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The World Bank Group is deeply concerned about the dire economic situation and its impact on the people of Sri Lanka.

Issuing a statement, the World Bank noted that to date, nearly USD 160 million has been disbursed to meet urgent needs, while other ongoing projects also continue to support basic services, the delivery of medicine and medical supplies, school meals and tuition waivers.

“To help alleviate severe shortages of essential items such as medicines, cooking gas, fertilizer, meals for school children and cash transfers for poor and vulnerable households, we are repurposing resources under existing loans in our portfolio.

We are working closely with implementing agencies to establish robust controls and fiduciary oversight to ensure these resources reach the poorest and most vulnerable. We will continue to monitor this closely. We are also coordinating closely with other development partners to maximize the impact of our support for the people of Sri Lanka”, the statement read.

However, they noted that until an adequate macroeconomic policy framework is in place, the World Bank does not plan to offer new financing to Sri Lanka.

“This requires deep structural reforms that focus on economic stabilization, and also on addressing the root structural causes that created this crisis to ensure that Sri Lanka’s future recovery and development is resilient and inclusive”, they said in this regard.

Former Minister Sagala Ratnayaka has been appointed as the new Chief of Staff of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Mr. Ratnayaka has also been appointed as the senior presidential adviser on national security.

He served as the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s previous tenure as Prime Minister.

Social media activist Pathum Kerner has been arrested in connection with the unruly incidents reported at the entry road to the parliament near Polduwa Junction earlier this month.

Kerner was taken into custody by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).

According to the police, he had been summoned by the CCD on the 18th of July, however, he had informed via his attorney that he is unable to appear before the CCD citing ill-health.

Reporterly, Kerner had assembled people to the Polduwa Junction on the 13th of July and breached the barricades set up for the security of the parliament.

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said that the QR system was introduced since the daily fuel demand cannot be fulfilled.

Due to Forex issues, Fuel imports has to be restricted in the next 12 months, he said.

He said that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation or the CPC has never distributed Fuel daily to every single Fuel Station, adding that it is practically NOT Possible even when stocks are unlimited.

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie J. Chung called on President Ranil Wickremesinghe today (27), at the President's Office.

In a tweet, the Ambassador said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe takes office at a time when Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads.

She said they discussed how Sri Lanka arrived at this point of economic & political crisis, and how both sides can work together to navigate toward a brighter future for all.

She further tweeted "Our countries and our people have been friends and partners for more than 70 years, relationships that will flourish in a Sri Lanka that embraces good governance, respects human rights, and listens to the aspirations of its people.".

The President's Media Division in a statement said that the discussions were centered around strengthening ties between the country and taking forward relations, and the US Ambassador had assured support for the government's future endeavors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin extends his heartiest well wishes to the newly appointed President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

President Wickremesinghe met with Russia’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Yury Materiy, this morning (25).

The Ambassador extended President Putin’s wishes on the Wickremesinghe’s election to the office of the Presidency.

“I am counting on your activities as Head of State to foster further development of the constructive bilateral cooperation in various spheres for the benefit of our peoples and in the interest of strengthening the regional stability and security,” Putin tells his Sri Lankan counterpart, while wishing him success as well as good health and prosperity.

Wickremesinghe was elected last week (21) by Parliament as the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka.

The Singapore government has issued a new visa to former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, allowing him to stay in the country for another 14 days till August 14, a media report said on Wednesday.

The report on the extension of Rajapaksa’s visit pass came a day after Sri Lanka’s Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said that the ex-president was not hiding and is expected to return to the island nation from Singapore.

Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore on July 14 on a private visit from the Maldives after he fled his country to escape a popular uprising against his government’s economic mismanagement. He first fled to the Maldives on July 13 and from there he proceeded to Singapore the next day.

Rajapaksa has been issued a new visa, extending his stay here till August 11. His visit pass has been extended by 14 days, The Straits Times reported.

After Rajapaksa landed in Singapore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here confirmed that he had been allowed entry on a private visit. The ministry stressed that the ex-president had not asked for asylum.

Singapore generally does not grant requests for asylum, the spokesman had said.

The former President was issued a 14-day visit pass when he arrived at Changi Airport on a Saudia flight from the Maldives on July 14.

He initially stayed at a hotel in the city centre, but is believed to have moved to a private residence, according to the report. He has not been seen in public in Singapore.

When asked about Rajapaksa at a weekly Cabinet media briefing, Cabinet Spokesman Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday that the former president was not in hiding and he is expected to return from Singapore.

Gunawardena, who is also the Minister for Transport and Highways and Mass Media, said he does not believe the former president fled the country, and is in hiding.

He, however, did not offer any other details of Rajapaksa’s possible return.

Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Wednesday elected Ranil Wickremesinghe, an ally of Rajapaksa, as the successor to Rajapaksa, who resigned after reaching Singapore. It was the first time in 44 years that Sri Lanka’s Parliament directly elected a president.

Rajapaksa, 73, fled Sri Lanka after the July 9 uprising when people broke into the President’s House after months of public protests against him for mishandling the country’s worst economic crisis since 1948.

A massive protest on July 13 attempted to break into the parliamentary complex in continuation with the July 9 popular uprising, forcing then-president Rajapaksa to leave the country to the Maldives and then to Singapore.

On July 9, anti-government protesters occupied the official residence of Rajapaksa and the private home of Wickremesinghe. The mob also torched the private residence of Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka has seen months of mass unrest over the worst economic crisis and many blame the former government led by Rajapaksa and his family for mishandling the island nation’s economy. The government declared bankruptcy in mid-April by refusing to honour its international debt.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.

Source: NDTV

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed to streamline and expedite the fuel distribution process, during a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s office today (23).

The President had also instructed the Minister of Transport to enable school vans to obtain fuel from SLTB depots from 03:00 PM today, in view of the reopening of schools from 25th of July.

Moreover, the President also instructed to issue fuel from SLTB depots and Army camps for fisheries, tourism and agriculture sectors, while he also instructed authorities to take swift action against fuel hoarders.

Sri Lanka received humanitarian supplies worth around $22 million (LKR 3.4 billion) donated by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The large humanitarian consignment included 16,594 MT of rice, 200 MT of milk powder and around 38 MT of medicines.

This was the third such consignment from the Government of Tamil Nadu, which has donated a total of 40,000 MT of rice, 500 MT of milk powder and more than 100 MT of medicines whose total worth is more than USD 22 million. Critical medicines like 25,000 doses of anti-rabies vaccine formed a part of these supplies.

These supplies will be distributed among the beneficiaries by the Government of Sri Lanka and the humanitarian supplies which were handed over on 26 July 2022 are also expected to reach the beneficiaries in different parts of Sri Lanka in the coming days.

"Multi-pronged support of over USD 3.8 billion by Government of India to the Sri Lankan people during the year was strengthened by independent initiatives of various hospitals, Indian community organisations in Sri Lanka and several other entities based in India who donated generously for their brethren in Sri Lanka. The coming together of the people and Government of India towards the cause underscores the abiding people to people connection between India and Sri Lanka and the mutual care and concern for each other," said the Indian High Commission in a release.

Indian High Commissioner Gopal Bagley handed over the supplies to Foreign Minister Ali Sabry. Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, parliamentarian Jeevan Thondaman and Ceylon Worker’s Congress leader Senthil Thondaman also attended the event.

Galle Face protestors expelled the Rajapaksa trio from power and paved the way for democracy, enabling MP Ranil Wickremesinghe to become the president, but what he did was to send the military and the police to wage a barbaric attack on those very same protestors, said MP Patali Champika Ranawaka.

At a media briefing, Ranawaka strongly denounced this dawn’s attack and demanded the Wickremesinghe government accept responsibility.

Wickremesinghe overnight lost his 45 years of credibility of being a democratic, liberal leader, earned the anger of all national and international friends of democracy and brought disgrace to the country, he charged.

This incident is the same as the attack unleashed by the Rajapaksa family thugs in May, said Ranawaka.

Urging the president to keep in mind as to why this struggle came to be, the MP remarked that there may have been minor differences and signs of violence amongst the protestors, but that attacking them was uncivilized and despicable at a time when the suffering masses should be shown sympathy.

It is wholly inappropriate to earn the wrath, instead of building consensus among the parties, forming an all-party government, extending democratic boundaries and extending the hands to international lenders, said Ranawaka.

Actually, most of the peaceful protestors had been planning to vacate the protest site and there was more than enough space to ensure their departure through a peaceful process of negotiation, he said.

Ranawaka asked if they had been brutally repressed in order to give wings to anti-democratic forces who dream of an armed revolution.

History has shown that every time such repressions were unleashed both in the North and the South, armed responses made matters worse, the MP pointed out, leaving thousands murdered, tens of thousands fleeing the country and the lives of many generations left in darkness.

Ranawaka said he was shocked to see the Rajapaksas using the president they brought to power to release the wicked repression they were unable to unleash.

Instead of using the military to attack the protestors or take them before courts, what should be done is to prosecute the political family that took the country to bankruptcy and the group that harboured them, including the former Central Bank governor and the former secretaries to the Treasury, and ensure justice.

Describing today as a day of darkness, he urged all democratic forces in the country, including professionals and religious leaders, to unite unconditionally and journey towards the next democratic revolution.

Senior journalist Dhanushka Ramanayake has been appointed as the Director General of the President’s Media Division (PMD).

Meanwhile Shanuka Karunarathne has been appointed as the President’s Media Director.

Sri Lanka Police in a clarification this evening on the raid on the GotaGoGama protest site in Galle Face said that attempts made by authorities to remove the protestors who were occupying the President's Office on multiple occasions were futile.

Sri Lanka Police said despite making repeated calls for the protestors to vacate the premises peacefully, the protestors refused to comply and behaved impulsively.

The statement said that after considering all other avenues and in the absence of an alternative method to remove the protestors, a decision was taken to remove them from the President's Office in such a manner.

Pointing out that the police officers are authorized under the general law to enter, search and make arrests, Sri Lanka Police said the same power is vested with the Army under the Emergency Regulations.