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Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera, who is in Jaffna for the Enterprise Sri Lanka National Exhibition, held a series of meetings with war affected people to help them to make use of opportunities presented under the Enterprise Sri Lanka credit scheme to obtain loans, the Finance Ministry said in a statement today.

In the morning, he met war widows and small and medium scale entrepreneurs' associations at the Jaffna Kachcheri.

He also held a separate meeting with the former combatants who had been rehabilitated at the Jaffna Kachcheri. Secretary to Ministry of Finance Mr. R.H.S. Samaratunga and the Jaffna District Secretary N.Vedanayagam were also associated with the minister at this discussion.

The Minister announced at this meeting that the government has decided to offer interest subsidized loans upto 1.5 million rupees under the Enterprise Sri Lanka loan scheme without obtaining collateral. So he said that there is no need for the women of the war widows association and the ex-combatants to look for two surety guarantees.

Samaraweera emphasized that the government was mindful of the hardships faced by the people in the North during the last thirty years and under the hardships faced by the women led families.

"Let bygones be bygones. We are here to lift your livelihoods by giving you interest subsidized loans," declared the Minister.

Samaraweera also said that the Cabinet of Ministers have approved a proposal to pay a monthly allowance of Rs 6000 to each family of missing persons. He instructed the members of the missing persons to obtain the Certificate of Absence (CoA) in the name of their missing persons from the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) after which they would receive a payment to be paid from November 01.  

Earlier, these women and the ex-combatants apprised the Finance Minister of the social hardships and stigma they face with regards to obtaining guarantors for their loans.

On the instructions of the Minister Samaraweera, the Jaffna GA is to arrange a two day workshop on coming Friday and Saturday to help and train the prospective entrepreneurs to prepare there proposals that are to be submitted to the banks, the Finance Ministry said.

The Northern Province area managers of State banks who were present at this meeting agreed to send in there representatives to make their proposals viable for them to obtain loans.

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is to strengthen state shareholding by issuing shares through a private placement to State Owned Businesses and Contribution Funds.

The aim is to fulfill 10 percent minimum limit of General Stock Exchange imposed by the Colombo Stock Market, SLT sources said.

Employees Provident Fund, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation ltd, and National Savings Bank have been directed to invest in the equity of SLT through the private placement subject to the approval of their respective board.

The cabinet of Ministers approved the joint proposal presented by Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera and Minister of Telecommunications, Foreign Employment, and Sports Harin Fernando for this purpose.

This will pave the way for state-run funds and banks to buy SLT shares to meet a public float requirement, a senior official of the SLT said.

According to the latest financial report the minimum public float of SLT was 5.52 percent.

The secretary to the Treasury (49.5 percent) and Global Telecommunications Holdings NV, (44.9 percent) are the two main shareholders of SLT.

The company’s present issued capital is Rs 18 billion and is represented by 1.8 billion ordinary voting shares.

More than 2,000 Tamil Nadu fishermen were allegedly chased away by the Sri Lankan Navy while they were fishing off Katchatheevu islet, a fishermen association leader said on Sunday.

The naval personnel also snapped fishing nets of several boats.

The fishermen from this island town had ventured into the sea on Saturday and were fishing near Katchatheevu when the Lankan Navy came to the spot and cut the fishing nets before driving them away, Rameswaram Fishermen Assocation President, P Sesuraja alleged.

The fishermen returned to the shore this morning without a catch, he said.

Four fishermen from here were rescued and detained by the island nation authorities while they were struggling in the sea near Katchatheevu islet after their boat was damaged on hitting a rock.

Indian high Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu called on the Sri Lankan construction sector for greater collaboration as India’s construction industry is expected to reach USD 1 trillion by 2025.

He pointed out that while the demand for new infrastructure should be met quickly and smoothly, there was also a need for demand to be studied first and to be catered to, in environment-friendly ways.

There was a need to harmonise growth trajectory with environment sustainability he said while expressing his happiness over presence of a number of Sri Lankan companies in the Indian market.

Indian High Commissioner was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of  the 8th Sri Lanka Buildcon International Expo & 7th Wood International Expo 2019 in Colombo yesterday (08).

Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Patali Champika Ranawaka and Taranjit Singh Sandhu, High Commissioner of India inaugurated the exhibition.

Minister Ranawaka appreciated the role of the construction sector in uplifting the Sri Lankan economy.

He expressed hope that such exhibitions would facilitate greater international collaboration at the industry and people level.

The Minister also thanked the CII for organizing large scale Indian participation at the event.

More than 70 Indian companies with a focus on varied products and services related to Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC), Commercial & Residential Building Construction, and Government & Civil Infrastructure are participating in the Exhibition,

It is being supported by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of India.

Two people died from heat exhaustion after attending a mass open-air faith healing session in northeast Sri Lanka which left 13 others fighting for their lives, police said today (09).

Around 10,000 people, some of whom were seriously ill, had gathered at a school to listen to a man who claimed he could use "powers of the gods and the Buddha" to cure the sick.

Police in the town of Horowupotana, 260 kilometres (162 miles) north-east of Colombo said 18 people were taken to hospital, with 13 in a critical condition.

Officials at the local hospital said the two who died suffered heat exhaustion while others were treated for dehydration. Temperatures have soared to about 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in the area this weekend.

The faith healer, Deegoda Kumara, used his YouTube channel to deny he had caused the deaths and accused local media of causing unrest by spreading mistrust about his work.

In one video, Kumara claimed to have revived a road accident victim who had been in a coma in a Californian hospital. He said he blessed the victim after speaking to her relatives on the phone.

A decisive meeting is to take place between United National Party (UNP) Leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wicremesinghe and UNP Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa tomorrow (8).

The meeting will focus on the UNP candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections.

The decision to hold a one to one meeting between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa was made at the meeting held yesterday (6) between the UNP Leader and 15 UNP ministers at Temple Trees.

Sunday’s scheduled meeting is expected to result in both leaders reaching a consensus on the UNP presidential candidate.

However, several media reports last night quoting sources said that Wickremesinghe at yesterday’s meeting had announced he would contest at the next presidential election.

Sajith Premadasa, who is being requested to come forward as the party’s presidential candidate by a majority of party members will visit Jaffna tomorrow (09) morning.

He will visit Jaffna as the Chief Guest of the Enterprise Sri Lanka National Exhibition being held at the Muttraveli Grounds in Jaffna. The exhibition will be open to the public from 10 am onwards.

Following the exhibition, Premadasa is also scheduled to meet a number of political activists and party representatives.

The 'Enterprise Sri Lanka' Jaffna exhibition was inaugurated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (08). Large crowds from the North were seen attending the exhibition.

Several politicians including Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A Sumanthiran and UNP MP Vijaya Kala Maheshwaran accompanied the Prime Minister.

A third committee to probe the Easter Sunday attacks will take place when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appoints an independent committee to investigate the Easter Sunday attacks.

Wickremesinghe speaking at an event in Galle yesterday (6) said he will appoint an independent committee for the probe.

The Prime Minister’s decision comes in the wake of Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s repeated calls for an independent and transparent probe into the attacks.

According to the Prime Minister, the third committee will use the information gathered by the Presidential Committee as well as the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing Easter Sunday attacks to conduct further independent investigations.

Accordingly, in six months, the new committee would be able to declare the finding of the investigations, Wickremesinghe said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe inaugurated the third Enterprise Sri Lanka exhibition organized by the Ministry of Finance in Jaffna to encourage new entrepreneurs.

This exhibition will be open for the public from 10 am to 12 midnight daily at Mutraweli in Jaffna Fort from September 7 to September 10.

The Enterprise Sri Lanka Exhibition is held to create 100,000 entrepreneurs across the country. About 450 public and private sector stalls have been set up to offer services to the public. State banks, private companies, buyers, applicants and suppliers are all on site. New investors can receive advice on obtaining loans to start a business and finding a market for it.

Loans under concessionary interest rates starting from minimum of Rs 100,000 up to Rs. 750 million could be obtained and the educated young prospective entrepreneurs looking for such an opportunity will be able to reap benefits from this scheme.

A mobile service is also being held during the four days of the exhibition to enable those who expect to enter the field of business to apply for project loans.

Eleven counters by the State and Private commercial banks as well as government consulting services institutions have been set up. Visitors to this exhibition can obtain information, instructions and guidance to apply for concessionary loans to start business ventures from self employment to small and medium scale projects from these special counters.

Visitors can buy various commodities at reasonable prices. Garments and other type of apparel manufactured by factories coming under the Board of Investment (BOI) could be bought at duty free prices.

The electronic media zone provides an opportunity for the people to meet the representatives of their favorite electronic media houses.

At the same time, students will be able to witness how various programs including live broadcasting are telecast and how programs are produced and how the news room functions.

Free services are provided jointly by the Health Ministry and the Provincial Health Services Department. Among them are free laboratory and clinical services.

A foreign consular service has also been set up in the exhibition premises. Foreign job seekers and students seeking to go overseas for higher education could obtain their certificates and other documents attested by the consular office.

Arrangements have been made to send the extradition documents of former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Arjuna Mahendran after President Maithripala Sirisena signed the final documents yesterday (6).

Mahendran is an accused in the controversial Central Bank bond scam in 2015.

Earlier this week, the Attorney General’s Department handed over documents amounting to 21,000 pages to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka for authentication and transmission to the Government of Singapore.

The Government of Singapore meanwhile stated that it would consider the extradition request, but was awaiting the required documents.

The forensic audit reports of the bond scam are to be finalized after obtaining statements from Central Bank senior officials involved in administrative procedures.

The Central Bank's conduct of monetary policy was questionable during the present and previous regimes under a set of senior officials like P .Samarasiri, Nandalal Weerasinghe  and Ananda Silva whose names were mentioned in the Presidential Commission which had examined the bond issue.  

In a motion submitted to the Colombo Magistrate's Court several months ago, the names of Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe and retired Deputy Governor Ananda Silva were transpired due to their involvement in the Central Bank bond transactions.

However, forensic audit reports of the bond scam are yet to be finalised and the first report is expected only by the end of September.

Two other reports are expected in October and the final two are to be finalised in November.

During the period of of September and November this year all audit reports are to be finalized.

The Presidential Commission inquiring into the bond scam recommended a forensic audit to be carried out on the bond scam transactions.

Thereafter, international audit firms KPMG and BDO were selected to conduct the forensic audits.

The two interim reports are based on the data that the teams have been looking at and they need to look more deeply into the transactions and even interview some CB officials before finalizing it.

The audit report will mainly look into the financial dues, assets and transactions that have taken place.

The Attorney General has indicted 10 accused of the bond scam including the former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, officials of Perpetual Treasuries and several other officials of the Central Bank.

Sri Lanka discussed investment and trade opportunities with the Sri Lankan diaspora at a forum in the UK.

A roundtable presentation followed by a networking lunch on ‘Investment and Trade Opportunities in Sri Lanka’ for the British – Sri Lankan business community was held at the Holiday Inn Kensington High Street in London, the Foreign Ministry said.

In her opening remarks, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK Manisha Gunasekera welcomed the convening of the first diaspora outreach event organised under the Foreign Ministry’s Economic Diplomacy Programme.

She expressed the interest and intent of the Sri Lanka Government to build on this initiative and reach out to many more potential investors and business persons from the British – Sri Lankan community in the future.

She also requested the dissemination of information communicated at the forum among participant contacts and networks for optimum results.

The High Commissioner also appreciated the efforts of those community representatives who supported the event by tapping into potential investors and businesspersons who were thus engaged.

Selected members of the British – Sri Lankan community representing all ethnicities, i.e., Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim, with investment or trade potential or already engaged in business, participated in the roundtable on the invitation of the High Commission.