benchmarks in service excellence and fashion trends. Mr. Hafiz Mubarack, Managing Director, NOLIMIT, said: ‘Jaffna is one of Sri Lanka’s most important cities, rich in culture, enterprise, and potential, and we see it as a key growth hub in the country’s next phase of economic and social progress. With our 28th store, we are proud to invest in Jaffna’s future by bringing a modern, world-class retail experience that matches the city’s evolving aspirations, while making quality, trend-forward fashion more accessible to families across the region.’ Mr. Raneez Sheriff, Assistant General Manager, NOLIMIT, added: ‘In the coming years, Jaffna is well-positioned to evolve into a stronger commercial hub and a rapidly evolving consumer landscape. Strategically, our expansion focuses on reaching Potential markets and ensuring that NOLIMIT becomes the country’s most widely loved fashion retail chain, accessible to customers in every part of Sri Lanka.

Jaffna has always been an important part of our long-term growth plans, and this store opening reflects our commitment to being a truly national brand that connects with communities’ island-wide, while delivering an affordable, high-quality retail experience that matches the city’s momentum and aspirations.’ The store’s design incorporates international trends, creating a modern, stylish environment that invites customers to explore the latest fashion collections in a welcoming atmosphere. With a focus on customer satisfaction and convenience, NOLIMIT continues to lead the charge in transforming Sri Lanka’s retail landscape. As part of its expansion strategy, NOLIMIT aims to open additional stores across Sri Lanka in the coming months, reinforcing its position as a market leader in the fashion retail industry. The Jaffna store serves as a testament to NOLIMIT’s ongoing growth and its commitment to bringing worldclass fashion to every corner of the country.

When floods and landslides strike Sri Lanka, the public conversation almost always turns to nature. Heavy rain, deforestation, hill cutting, and river encroachment are cited as the culprits. These factors are real and serious: forest loss accelerates runoff, altered slopes destabilise terrain, and encroached floodplains erase natural buffers. None of this can be denied. Yet environmental degradation alone does not explain why disasters repeatedly unfold with late warnings, confused responses, and post-event blame.

The deeper problem is architectural. Not architecture in the sense of buildings or dams, but the governance and control systems that translate environmental signals such as rainfall, river levels, reservoir storage, slope saturation into timely, enforceable public action. Environmental damage increases the load on this system. The absence of an integrated hazard management architecture is what allows that load to become a catastrophe.

Each major flood exposes a persistent gap in Sri Lanka’s disaster management framework. Public debate quickly narrows to familiar, technical-sounding questions: Were reservoir gates opened too quickly? Were warnings issued on time? Was the rainfall truly unprecedented?

While these questions appear precise, they are largely distractions. They reduce what is fundamentally a national-scale systems failure into a sequence of isolated operational errors. This framing obscures the deeper issue: the absence of a coherent governance mechanism capable of integrating environmental realities into enforceable, state-wide decisions.

From an engineering perspective, Sri Lanka’s challenge is not rooted in a lack of awareness, expertise, or concern. Rather, it lies in the absence of an executable hazard governance operating system, one that can systematically connect data, forecasts, and risk assessments to binding actions across institutions. Without such a system, responses remain fragmented, reactive, and vulnerable to repetition of the same failures with each new flood.

Hazards are control problems, not media events

In modern risk management, floods and landslides are not anomalies. They are evolving input signals. Rainfall intensity, spatial distribution, and duration feed into catchment response. Catchment response feeds into river stages and reservoir inflows. These, in turn, determine when roads must close, when reservoirs must release water, and when people must evacuate.

The minimum control loop is well understood. Rainfall estimates feed runoff models, which generate inflow hydrographs. Reservoir routing produces downstream river stage projections. These are translated into inundation maps, warning triggers, compulsory orders, and enforcement.

Sri Lanka has fragments of this chain scattered across agencies. One monitors rainfall, another operates reservoirs, another issues landslide warnings, other requests evacuations. What it lacks is integration. However, these components are not fused into a single real-time decision system. Forecasts do not automatically become orders.

When this control loop is broken, the state relies on ‘early warning’ in the form of sirens, media announcements, and generic alerts. These are communication tools, not operational controls. A true warning is precise: it states that at a specific time and place, water will exceed a defined level, and evacuation is mandatory. Without stage-based, location-specific projections, warnings cannot be trusted or enforced.

Reservoir debates expose structural failure

The architectural gap is most visible in debates over reservoirs. After every major flood, arguments erupt: did a dam cause downstream inundation? Victims describe sudden water rises, engineers cite storage volumes, politicians demand accountability. The public expects a clear answer.

But without calibrated reservoir-river flood models, no one can answer the only question that matters: what downstream river stages were expected, at what times, from each release decision, under prevailing rainfall?

Victim testimony shows impact, not causation. Simplified arithmetic produces numbers, not hydrographs. Without real-time inflow data, routing models, and downstream stage discharge relationships, it is technically impossible to isolate reservoir releases effects from cyclone rainfall, uncontrolled tributary inflows, floodplain storage, and channel constraints.

This is why the debate never ends. Sri Lanka is arguing causality without the scientific and institutional machinery required to calculate it.

The Hill Country: A coupled hazard system

Sri Lanka’s hill country is not merely landslide-prone. It is a coupled hazard system. The same rainfall event can saturate slopes, trigger landslides, fill reservoirs, and flood downstream cities. Droughts can even prime landscapes for violent flash floods by degrading soil structure and drainage capacity. Climate volatility has tightened these linkages.

Yet governance remains fragmented. Landslides, floods, and reservoir operations are treated as separate problems, managed by separate institutions under separate laws. The hazard cascade moves as one system. The state does not.

Planning without execution

Sri Lanka’s spatial plans increasingly point in the right direction. They favour densification along transport corridors, protection of environmentally sensitive zones, reduced expansion into unstable terrain. This is sensible. Scattered settlement across hills and floodplains is economically and administratively unsustainable.

However, densification alone does not equal safety. Concentrating people in flood exposed areas without calibrated models, enforceable zoning, and evacuation control simply concentrates risk. A spatial plan without operational science is aspiration, not protection. A spatial map is intent. Safety requires a system that can execute that intent under stress.

What reform requires

Real reform is architectural, not rhetorical. At minimum, Sri Lanka needs:

Unified real-time telemetry linking rainfall, river levels, reservoirs, and slope sensors.

Executable models calibrated against past floods to produce stage-based forecasts with defined thresholds.

Legal command authority to convert those thresholds into compulsory orders across agencies.

Clear public outputs stating what will happen, where, and when in plain language and multiple formats.

Auditable decision logs so failures are diagnosed as engineering problems, not politicised afterthoughts.

This is not theoretical. Countries such as New Zealand and Australia recalibrate models after major floods, publish updated maps, and hard-wire lessons into operational rules. They do not rely on post-event narratives.

Sri Lanka’s disasters are not proof of nature’s cruelty. They reveal a governance system unable to process environmental stress. Deforestation, hill cutting, and river encroachment intensify hazards. Architecture determines whether that intensity becomes a manageable emergency or a national tragedy. Until Sri Lanka builds a hazard governance operating system capable of converting environmental intelligence into compulsory, timely action, every major storm will end the same way: suffering on the ground, arguments in public, and lessons deferred to the next disaster

The real lesson

Sri Lanka’s disasters are not proof of nature’s cruelty. They reveal a governance system unable to process environmental stress. Deforestation, hill cutting, and river encroachment intensify hazards. Architecture determines whether that intensity becomes a manageable emergency or a national tragedy.

Until Sri Lanka builds a hazard governance operating system capable of converting environmental intelligence into compulsory, timely action, every major storm will end the same way: suffering on the ground, arguments in public, and lessons deferred to the next disaster.

The Management Club (TMC) Mount Lavinia will host an executive forum titled ‘Macroeconomic Signals Shaping Private Sector Credit’ on 8 January 2026 at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo, as part of its ongoing initiative to support and strengthen Sri Lanka’s management community.

The session aims to provide corporate leaders with timely insights into how prevailing macroeconomic trends are influencing private sector credit, capital access, and financing decisions in an evolving economic environment. With businesses navigating through changing interest rates, liquidity constraints, and policy adjustments, the forum is designed to help decision makers better understand how credit and capital acquisition dynamics are likely to unfold in the period ahead.

The event will feature a keynote address followed by a panel discussion and an interactive question and answer session, offering participants the opportunity to engage directly with senior banking leadership. The resource persons for the session will be Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Managing Director and CEO Sanath Manatunge and Deputy Manager-Treasury Asela Wijesiriwardane.

According to the TMC Mount Lavinia chapter, the forum is intended to bridge the gap between macroeconomic developments and real world business decision making by translating economic signals into practical perspectives on credit availability and capital access. The session seeks to equip corporate leaders, senior executives of all levels and entrepreneurs to navigate in real time scenarios with a clarity to plan, adapt, and grow sustainably.

The event forms a part of TMC’s broader mandate to promote knowledge sharing, leadership development, and informed dialogue within Sri Lanka’s private sector. Through such initiatives, the Club continues to create platforms that enable meaningful engagement between corporate leaders, policymakers, and financial institutions.

The session is followed by a post-event networking, allowing participants to connect with peers and industry leaders in an informal setting. Limited seats are available and are now open for registration at an investment of Rs. 4500 for Non- TMC members and Rs. 3500 for TMC members including refreshments. For enquiries kindly contact Ashley / Joseph on 071586 0000, Shalutha 071272 8080 Or Manish on 077 789 6064.

The Management Club (TMC) Mount Lavinia successfully marked the opening of its new clubhouse at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, strengthening its commitment to leadership development, professional collaboration, and member engagement.

The opening ceremony was attended by members and invited guests, with TMC President Roger Talayaratne addressing the gathering. In his remarks, he outlined the strategic direction of TMC and shared the vision for the clubhouse as a vibrant hub for dialogue, learning, and meaningful connections among business leaders and professionals. He highlighted TMC’s continued focus on knowledge sharing, leadership excellence, and creating platforms that support both established leaders and emerging professionals.

During the event, Shanthi delivered a presentation on TMC’s upcoming initiatives, with special emphasis on the Northern Investment Summit scheduled to be held in Jaffna in January 2026. The summit is expected to bring together policymakers, investors, business leaders, and regional stakeholders to explore investment opportunities, economic development, and sustainable growth in the Northern region.

Members were also informed of additional privileges linked to the new clubhouse location. All TMC members are entitled to a 20% discount at all restaurants at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, while Platinum members will enjoy a 30% discount. These benefits are in addition to the other privileges and member benefits already offered by the club.

The new lounge at the Mount Lavinia Hotel will serve as a dedicated space for regular forums, workshops, networking sessions, and member interactions. TMC Mount Lavinia continues to play a leading role in fostering engagement between corporate leaders and professionals, reinforcing its position as a key platform for collaboration and thought leadership in Sri Lanka’s business community.

People’s Bank has partnered with the Transport, Highways and Urban Development Ministry to introduce a digital ticketing solution for Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses, in line with the Government’s drive to adopt innovative digital solutions, with guidance from the Digital Economy Ministry.

The initiative was officially launched at the Makumbura Multimodal Centre (MMC) in Kottawa under the patronage of SLTB Chairman Sajeewa Kanakaratne, People’s Bank Head of Marketing Nalaka Wijayawardana, and Digital Economy Ministry Advisor Sumudu Rathnayake.

The new system enables passengers to purchase bus tickets using bank cards, eliminating the need for cash transactions while enhancing efficiency and convenience. Passengers can pay their exact fare without any additional charges, ensuring transparency and affordability.

Initially implemented as a pilot program on selected routes, including Makumbura-Galle and Makumbura-Embilipitiya, the system will be further refined based on feedback and operational observations.

This initiative reflects People’s Bank’s continued commitment to advancing digital financial solutions and supporting the Government’s vision of a modern, efficient and digitally connected public transport system.

The Parliamentary Pensions (Repeal) Bill has been published in the Government Gazette, paving the way for the abolition of pension entitlements granted to Members of Parliament and their spouses under existing law.

The proposed legislation seeks to repeal the Parliamentary Pensions Act, removing the pension scheme currently available to MPs. The Gazette notification has been issued on the directive of the Minister of Justice and National Integration.

The move follows earlier Cabinet approval to present the draft Bill to Parliament of Sri Lanka for consideration. The draft has also received clearance from the Attorney General, alongside Cabinet approval for its publication and tabling in Parliament.

Cabinet had granted in-principle approval to repeal the Parliamentary Pensions Law at its meeting held on 16 June 2025, clearing the path for the legislative process to proceed.