Sri Lanka Financial News

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang's prolonged absence from public view for 12 days has raised concerns and speculation about his well-being. Qin was scheduled to meet with the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, this month, but China unexpectedly postponed the meeting without providing further information. There have been rumors in Brussels that Qin's absence might be due to health issues, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stated that he had not heard about such reports during a press briefing in Beijing. The official website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry indicates that Qin's last official engagement was on June 25, where he met officials from Sri Lanka, Russia, and Vietnam. On the same day, he also participated in an event alongside Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. Additionally, a lunch meeting between Qin and ambassadors from the European Union in late June was abruptly canceled, according to an ambassador based in Beijing who was on the invite list.

India for saving Sri Lanka and preventing a "bloodbath" during its unprecedented economic crisis last year, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has said that not a single nation has extended that kind of assistance to Colombo as done by New Delhi. Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.

India is the biggest market for Sri Lanka in terms of tourism arrivals and that is likely to be the case in the long term as well, said said Chalaka Gajabahu, chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), the government body responsible for handling all marketing and promotion activities for the island nation. «In terms of numbers, right now, India is the number one source market for us and I'm pretty sure it's going to stay there for the next couple of years and for our long term plans as well,» he said. Gajabahu said the country has already got over 600,000 incoming tourists till June 30.

India (BCCI) in its 19th apex Council meet on Friday decided to send both the men's and women's criclet teams to participate in the Asian Games which are scheduled to be held in September 2023 at Hangzhou, China. With the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup scheduled to commence on October 5, the cricket governing body has announced to send a second string team of men. Nonetheless, women's team will mark their presence in full strength.

Sri Lanka's Jaffna will be increased from four times a week to daily services from July 16, a move that will also amplify trade and commerce, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said. Scindia made the announcement in a pre-recorded video message on the second day of the 67th annual convention of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) being hosted in Colombo.

MS Dhoni turned 42 on Friday. The legend known for his leadership qualities, last-ball match-winning sixes and brisk wicket-keeping skills has won India all three major ICC white-ball trophies. Indian cricket’s talisman is one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket. With an average of 50.57 in 350 ODIs, one-day cricket remains to be Captain Cool’s strongest format. He scored his career best of 183* against Sri Lanka, the highest ever by a wicketkeeper in an ODI game. He scored 10 centuries and 73 fifties and is India’s fifth-highest run scorer in ODIs. Batting down the order through most of his career and still pulling off 10,000-plus runs only adds to the stature of India’s last World cup winning captain. India’s most successful ODI captain has led India to 200 matches with a winning percentage of 55. Five matches were tied while 11 failed to produce a result. It was under MS Dhoni’s leadership that India ended the 28-year-long draught of a 50-over World Cup trophy, winning it in 2011. With 229 sixes, he is the fifth-highest six-hitter of all time and also has the second-highest sixes by an Indian next to Rohit Sharma (275 sixes). He is also the sixth-fastest player to reach 10,000 ODI runs in 273 innings.

New Delhi: Disney+ Hotstar, the video streaming platform owned by the Walt Disney Co, has announced that its new show, The Trial starring Kajol, will stream on 14 July. Over-the-top streaming platforms are increasingly relying on the innate urge of Bollywood A-listers to find an audience and reach out to the masses, to expand their subscriber base, said media experts.

Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is turning 42 years old today. Known for his calm temperament under pressure, Dhoni has been celebrated among the fans and dubbed as the ‘Captain cool’.

Netherlands beat Scotland by four wickets to qualify for the Cricket World Cup on Thursday. Sri Lanka had already claimed the other World Cup berth at the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe. Bas de Leede was Netherlands' match-winner with his all-round performance.

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economy has been growing steadily for a decade, last year by 4.7%. In 2010 GDP per person, adjusted for prices, was 53% of the EU average; by 2021 it was 74%. Meanwhile the population shrank from 23.2m in 1990 to 19m today.

equality and social justice, the Assembly Judiciary Committee of California recently conducted a hearing for Senate Bill 403 (SB403), which aims to prohibit caste discrimination, according to a report published by ABC10.  If passed, California would become the first state in the United States to explicitly ban caste-based discrimination by including caste as a protected category under the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act, as well as fair housing and employment laws. The bill has been passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and now it will move to the Appropriations Committee.

Indian market domestically via a partnership with Padget Electronics. Buniac also said that India will serve as an export hub for Motorola to the US, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Simultaneously, Motorola is investing heavily in R&D in several countries, including India, where it is establishing its second camera lab outside the US in Bengaluru.

Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana dropped a place each to sixth and seventh respectively in the latest ICC rankings for batters in ODIs released here on Tuesday. Swashbuckling batter Harmanpreet has 716 rating points while Mandhana has 714. Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu topped the chart with 758 points, the first player from the island nation to achieve the feat.

India has doubled its share of global commercial services exports to 4.4 per cent in 2022 from 2 per cent in 2005, according to a World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO) report. "China and India doubled their share of global commercial services exports from 2005 to 2022, from 3.0 per cent to 5.4 per cent, and from 2.0 per cent to 4.4 per cent, respectively," it said.

commercial services exports to 4.4% in 2022 from 2% in 2005, the World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO) said Monday. In a report titled ‘Trade in services for development’, they said that in India, South Africa and Türkiye, jobs directly linked to cross-border services exports account for more than 10% of total services sector jobs.

Sri Lanka was forced to repatriate the Thailand-born elephant to its birthplace.Muthu Rajen landed in Thailand on a special reparation flight, for which a whopping amount of USD 4,25,000 was spent. He was airlifted in a specially-made steel cage to Chiang Mai. Four Thai handlers and one zoo keeper accompanied Muthu on his flight to his birthplace. The Thai Royal family gifted three elephants, including Muthu Rajen to Sri Lanka in 2001. They were to be trained so that they could help perform Buddhist religious rituals. But the animal rights groups allege that the elephant was forced to carry heavy logs in the temple. It developed a stuffed leg. Sri Lanka-based Rally for Animal Rights and Environment raised the issue of neglect and bad treatment to Muthu Rajen with the Thai authorities and asked them to take the elephant back to save it. When the Thai ambassador visited Muthu at the temple, he was in pain and covered in abscesses. At the request of the envoy, Muthu was shifted to Sri Lanka National Park. Talking to the journalists, Sri Lanka wildlife minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that the Thai authorities were adamant about taking Muthu Rajen back due to the harsh treatment it received. Ultimately, the elephant returned to its birthplace.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed hope that the country will be able to shed its bankruptcy status by September and boost its economy. Wickremesinghe’s remark came in the backdrop of Lanka's parliament approving a domestic debt restructuring plan on Saturday that is crucial to continue a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The plan was passed with a majority of 122 votes in the 225-member parliament.

Pathum Nissanka scored an unbeaten 101 as Sri Lanka booked their place at the 50-over Cricket World Cup in India with a comprehensive nine wicket victory over hosts Zimbabwe in their qualifier in Bulawayo on Sunday. Sri Lanka move to eight points in the Super Six stage of the preliminary tournament and cannot finish outside of the top two teams, who both earn a place at finals which will be played from Oct. 5-Nov.

West Indies will not be part of the ODI World Cup for the first time in the history of the tournament after being eliminated from the Qualifiers — a result that plunged country's cricket to an unimaginable low, on Saturday. Coming into the do-or-die Super Six contest, West Indies, packed with some bona-fide T20 superstars, suffered an embarrassing seven-wicket defeat against Scotland after managing a modest 181 in 43.5 overs. It was an impressive show by the Scots, especially by all-rouder Brandon McMullen, who first took three wickets, and then scored a patient 69 off 106 balls to steer his side to a famous victory.

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