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Monday September 25th, 2023

Sri Lanka scraps ‘semi-luxury’ buses on Colombo-Kataragama run

CROWDED: An overloaded bus in a suburb of Colombo, leaning sideways with passengers clinging to foot boards.

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has decided to scrap buses under semi luxury category in Kataragama- Colombo bus route from Wednesday midnight onwards, Minister of Transportation Bandula Gunawardana said.

“Before the crisis there were categories of buses such as normal, semi luxury and luxury, with different bus fares,” Gunewardana said.

“From today onwards there will be no such buses in the Kataragama – Colombo route via Galle road.”

Passengers had complained that buses without air-conditioning, built on hard sprung truck chassis with uncomfortable seats were charging higher fees under semi-luxury category by simply putting curtains.

Owners of 28 buses in the route have agreed to re categorize the buses as ‘normal’, and reduce the price from 1,541 rupees to 1,117 rupees.

The National Transport Commission was looking into whether fares can be cut after a recent reduction in diesel prices. Train fares however will not be cut.

“The train fare will not be revised, because the Department has already made a massive operating loss,” Gunawardana said.

“With the recent price revisions, we are barely managing the fuel cost and all salaries as well as overtime are being paid using the taxes.” (Colombo/ Jan05/2023)

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  1. sacre blieu says:

    About busses, and even three-wheelers, most of them have lost the properties of their shock absorbers and have become hard and uncomfortable on ripply roads. All normal buses carrying passengers, are built on chassis meant to carry or transport cargo and are hard-sprung. The officers responsible who passed such buses for use should be held responsible and charged. Even the seat arrangements/positioning have been altered and tall people find it difficult to sit comfortably.

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  1. sacre blieu says:

    About busses, and even three-wheelers, most of them have lost the properties of their shock absorbers and have become hard and uncomfortable on ripply roads. All normal buses carrying passengers, are built on chassis meant to carry or transport cargo and are hard-sprung. The officers responsible who passed such buses for use should be held responsible and charged. Even the seat arrangements/positioning have been altered and tall people find it difficult to sit comfortably.

Sri Lanka sells 2028 bonds at 14.52-pct

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka sold all offered bonds in 2026 and 2028 maturities raising 220 billion rupees from an auction Monday, data from the state debt office showed.

The debt office sold 135 billion rupees of 1 June 2026 bonds to yield 15.64 percent.

Another 85 billion rupees in 01 July 2028 bonds were sold to yield 14.52 percent.

The 2028 bond is offered on tap at the weighted average yield. (Colombo/Sept25/2023)

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Sri Lanka’s stocks end down on Monday after slow day of trading

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka shares were down at close of trading on Monday.

Turnover was 550 million rupees.

The main All Share Price Index was down 0.36 percent or 40.02 points to 11,216.50, while the S&P SL20 was down 0.44 percent or 14.07 points to 3,164.52.

Trading in the Capital Goods Industry (174,037,134) drove turnover.

Commercial Bank, Expolanka Holdings, and Aitken Spence plc saw losses, while National Development Bank, John Keells Holdings and Melstacorp saw gains in the day’s trading.

The market saw a net foreign inflow of 13 million rupees, while the yearly net foreign inflow was 429 million rupees. (Colombo/Sep25/2023)

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Sri Lanka rupee closes at 324.75/324.90 to the US dollar

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee closed at 324.75/90 to the US dollar on Monday, from Friday’s close at 324.70/325.00 dealers said.

Bond yields were up.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2025 closed up at 15.55/15.70 percent on Monday, after closing at 14.95/15.30 percent on Friday.

A bond maturing on 01.08.2026 closed up at 15.50/15.65 percent up from 14.95/15.10 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed up at 14.75/15.50 percent from 14.55/15.00 percent.

A bond maturing on 01.05.2028 closed up at 14.25/14.60 from 14.00/14.30 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.05.2030 closed stable at 13.00/13.50.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2032 closed at 12.95/13.45 percent from 13.00/13.45 percent. (Colombo/Sept25/2023)

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