The budget signals continuity, maybe also with the IMF, as the president’s speech left the door open for another programme. He was also candid about poor performances such as attracting foreign investment. But economists worry that the government isn’t doing enough to unleash private investment.

The government scrapped MPs’ pensions this year. Some former members are struggling to make ends meet. Party leaders weigh what the move will mean for recruiting new politicians, especially in a country where MPs’ salaries are poor too. The JVP-led ruling party has a different practice altogether.

The president has stuck to the script, keeping taxes largely unchanged and promising a big lift in capital spending. But he’s squandering yet another chance for public sector reform. Without that, moving from stability to growth will be tough, argues Yolani Fernando.

Follow along as the president races from budget meetings to clothes shop openings this week. He’s also swapped out a key ministry secretary, in hopes of speeding up his digitisation agenda. Meanwhile, his party faces its own problems, with a mayor gone rogue, and trade unions growing restless.

We no longer live in the era of DJ’s  refusing to field even a single baila request. Vault dedicates all of this evening to our creole rhythms. If balancing arrack glasses on your forehead

Sri Lanka’s Tourism Promotion Bureau is the sole sponsor of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s general assembly. The sponsorship, worth 100 million rupees, was extended to MTV for the four day event. It’s an unusually large sum for the bureau, which usually only offers 5-10 million rupees for events.

Regional Plantation Companies, whose plantations cover 20% of the island’s agricultural land, are paying discounted rent. Now the companies want their leases extended on similar terms. But industry veterans think the land should partly be sold and partly redistributed to workers.

Sinopec’s Hambantota refinery investment is now on ice. The negotiating committee recommended cancelling the $3.7 billion deal, signed last year during the president’s visit to Beijing. Meanwhile, the FSP and Northern parties snipe from the flanks.

Despite tourist arrivals making large jumps to return to pre-crisis levels, there hasn't been a similar jump in hotel occupancy at Tourism Board registered hotels. Where are all the tourists staying?