Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves continued to fall this month as the political crisis in Colombo continues.

Forex reserves reportedly fell by 884.9 million US dollars in November 2018, to 7,018.38 million dollars, though the data does not include forex reserves released through swap agreements to maintain a peg or transactions with the Treasury.

The latest fall comes amidst measures taken by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka including cutting the statutory reserve ratio and injecting an estimated 90 billion rupees of cash at zero interest rate into the banking system.

Economy Next reported:

President Maithripala Sirisena, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa are all racists and whoever comes to power will not advance the Tamil people, the Democratic People's Congress leader and former minister under Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prabha Ganesan has said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Mannar District Office of Democratic People's Congress, Ganesan questioned what the so-called good-governance government had done for the Tamil people.

The Norwegian government has partnered with UNDP Sri Lanka and agreed to support projects on “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”, in an announcement this week.

The USD $1.5 million partnership will see Norway reportedly “select policymaking and oversight structures to perform core functions for improved accountability and inclusivity, provide marginalized and vulnerable communities increased and equitable access to justice,” according to a report in Lanka Business Online.

Supporters of Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party held a rally in Mannar on Friday.

Participants in the rally in Mannar town called for a general election, and said a new government was needed to address the development needs of Mannar district.

Tamil civil society representatives in Mullaitivu met with UN human rights officials and discussed growing concerns in the district about systematic Sinhala colonisation and violations carried out by the Sri Lankan state under various wings, particularly the archaeology department.

The Tamil Heritage Council, a civil society organisation, said they had published a detailed report about Sinhala colonisation and land-grabs in the district and handed it over to the officials.

The image of a Buddhist vihara on the sign board for Nainativu was found covered with red paint on Saturday. 

Nainativu, which is site of an iconic Tamil Hindu temple, has become a focal point of Tamil anger towards the military's Buddhisation of the Tamil homeland. 

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena warned against what he described as "the shadows of old Imperialism", arguing that the current political crisis was not a conflict between political parties, but a !conflict between national and foreign thinking". 

"When I act according to the principles of nationalism without giving into foreign forces and without intimidated by their threats, foreign forces have now become a challenge and the shadows of the old Imperialism stand in our way," he told an audience at him home town, gathered at Polonnaruwa Royal College.