ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Stock Exchange closed down on Tuesday trading, CSE data showed, with the benchmark All Share Price Index moving down 0.31 percent.

The ASPI was down 65.12 points at 21,279.65, while the more liquid S&P SL20 was down 0.24 percent, or 14.59 points, at 5,994.81.

Positive contributors to the ASPI were Haycarb (up 2.69 percent at 190.75 rupees), LOLC Finance (up 6.00 percent at 5.30 rupees), Melstacorp (up 0.26 percent at 190.50 rupees), Hayleys (up 0.33 percent at 226.75 rupees), and Sampath Bank (up 0.18 percent at 140.00 rupees).

Cargills (Ceylon) (down 4.44 percent at 650.50 rupees), Dialog Axiata (down 1.49 percent at 46.40 rupees), and Citizens Development Business Finance (down 7.04 percent at 37.00 rupees) were top negative contributors.

Market turnover was 796.92 million rupees. Capital goods led turnover with 153.15 million rupees, followed by Materials with 138.64 million rupees.

HNB Finance announced the appointment of Talpawila Kankanamge Don Aruna Prasad Samarasinghe as Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective August 28, following the retirement of Rajive Dissanayake.

The company said Samarasinghe holds a relevant interest in 1,089,705,785 voting shares through Hatton National Bank. (Colombo/August25/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has sold 50 billion rupees in 2030 and 2035 bonds, data from the public debt management office showed.

All offered 30 billion rupees of 01 August 2030 (LKB00530H016) bonds were sold at an average yield of 10.54 percent.

All offered 20 billion rupees of 15 March 2035 (LKB02035C155) bonds were sold at an average yield of 11.70 percent.

Both bonds are available on tap. (Colombo/Aug25/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has offered four offshore blocks in the Northwestern Mannar Basin for international investors to explore oil and gas in a fresh attempt to attract investments into the sector after an earlier attempt ended in a failure due to not commercially viable production.

The Mannar Basin, which lies between southern India and northwestern Sri Lanka, may hold around $260 billion worth of oil and gas resources, A Sri Lanka’s former energy minister has told the parliament in 2021.

The latest attempt is the first under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake government to explore oil and gas in the area. Based on seismic surveys, previous governments have estimated that a 30,000 square kilometre area off the north coast of the country holds over one million barrels of oil resources.

“We are opening four significant exploration blocks in the Mannar Basin and invite experienced international energy companies to evaluate this opportunity and work with Sri Lanka a long-term partners in the responsible development of our natural resources,” the island nation’s Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka said.

Sri Lanka held its first international licensing round for petroleum exploration in 2007, with one exploration block awarded to an Indian firm that pulled out amid concerns o er the commercial viability of oil production despite the discovery of gas and hydrocarbons in the Mannar basin.

“Now we have different scientific data, and we believe that the time has come to move forward with great determination and clear sense of purpose…..We are sure that the history will not repeat it again,” Karunathilaka said.

Out of the four blocks, second is the smallest with 5,689.05 square kilometres area and the fourth is the largest with 11,728.3 square kilometres area.

In 2007, the island nation assigned to China and India on nomination basis. However, this time, it has not assigned for any other countries, the officials said.

“Nobody is barred from bidding,” Neil De Silva, the Director General at the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka (PDASL) told EconomyNext.

Sri Lanka’s pursuit of offshore oil and gas exploration began in the late 1960s, initially focusing on shallow offshore areas in the Gulf of Mannar and the Cauvery Basin.

Early exploratory drilling yielded limited technical successes until 2011, when Cairn Lanka, a subsidiary of Cairn India at that time, made a breakthrough by discovering significant natural gas accumulations in two offshore wells within the deepwater Mannar Basin.

These discoveries established the presence of commercially viable natural gas and condensate deposits.

However, due to complex deepwater extraction dynamics, a lack of domestic natural gas infrastructure, and global energy market shifts, commercial production failed to materialize, leading Cairn to exit the block in 2015.

Following years of stagnation, Sri Lanka modernized its regulatory setup by enacting the Petroleum Resources Act of 2021 and establishing the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka (PDASL) to manage exploration rights and update offshore acreage block maps.

To revitalize foreign investment and lower its heavy reliance on coal and oil imports, the country introduced new joint-study regulations and structured new licensing frameworks.

These efforts aim to attract international oil and gas majors to explore and commercialize the estimated hydrocarbon potential across its three major prospective sedimentary basins: the Mannar, Cauvery, and Lanka Basins. (Colombo/August 25/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka will roll out 300,000 smart meters with a Time-of-Use billing system over the next two years to help modernize the national power grid, minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The project will be funded using 12.5 million US dollars from an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan facility and will be carried out by Electricity Distribution Lanka (Pvt) Ltd following Cabinet approval.

The initiative is part of broader state efforts to upgrade the power network and support the integration of renewable energy sources.

“As part of the core program to modernize Sri Lanka’s smart grid, a project to install 300,000 Smart Meters with a Time-of-Use billing system has been proposed to be implemented using the remaining US$ 12.5 million,” Jayatissa said.

The funding is drawn from a total loan of 15 million US dollars approved by the Cabinet on October 21, 2024, under the ADB’s Small Expenditure Financing Facility. The loan was secured to finance complementary projects aimed at strengthening the country’s renewable energy efforts.

Out of the total financing, the Cabinet had previously approved the use of 2.5 million US dollars on September 3, 2025, to prepare detailed design and procurement documents for the Maha Oya Pumped Storage Power Plant Development Project.

The remaining funds will now be directed toward implementing the smart metering infrastructure.

“Accordingly, the Cabinet approved the proposal submitted by the Minister of Energy to implement the said project by Electricity Distribution Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. over a period of 02 years,” Jayatissa said.

The introduction of Time-of-Use billing is expected to assist the power sector in managing electricity demand more effectively across the distribution network. (Colombo/Aug25/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has approved an infrastructure restoration project funded by China to rebuild 14 bridges damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The initiative targets key transport links across five provinces: Western, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, North Central, and Eastern.

Under the agreement, China will provide a financial grant of RMB 79 million to carry out the reconstruction.

The project will unfold in two distinct phases, with the initial phase scheduled for completion within 18 months to repair the first 9 bridges and restore vital regional connectivity. (Colombo/August25/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has approved an amendment to the Civil Procedure Code allowing courts to record witness testimony remotely from within the country or abroad via audio-visual links.

The measure aims to modernize civil litigation and resolve cases faster, enabling remote evidence either upon the request of parties or on the court’s own motion.

“The Cabinet has approved the amendment to empower the Court to direct persons to give evidence through simultaneous audio-visual link from any place within or outside Sri Lanka,” minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

“We previously implemented this for criminal cases. Now, utilizing modern technology, it is being extended to civil proceedings as well to expedite court proceedings.”

The draft bill by the Legal Draftsman has received clearance from the Attorney General.

It will be published in the Government Gazette and presented to Parliament for approval following a proposal by the Minister of Justice and National Integration.

The amendment applies only to enabling remote witness testimony and leaves the rest of the Civil Procedure Code unchanged, Jayatissa said.

He added that the system was initially introduced for child witnesses in criminal trials, and the necessary technical equipment is scheduled to be distributed to most courts across the island by the end of this month. (Colombo/Aug25/2026)