நிதி உதவி வழங்க !
UPI ID : enb@axis.com
UPI ID : enb@axis.com
President unveil 2027 Budget today, * investment-oriented * relief for masses- FT LKThursday, 12 November 2026 FTPAYE threshold set to be adjusted again; no new taxes or rate increases expectedCapital market policies to be far more visible in the Budget, which also carries Rs. 2 trillion capex allocationBudget tied to IMF program and release of next trancheGovt. and IMF to push growth-oriented reforms, negating short-term fiscal looseningAppropriation Bill sets total spending at Rs. 9.92 trillion, caps net borrowing at Rs. 3.8 trillionPresident and Finance Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake is expected to present an investment-oriented 2027 Budget in Parliament today, with some relief for masses impacted by the tough stabilisation measures of the past two years, climate change and the Middle East conflict.As hinted by the President and his Ministers in recent weeks, the Pay As You Earn threshold is set to be adjusted upwards again and no new taxes or rate increases are expected, as the Government squares pre-announced relief with International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions for a $ 345 million tranche and El Niño and the Middle East war that are eroding growth assumptions.The Budget, the Government’s third, carries Rs. 4.99 trillion in service expenditure and a Rs. 3.8 trillion net borrowing cap.Relief is to be delivered in stages. The President has told a trade union convention that the PAYE threshold, already raised from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 150,000, will be adjusted again, and has set out a two to three year VAT reduction alongside a one-year deferral of the IMF-backed property tax. No new taxes or rate increases are expected, with the revenue strategy resting on compliance rather than rate changes.Revenue mobilisation is running well ahead of targets. The original target was to raise Government revenue to 15.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030, but the country had already exceeded 16% by end-2025. This year’s target, set under ceilings referenced to the Public Financial Management Act, has been kept at around 15% and is comfortably within reach.Once that level is secured, space opens to fund much-needed public investment and to consider strategies to reset the present tax structure. Problems in corporate income tax and individual income tax are acknowledged, but rates are unlikely to come down at this stage without delaying revenue mobilisation. A reduction in indirect taxation becomes possible once revenue reaches the required level, with all tax policy changes to be guided by fairness, simplicity and convenience.The Budget carries Rs. 2 trillion in capital allocations, prioritising roads, railways, rural connectivity and networks, logistics, and some social spending, and is framed as a move beyond the goal of economic stabilisation towards economic expansion and transformative development. The President reviewed the final document at the Presidential Secretariat on 11 November. Existing bureaucratic systems and resources, however, constrain the State’s ability to spend at speed, and discussions on accelerating disbursement are already under way.Most macroeconomic stabilisation targets have been met ahead of or within the expected timeframe, drawing recognition from local stakeholders, diplomatic missions, international agencies and independent rating agencies. The stated task now is to move past stabilisation into real transformation, with investment needed both local and foreign, Finance Deputy Minister Anil Jayantha Fernando recently said.Domestic savings are identified as the immediate opportunity, given the gap between savings and investment, with the capital market cast as the channel for pooling scattered savings and directing them into the real economy. To that end, capital market policies are to be far more visible in the 2027 Budget, with an acknowledgement that steps taken over the past two years were not widely seen and led some to conclude little had been done for the market, Fernando said.President and Finance Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake (right) with Treasury Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma reviewing the finalised 2027 Budget proposals yesterdayMost of the 12 capital market development proposals submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) have already been discussed and accepted by the Finance Ministry. Some will be included in the Budget proposals, while the remainder will be discussed further and implemented in consultation with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the SEC. Required legal amendments are to be introduced, with new Acts in the pipeline for presentation to Parliament, and the single window project for investment facilitation through technology is nearing completion.The Appropriation Bill, Gazetted on 18 September, 2026 by order of the President as Finance Minister, sets service expenditure for Ministries and Departments at Rs. 4.99 trillion and statutory expenditure, charged to the Consolidated Fund by other laws, at Rs. 4.92 trillion, for total expenditure of about Rs. 9.92 trillion. Net outstanding Government borrowings are capped at no more than Rs. 3.8 trillion for the year.The structure shows how far recurrent commitments constrain the Budget. The Department of Pensions alone accounts for Rs. 550.35 billion of the Public Administration Ministry’s Rs. 651 billion. Provincial Councils are budgeted separately at Rs. 574.95 billion recurrent and Rs. 85 billion capital, a combined Rs. 659.95 billion, taking the Ministry’s effective allocation to about Rs. 1.31 trillion, ahead of Finance.The IMF reached staff-level agreement on the Seventh Review of the $ 3 billion Extended Fund Facility on 8 November, making Executive Board approval contingent on the Budget being presented in line with program parameters and on adequate progress with debt restructuring. The arrangement ends in March 2027, with debt service stepping up in 2028. Revenue must stay above 15.3% and 15.4% of GDP in 2026 and 2027, with primary expenditure capped at 12.9% of GDP. The Government has told the Fund that Budget revenue measures will suffice for targets.The external backdrop has worsened. The IMF said the economy grew 4.2% in the second quarter, an eleventh consecutive quarter of expansion, with reserves at $ 6.9 billion at end-August, but flagged risks from the war’s duration and intensity, global trade policy and El Niño. “Safeguarding macroeconomic stability in a shock-prone environment requires continuing with prudent policies and bold reforms to protect the hard-won gains of the program,” it said, pressing for fuel prices to track global markets.Inflation rose to 8.3% year-on-year in October from 8% in September, a three-year high. The current account swung to a $ 128 million deficit in September, taking the nine-month shortfall to $ 420 million against a $ 1.9 billion surplus a year earlier. Equity outflows reached $ 170.2 million over the nine months, against $ 85 million a year before, though direct investment in the balance of payments primary account exceeded $ 1 billion, up from $ 841 million.Analysts point out that the economy is undergoing its most fundamental change in seven to eight decades. Twin fiscal and current account surpluses were last recorded in the 1950s and the shift will reward capital-intensive, margin-driven businesses while squeezing labour-intensive, volume-based players, as the Government avoids loose fiscal policy in a break from the past. However, the fiscal gains and economic stabilisation have been uneven, not benefiting vulnerable groups.Other analysts argue that the fiscal responsibility framework must survive the Budget. They want revenue to increase through a widened tax net, and call for a healthy primary surplus, a contained deficit and a shift from recurrent to capital spending through procurement changes, with tax moderated rather than cut. Policy stability mattered more than any single Budget.Advocate Institute has called for an independent Tax Ombudsman with binding timelines, noting that of Rs. 2.16 trillion in arrears at end-2025, Rs. 1.68 trillion is disputed and interest on disputed balances rose from Rs. 81 billion to Rs. 278 billion in a year. They want Port City residential exemptions of up to 25 years abolished, given apartments there sell at about $ 500 a square foot to roughly 6,000 families, and an end to property tax breaks for the Port City casino.They also seek an end to lotteries as a revenue tool, parity between online gaming and casinos, and a financially independent Gambling Regulatory Authority. On food, they calculate that taxes make up Rs. 308 of the retail price of chicken and want the Rs. 50 per kilo Special Commodity Levy on imported corn replaced with VAT, import quotas ended and cash transfers used to support about 35,000 registered maize farmers. On paddy, they want Bim Saviya titling accelerated, since freehold deeds for nearly two million families would otherwise take about 100 years, and the Plant Variety Protection Act passed.The Second Reading vote is set for 6 p.m. on 20 November and the Third Reading for 14 December. 2027 Budget: Key timelines revealedNovember 11, 2026 By Newswire President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, is scheduled to present the 2027 Budget in Parliament tomorrow (12).According to a statement issued by the Parliament of Sri Lanka, the President will deliver the Budget Speech, or the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill for 2027, during the parliamentary sitting scheduled to commence at 1.30 p.m.The Budget Debate will be held over 26 days, from November 13 to December 14, with the Second Reading Debate scheduled from November 13 to 20.The vote on the Second Reading of the Budget will take place at 6.00 p.m. on November 20.The Committee Stage Debate is scheduled to be held over 19 days, from November 21 to December 14, including four Saturdays.The final vote on the Third Reading of the 2027 Budget is scheduled for 6.00 p.m. on December 14.The Appropriation Bill for 2027 was presented to Parliament for its First Reading on October 7, 2026.Meanwhile, Parliament announced that during the Budget period, parliamentary business under Standing Orders 22(1) to 22(6) will be conducted from 9.30 a.m. to 10.00 a.m.Five Questions for Oral Answers will be taken up from 10.00 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., followed by a Question under Standing Order 27(2) from 10.30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.The Budget Debate will be conducted daily from 11.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.On all days except November 20 and December 14, when voting is scheduled, the period from 6.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. will be allocated for Motions at the Adjournment Time.
Who is Nvidia interim CEO Colette Kress?Akash SriramNvidia's Chief Financial Officer Colette KressKress poses for a photo in an unknown location. Nvidia/Handout via REUTERSAs we’ve just reported, Nvidia has chosen Kress as interim CEO while it searches for a permanent successor to Huang.Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 as executive vice president and chief financial officer, and has remained CFO throughout the company’s rise to the centre of the artificial-intelligence boom.Before joining Nvidia, Kress spent eight years in finance roles at Texas Instruments and more than a decade at Microsoft, where she became CFO of its Server and Tools division in 2006.She later moved to Cisco in 2010, overseeing financial strategy and business development for its Business Technology and Operations Finance organisation.Forbes ranks Kress No. 32 on its 2026 list of America's richest self-made women. Her shares in the chip firm were valued at roughly $750 million, as of Wednesday's close, down from more than $1 billion at the stock's peak last month.Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO after affairs scandalHuang, 63, had been under pressure over reports of two extramarital affairs, one involving Alice Huang, a woman alleged to be a Chinese spyBy Farouq Suleiman, Marta Serafinko, Estelle Shirbon and Kylie MacLellanWhat you need to knowNvidia says Jensen Huang has resigned as president and CEO effective immediatelyChief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO, while former Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones was named Nvidia's first-ever board chairmanHuang, 63, had been under pressure over reports of two extramarital affairs, one involving Alice Huang, a woman alleged to be a Chinese spyThe announcement came after Nvidia's board met on Wednesday to discuss his futureNvidia shares fell 13% at the US market open, taking the company's market value below $4 trillion for the first time since July 2025Huang's exit plunges the company into uncertainty and threatens to disrupt an AI ecosystem that he helped bankrollUS President Donald Trump has called the Nvidia chief 'an honorable guy', while congressional leaders called for investigations into national security risksWarren says Congress must restrict US chip sales to ChinaDemocratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has said Nvidia still owes Congress answers about what has happened.Warren's views are important because she is likely to be the next chair of the Banking Committee, which has a key oversight role on export controls.In a written statement, she said it was urgent Congress pass new rules restricting US chip sales to China."Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s decision to resign does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole of responsibility for putting our national security at risk or for any potential violations of our laws," Warren said.ReactionGlobal AI stocks sinkShashwat ChauhanGlobal AI-linked stocks have fallen sharply.As the centerpiece of the AI ecosystem, Nvidia's finances infrastructure built around its chips - a strategy that has drawn scrutiny over circular funding and now risks weighing on the sector as its crisis deepens.AI stocks have struggled after the Democrats swept the midterm elections, including in states opposed to new data centers, stoking fears that tighter regulation could slow the AI infrastructure build-out.Nvidia-backed neocloud firms CoreWeave dropped 16.6% after surging more than 27% in the previous session when its earnings ignited a relief rally in AI stocks.Other neocloud stocks like Applied Digital were also trading lower, with IREN down 11%."He's the face of Nvidia and Nvidia has been front and center of the AI build-out," said Jun Bei Liu, lead portfolio manager at Ten Cap."And if we look at how many new cloud data center businesses have been sponsored in this circular financing world, it's pretty much all by Nvidia. And so it has quite a meaningful ramification for what is to come."BreakingNvidia shares slump 13% at market openAs expected, Nvidia's shares have opened sharply lower. They are set for their biggest daily drop since January 2025.The fall has taken the company's market value below $4 trillion for the first time since July 2025.'We will continue to grow our business,' says new Nvidia chairDavid ShepardsonWe can also bring you a memo sent to Nvidia employees by Harvey Jones, who has just been appointed as the first chair of the company's board of directors."Dear NVIDIA Employees,I am writing to share an important update. Jensen has resigned as CEO and Board Member, and the Board has asked our Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress to serve as interim CEO while it conducts a search for a permanent successor looking at both internal and external candidates. I will serve as the first-ever Chair of the Board.As CFO for over 13 years, Colette has been a key architect of NVIDIA’s growth and capital strategy. She possesses a deep understanding of this business and the markets in which we operate. The Board has full confidence in Colette to deliver on our commitments to shareholders, customers, partners, and to each of you.Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound. NVIDIA is one of the most consequential technology companies in the world. We pioneered accelerated computing, defined the modern GPU, and built the platform that powered artificial intelligence.The Board takes seriously our duty as stewards of this great company.The strength of this company resides in our employees, leadership team, technical strength and partner ecosystem. I am confident that under Colette’s leadership, with the full support of the Board, we will continue to grow our business, and lead the industry forward. Thank you for your focus, your professionalism, and your commitment to NVIDIA.Harvey Jones Chair, NVIDIA Board of Directors"'Let's move forward together,' Kress tells employeesDavid ShepardsonKress has sent a memo to Nvidia employees, which we've seen a copy of.Here is what it says:"Dear NVIDIANs,I believe deeply in this company and in its future. More than anything, I believe in each of you, in our customers and partners and in the vital role we play every day in the global economy.The Board, Estaff (executive staff) and I recognize that this has been an extraordinarily difficult period and I want you to know how grateful we are for your resilience, professionalism and continued dedication. Thank you.This company has achieved so much because of the work that all of you bring to it every single day. You are our greatest strength. You will hear more from leadership in the coming days about our future together, and we will host a company meeting on November 18 at 9 a.m. PT.We play a vital role in building the technology that is powering the AI revolution, and we have important work ahead of us. So let's move forward together, with the same determination and commitment that have always defined this company.Thank you for all you do, Colette"
மாவீரர்களே, உங்களுக்கு எங்கள் வீர வணக்கம்! மாவீரர் நாள் கவிதை.( அரசவைப் புலவபுதுவை இரத்தினதுரை)மாரிமழை பொழியும், மண்கசியும் ஊர்முழுதும் வாரியடித்து வெள்ளம் வான்பாயும் கார்த்திகையில் பூமி சிலிர்த்துப்போய் பேறடையும்- துயிலுமில்லச் சாமிகளுக்கான சந்தனநாள் வந்தடையும்.மாவீரச்செல்வங்கள் மண்கிழித்து வெளிவந்து சாவீரச்செய்தி சாற்றி உறவுரைத்து பேசும் நாள்.விழியில் பொலபொலன்று நீர்த்தாரை வீசும் நாள்.தமிழீழம் விடியும் என நம்பிப் பாடும் நாள்.விதைத்த பயிர்கள் நிமிர்ந்தழகாய் கூடும் நாள்.தமிழர் குலம் குதிக்கும் நாளிதுதான்,குன்றிக் குரல் நடுங்கி குற்றேவல் செய்த இனம் இன்றிந்த நிமிர்வுக்கு இட்ட முதல் விதைப்பு.சாவைக்கொடுத்தேனும் தமிழ்வாழ்வு என நிமிர்ந்து பேசும்படியான புதுவாழ்வின் புலர்வுதினம்.புனிதர்களின் துயிலுமில்லம் விழிசொரியும் உறவுகளால் விளங்கும்.உள்ளுறங்கும் பிள்ளைகளின் வாய்கள் பேசுவது காதுவிழும்.பள்ளிகொள்வோர் எம்மைப் பார்ப்பதையும் விழியுணரும்.நாமழுதால் சிரிக்குமொலி நாற்திசையும் எதிரொலிக்கும்.தாயழுதால் அம்மா தளராதே எனுமொற்றைச் சொல்லே துயிலுமில்லச் சூழலிலே கேட்டிருக்கும்.பூச்சொரிந்து, நெய்விளக்கில் பொறியேற்றி, விழிசொரிந்து, கார்த்திகையில் அந்நாள் கலங்கி, வெளியில்வர பூத்திருக்கும்,நம்பிக்கைப் பூ…!!!
