The Muslim community of Sri Lanka will celebrate Eid al-Fitr tomorrow (22 April), as the new crescent moon was sighted today (21  April).

Accordingly, the Colombo Grand Mosque, together with the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) Hilaal Division and the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs (DMRCA) have unanimously declared that the Ramadan festival for the year 2023 will be held tomorrow.

The Ministry of Education says 80% of the distribution of school textbooks for 2023 academic year have been completed.

The Ministry adds that it is hopeful of completing the entire process by May 15.

Meanwhile, the ministry also says that 85% of the uniform materials for students have also been handed over and distribution of the remaining percentage will be completed by May 15.

The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for the month of March 2023 was recorded at 49.2%, as measured by the year-on-year change, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) revealed in its latest report.

This is a slight decrease in comparison to the headline inflation of 53.6% recorded in February 2023.

Compared to March 2022, the reported inflation for the month of March 2023 was mainly due to the higher price levels prevailed in both food and non-food groups, according to the DCS report.

On a monthly basis, the year-on-year inflation of the food group decreased to 42.3% in March 2023 from 49.0% in February 2023. The year-on-year inflation of the non-food group meanwhile dropped to 54.9% in March 2023 from 57.4% in February 2023.

The contributions (year-on-year) to the inflation recorded in March from the food group and non-food group stood at 18.92% and 30.28%, respectively in comparison to March 2022.