2026-05-26 | Rupavahini English News | 9.00PM

追加: 2026-05-28

[00:00:12][music] >> Live from the national news studio, Sri Lanka.

[00:00:17]>> [music] >> Bringing [music] you the news from Sri Lanka and across the world, it's your national news broadcast cast on Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. My name is Shivantha Perera. A very good evening indeed. I'm Sherine Zahira. Let's [music] take a look at the headlines.

[00:00:43]>> [music] >> The Central Bank hikes the overnight policy interest rate.

[00:00:48]Government [music] has no intention of absorbing anyone from opposition to the government, says Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa.

[00:00:56]Rumors regarding [music] a fuel scarcity or hike in the country false, according to a statement from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

[00:01:04]Prime Minister dedicates to the students the new television studio of Ratmalana University of Vocational Technology today.

[00:01:11]National Vesak Festival at Middeniya Raja Maha Viharaya at Ihagama, Matara tomorrow under the leadership of the president.

[00:01:18]A national program [music] to strengthen local energy security.

[00:01:23]An increase in rainy weather tomorrow in southwestern [music] areas of the island.

[00:01:28]220 perished due to Ebola [music] virus in Congo.

[00:01:38]The rise of the Sri Lankan rupee has been discussed all over the world, and that is our top story tonight as [music] well. Now, the Central Bank has raised its overnight policy interest rate accordingly, and the Monetary Board has decided to increase the policy interest [music] rate by 100 basis points to 8.7%.

[00:01:56]The Central Bank of Sri Lanka stated that the Monetary Policy Board arrived at this decision after a comprehensive review of domestic and global economic conditions.

[00:02:09]A press conference was held today at the Central Bank chaired by the governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, to brief the media on the financial decisions taken by the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank.

[00:02:25]The Monetary Policy Board decided to increase the overnight policy rate OPR by 100 basis points to 8.75%.

[00:02:34]The margins which linked SLFR, that's statutory liquidity ratio, statutory liquidity facility ratio, and also SDFR, statutory deposit facility ratio, to OPR remain unchanged at plus or minus 50 basis points. Accordingly, SDFR is at 8.25 now, and SLFR is at 9.25%.

[00:02:53]And the statutory reserve ratio SRR remains unchanged at 2%. The board arrived at this decision after carefully considering the evolving conditions and outlook on the domestic and global fronts. So, in this presentation, I will briefly take you through the main factors that the board considered during this review process. Headline inflation increased to 5.4% in April 2026 from 2.2% in March 2026. As you can see from this chart chart to your left, both headline inflation and core inflation increased substantially in April 2026.

[00:03:29]So, this is mainly due to increase in global oil prices and its a spillover effects to the domestic market, and that necessitated up increase in global oil prices necessitated increase in domestic oil prices, mainly fuel prices. I would appreciate Dr. Nandalal if you could set the record straight of what's actually happening with the currency. What happened last week, especially before Friday, we are seeing the was market that is the market between commercial bank which usually with liquidity there has been improvement in the market. But beyond that, the bank and the customers, there is another market that we call weighted average interbank between commercial banks and the customers.

[00:04:08]There are two markets. Under normal circumstances, what you see is the interbank market rate somewhere around say 320, then commercial bank rate for customers say will plus or minus depending buying or selling that is some spread between market rate. What we have observed because of the some of the speculation, some of the panic by the some people for imports and all these things, there was an excessive demand through speculation and there was a transaction happening with commercial banks and the customers well above the interbank rates. That was what we saw as a distortion. Like there is interbank market rate is 320 at the end of 330, but outside the interbank market, there was transaction happening last time of 350 55. 4 and 346 as reported by the commercial bank. So, when you look at the interbank market rate and the commercial bank rate should have been in between plus or minus, but moved away.

[00:04:59]So, we took certain actions to bring back the normal situation. And as a result, then I think Friday Thursday evening, we had a meeting with the treasurers and discussed and also we wrote some measures to stabilize the interbank rate around the buying and selling rates of the commercial bank.

[00:05:15]That settled the market, cleared that interbank market the liquidity and transaction is for market that created kind of an environment that fully activated the interbank market that is in line with the other market. As a result, there also liquidity came into the market. There there was buying and selling rates in the interbank market.

[00:05:31]Now it is fully aligned. If you look at today's rates, the market today I think coming down to around 323 levels.

[00:05:37]Interbank market commercial bank buying and selling rates around that level.

[00:05:40]That's the market has now normalized.

[00:05:42]This all based on the market demand and supply. There's nothing that obviously when there's excessive upward depreciation, we have been intervening to a certain extent, but not not to go against the market. We have been intervening to a certain, but last couple of days from Friday, there has been intervention, a small intervention from our side as we to buy a little bit, not to prevent any kind of volatility. So, that's all intervention that we have seen the market has stabilized, and now there's a good amount of liquidity in the market.

[00:06:15]Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa says that the government has no intention of absorbing anyone from the opposition to the government. Now, the minister stated during a media briefing to announce cabinet decisions held today that the bill to abolish the representation in parliament of those who switch parties will be presented in the parliament very soon.

[00:06:41]Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa stated that he had no disclaims being made in various quarters regarding economic management suggesting that certain individuals would be taken or recruited. He emphasized that the public had elected new parliament in November 2024 assigning 159 members to the ruling party and remainder to the opposition. Mandate they fully respected. Consequently, he clarified that they had no desire or intention to recruit any member from the opposition to the ruling party. He remarks that while some individuals might harbor such desires, even claiming to have spoken to him upon waking from a dream, they had no expectation of bringing anyone over from the opposition. The minister attributed these intermittent minor news reports to a group that had grown anxious and frustrated due to their loss of power and ongoing legal proceedings.

[00:07:28]However, he noted that if there were individuals who had previously worked with various parties, held different political views, but sincerely wish to work for the country, such individuals were currently serving in various positions within the state service. He added that they would not hesitate to utilize the services to implement the state machinery. Furthermore, he announced that they expected to expeditiously present a bill to Parliament to invalidate the parliamentary seats of those who cross parties against the public mandate.

[00:07:55]The minister added that provincial council elections will be held after resolving legal problems. Cabinet spokesman Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said that the provincial council elections would be held as as soon as possible in accordance with the constitution while safeguarding the sovereignty of the people. He noted that it would be ideal if the provincial council elections could be held concurrently with or prior to the local government elections. He explained that there was no policy issue in that regard as funds had been allocated and even if they had been and not the necessary funds for the election could generally be allocated through a supplementary estimate. However, he has pointed out that although the government's expectation and goal were to hold provincial council elections in swiftly, there was an issue regarding the necessary legal provisions. Cabinet spokesman mentioned that a parliamentary committee was currently functioning to resolve the matter and if those legal provisions were facilitated, they would be able to hold provincial council elections as soon as possible. He also expressed his views regarding salary issue of the employees of the government press. Regarding the department of the government printing, cabinet spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa explained that it was not maintained by the funds generated by the printing press itself but rather through significant expenditure from the treasury. He mentioned that while state functions were being carried out commercial operations were also conducted. He emphasized the desire to prioritize state work while entering the competitive commercial market to steer the printing press towards profitability. However, he noted that the current irregular nature of salaries and allowances acted as an obstacle to this goal, a factor acknowledged by all employees. The minister stated that had a submitted cabinet paper to pay the allowances due to the employees for the four-month period from January to April. He added that the cabinet paper had already been referred to a parliamentary committee chaired by the Prime Minister, which was scheduled to meet on the 5th of June. He concluded by mentioning that he had briefed the trade union officials on several occasions regarding the matter as they were genuinely making an effort to resolve the issue and reach a temporary settlement to facilitate payments based on volume of work completed by the employees despite the current lack of structural mechanism and the irregular nature of the payments.

[00:10:05]Ceylon Petroleum Corporation says that there is no truth in the rumors spread that there will be shortage of fuel or increase of fuel prices. At a press briefing held today, managing director of the corporation, M. R. Nithikumar, said that there are adequate amount of fuel in the country at present.

[00:10:25]Managing director of the CPC, M. R.

[00:10:28]Nithikumar, stated that they had heard about an ongoing campaign over the past two or three days misinforming the public about an increase in fuel prices, which had caused people to wait in long queues. However, he clarified that no such decision had been made by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. He also mentioned that rumors were circulating regarding a shortage of diesel and petrol in Sri Lanka, but emphasized that there was no truth to them. He explained that all the fuel required for the current month as well as stocks lasting until the end of the seventh month had already arrived. This meant that all the expected vessels for the month had reached Sri Lanka. Furthermore, he noted that two more crude oil tankers were scheduled to arrive in the country on the 28th and 31st of the month. He added that once those vessels arrived, the fuel obtained by refining that crude oil could be distributed in the coming months.

[00:11:19]Accordingly, the managing director assured that fuel stocks would be available in Sri Lanka until the end of July and that there would be no shortage. He also mentioned that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was continuing to supply fuel to their filling stations without any reduction.

[00:11:36]Now for an update regarding the provincial council election, the parliament special committee which has been appointed to look into the provincial council electoral system and to make recommendations has inquired the attorney general's department and the election commission on the matter on how the upcoming provincial council election can be conducted. Now this inquiry has been made when the relevant committee convened recently.

[00:12:03]This meeting took place under the chairmanship of Minister Vijitha Herath.

[00:12:07]The Attorney General's Department has submitted its observation to the committee regarding existing legal impediments and the possible measures required to facilitate the conduct of provincial council elections by addressing those issues. The Election Commission informed the committee that it is ready to hold the election at any time under the legal provisions passed by the parliament following the recommendations of the committee.

[00:12:32]New television studio at the University of Vocational Technology in Ratmalana was vested with the students today under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

[00:12:44]The university had no practical training unit for television and radio media study for a long time.

[00:12:50]This new television studio with modern technical equipment was established hopefully in this long-felt need. The Prime Minister inspected the new studio and also declared open several units attached to the media unit. Accordingly, a web radio service broadcasting studio, artificial intelligence research lab, and a center for gender status, justice, and equality were also vested with the students by the Prime Minister.

[00:13:12]Secretary to the Ministry of Education Aloka Kaluhawa, Vice-Chancellor of the Vocational Technology University Professor K.M.G. Prasanna, and many others were present at the occasion.

[00:13:26]Now in a more local news, a national authority on tobacco and alcohol states that more strong and progressive policy actions are necessary to safeguard the future of this country from tobacco-related damages. Now, the authority points out the reason for more than 20,000 avoidable deaths per year is due to the use of tobacco.

[00:13:49]It has also been identified that the use of tobacco is one of the main four dangerous factors for the infection of non-communicable diseases. A main factor is the use of tobacco for 83% of total deaths in the country is non-communicable diseases and the use of tobacco in one of the primary causes.

[00:14:07]The national authority on tobacco and alcohol has already presented a new set of proposals to the Ministry of Health to create a generation free from tobacco.

[00:14:16]Chairman of the Consultation Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Dangerous Drugs, Professor Anula Gunasekara, pointed out that 22,000 people die annually in Sri Lanka due to tobacco, which amounts to 1,800 deaths per month.

[00:14:28]She further mentioned that particularly among men, 60 people die daily due to this consumption. Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Dr. Anand Ratnayake, added that before the death, every such individual has to suffer from various diseases and illnesses and personally face numerous difficulties. He added that most of these children have been addicted to this as well. Consultant Physician Dr. Sanjeewa Gunasekara said, "If they look at male individuals in Sri Lanka, the number one and two cancers are oral cancers and lung cancers." He mentioned that tobacco has a very direct connection to both of them. He further added that even if they look at global data, tobacco is one of the main concerns.

[00:15:08]Now, we're going to a short break. When we come back, more local news on the other side. Stay tuned.

[00:15:17]Maha [music] Karuna Jathika Rupavahini Basmathi Fried Rice [music] Dansala May mas athi this >> [music] [music] [music] >> Live from the national news studio, Sri Lanka.

[00:16:00]Welcome back to the news on Sri Lanka Rupavahini. Now, a special military exercise code named exercise hard duck was conducted today at the ITC Ratnadeepa Hotel in Colombo by the Sri Lanka Army's fourth special forces regiment. The operation simulated a high-risk hostage rescue mission involving a foreign VIP trapped inside the hotel.

[00:16:24]Specially trained special forces operations arrived at the location by helicopter and entered the hotel premises using both air and ground access routes.

[00:16:45]During the drill, troops successfully reached the 38th floor of the building where the VIP was reportedly stranded.

[00:16:51]The individual was then safely evacuated using special safety ropes and lowered from the building under tight security.

[00:16:56]After the rescue, the VIP was escorted to a waiting ambulance as part of the stimulated emergency response procedure.

[00:17:03]The exercise was carried out by elite commandos trained for special operations and urban emergency response missions.

[00:17:08]Military officials say the primary objective of the training was to assess the operational readiness and rapid response capabilities of special force personnel in handling possible emergency situations in urban environments.

[00:17:36]With the aim of strengthening domestic energy security, cabinet approval has been granted to implement a national program named Sri Lanka Energy Security National Mission. Now, this comes as the country's energy security has faced recent challenges.

[00:17:54]The rising cost of fuel imports is exerting additional pressure on the national economy and the irregular electricity consumption patterns of consumers have also contributed to the situation. It has been identified that behavioral changes among the public are essential to shift electricity consumption towards periods with higher renewable energy generation and to increase energy efficiency. The proposal was presented by Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The Paddy Marketing Board plans to retain an adequate buffer of stock obtained from the paddy stocks purchased from farmers and sell the remainder. Cabinet approval was also granted for a proposal presented by Minister K.D. Lal Kantha to sell these paddy stocks by following formal tender procedures. Currently, nearly 115,000 metric tons of paddy stocks are available in the board's warehouses.

[00:18:33]Steps have been taken to sell the paddy in this manner in order to secure the warehouse space and funds required to purchase farmers paddy in the upcoming Yala season. Cabinet approval was also granted for a proposal to ensure that all fresh vegetables and fruits exported to European Union are sourced only from certified farmers, registered exporters, and processing packaging centers. The proposal was presented by Minister K.D.

[00:18:54]Lal Kantha. This measure was taken because the Health and Food Safety Regulatory Authority, an agency of the European Commission, reported that agrochemical residue in certain vegetables and fruits exported from this country have riskly increased beyond the maximum residue levels.

[00:19:07]Cabinet approval was also granted for a proposal to implement a 36-month project in collaboration with Brazil to promote the domestic sugarcane cultivation sector. The agreement for this was signed in the year 2008. Its objectives include increasing domestic sugarcane yield and sugarcane production, as well as enhancing the technical capacity of stakeholders through training and knowledge exchange, along with promoting several other aspects of the sector. The proposal was presented by Minister Sunil Hadunnetti.

[00:19:32]>> [music] >> The National Vesak Festival of this year will be held focusing the Matara District under the leadership of President Anurakumara Dissanayake at the middle-level Purana Viharaya in Tihagoda, Matara.

[00:19:45]The festival will be held in the afternoon tomorrow. This year's Vesak Festival has been named Dakshina Prabha.

[00:19:53]It will commence at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.

[00:19:55]A number of programs will be held focusing the Viharaya during the entire Vesak week observing Seela, Pindapatha Chaarika, Dansalas, Vesak lanterns and pandols exhibition, and other poojas are included in the program. Minister Sunil Hadunnetti conducted an observation tour today in order to take stock of the preparations.

[00:20:15]Minister Sunil Hadunnetti added that this year's Vesak Festival involved key policy-driven initiatives which had been communicated by the Commissioner of Buddhist Affairs. He mentioned that requests had been made regarding how flags should be used at dansals, that's arms stalls, specifically advising against using the Buddhist flag inappropriately. He further appealed to the public to attend the festivities free from alcohol and drugs and to avoid causing any conflict. He noted that they had explicitly requested the police and public security officials to strictly enforce the law regarding such misconduct. Additionally, the Minister highlighted that local councils and urban councils were working together to help manage the dansals without plastic usage and to maintain cleanliness.

[00:20:56]Concluding his remarks, he emphasized that the state Vesak Festival centered in Matara City was a national event and he called for everyone's cooperation.

[00:21:04]Parliamentarian Professor L. A. D. S.

[00:21:05]Weerasinghe was that in addition to the main temple, various events were centered around Matara town including the Matara fort, the Migadaya ancient temple, and the Matara beach road. He mentioned that pandals had been erected, dansals were being held, and a variety of programs such as Vesak lantern competitions and devotional song competitions had been organized throughout the week across different locations in Matara.

[00:21:32]Deputy Minister Nalinda Hewage states that the country expects to generate an income between 12 and 20 billion US dollars through skilled migrant workers.

[00:21:41]Now, he expressed these views while addressing a meeting held in the Katubedda area yesterday.

[00:21:50]The development committee of the Ceylon German Technical Training Institute was established yesterday under the patronage of Deputy Minister Nalinda Hewage. The event took place at the Technical Training Institute itself.

[00:22:02]Speaking at the event, the Deputy Minister stated that 1 billion rupees have been allocated for the general training.

[00:22:09]Deputy Minister Nalinda Hewage stated that the government's expectation and sole ambition was to further develop this prestigious institution, create human resources, and expand infrastructure facilities. He mentioned that those institutional systems are needed to be structured in a way that suited modernity and the future youth.

[00:22:26]He further added that regarding foreign exchange, it was well known that foreign workers currently earned 8.1 billion dollars for the country.

[00:22:35]Department of Meteorology informs that an increase in rainy weather condition in the southwestern areas of the island can be expected today as well due to the gradually stabilizing southwestern monsoon across the country.

[00:22:48]Intermittent rains or thunder showers might occur in Western Sabaragamuwa and Northwestern provinces as well as Galle, Matara, Kandy, and Nuwara Eliya districts. According to the Met Department, strong showers of about 100 mm can occur in certain places of those areas. Showers or thundershowers are expected after 1:00 p.m. at several places in Ampara in Uva Province and Batticaloa District. The weather communique further states that fairly strong winds of 30 to 40 km/h might occur in the western slopes of central hills, northern, north central, northwestern, and southern provinces and also in Trincomalee District. Sea areas from Kankesanturai to Chilaw, Mannar, and Mathara to Pottuvil via Hambantota will stay rough at times and the rest of the sea areas might remain somewhat rough according to the communique.

[00:23:33]There's also possibility of sea waves after showers from Hambantota to Pottuvil.

[00:23:40]Rough seas today also at the CSE. Now, the Colombo Stock Exchange ended today's trading negatively. The All Share Price Index closed at 22,175.14 after falling by 189.63 points, which represents a 0.85% higher change.

[00:24:01]The S&P SL 20 [music] Index closed at 6,118.26 down by 60.85 [music] points and 0.98%.

[00:24:10]Total market capitalization at the close [music] of trading stood at 8.054 trillion rupees. Market turnover [music] for the day amounted to 4.93 billion rupees with 94.34 million shares trading hands.

[00:24:29]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Welcome back and we move on to world news now. The World Health Organization says 220 deaths have been reported due to the rapidly spreading Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

[00:25:21]And the organization's director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that suppression of efforts by the health authorities have been delayed compared to the speed at which the virus is spreading. The total number of cases has exceeded 900 so far.

[00:25:42]Now the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus has been declared a public health emergency of international concern, but no approved vaccine or specific treatment has yet been found. The virus has also spread to neighboring Uganda.

[00:25:55]Reports indicate that armed conflict and civilian unrest in Congo made it extremely difficult for health teams control the outbreak. World Health Organization has warned the neighboring countries to remain prepared.

[00:26:17]>> [music] >> Moving on to sports news now, a monthly allowance of the players of Sri Lanka 7 A-side men's rugby team commenced today under the mission of Olympic program.

[00:26:33]Sri Lanka was able to win both men's and women's championships of the Central and South Asian region rugby tournament. A function was held in the morning today at the Ministry of Sports with the participation of Minister of Sports Sunil Kumar Gamage and a group of others in appreciation of the players. The Sri Lankan 7 A-side men's rugby team has occupied the third place in Asian rankings displaying skills in international rugby throughout the last year. 21 rugby players have been included in group three of the Mission Olympic Cup program according to the above rankings. Accordingly, a player will get an allowance of 135,000 rupees per month. In another development, a sum of 180,000 rupees has been awarded today to 16 players of the Sri Lankan women's rugby team which won the championship of the Central and South Asian region rugby tournament held recently in Uzbekistan as an incentive. This will be awarded as a one-time allowance in order to encourage them for victories. Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage said that when he took office, Sri Lanka was ranked 12th in Asian rugby sevens. Within a year, they managed to elevate the ranking to third place in Asia. He mentioned that in April of the previous year, they had developed a program called Mission Olympic 2028 under which a squad was formed. This squad is divided into four categories as tier one, tier two, tier three, and tier four with monthly payments ranging from 210,000 to 110,000 rupees.

[00:27:59]In the meantime, Sri Lankan cricket team is due to leave the island tonight in order to participate in the cricket tournament with the West Indies. And the tournament will commence on the 3rd of next month.

[00:28:13]Sri Lankan players participating in the tournament appeared for an official photograph also Sri Lanka cricket in the afternoon today.

[00:28:19]The cricket tournament between the West Indies and Sri Lanka include three ODIs and three T20 matches and two test matches. Sri Lanka cricket announced the participating Sri Lankan team yesterday.

[00:28:29]Accordingly, with a change in the T20 team leadership, Kusal Mendis has been entrusted the captaincy. Former ODI captain Chamara Silva and T20 captain Dasun Shanaka are among the other members of the team.

[00:28:43]Well, that was a look at your news here at Sri Sri Rupavahini Corporation. I'm Shervon Perera together with Sherif Tahir, wish you a pleasant [music] evening and a great night. Good night.

[00:28:55]>> [music]