Ratings agency Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s long-term sovereign credit rating from ‘CCC+’ to ‘B-’ on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, with a stable outlook, citing macro-stabilization policies and structural reforms that eased external financing risks, according to Reuters and the Xinhua news agency. Fitch cautions that the country’s credit profile remains constrained by high government debt-to-GDP and modest foreign exchange reserves. Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt in 2022.
22 Sep · 11:30
Sri Lanka’s High Court on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, convicted 15 of the 24 defendants in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and ordered the acquittal and release of the other nine, according to the BBC and the Xinhua news agency. Among those convicted is Naufer Moulavi, whom prosecutors named as the organiser of the attacks that killed 270 people and injured more than 500 on April 21, 2019, at three churches and three luxury hotels. The trial ran on 23,270 charges and lasted nearly five years. The convicted men have yet to be sentenced.