News

A raft of policy measures recently introduced by the Sri Lankan government is expected to ease the excessive demand for foreign currency and reduce the pressure in the domestic foreign exchange market.    

The Sri Lankan rupee depreciated at a faster pace of 9.7 per cent against the US dollar during the year up to 01 October 2018 . The country currently possess USD 7.5 billion in foreign reserves and expects to close this year with around USD 8.3 billion. 

Speaking at a media conference, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said that they are in a better position now than in the past years. The Central Bank has intervened with USD 184 million in forex markets to defend the rupee so far this year. Coomaraswamy said that USD 84 million had been bought on Monday while noting that the foreign currency outflows stood at USD 487 million. 

Central Bank total purchases of foreign exchange stood at USD 551 million while total sales amounted to USD 731 million during the year. The substantial surge in import expenditure was driven by the growth in imports of fuel, gold and personal motor vehicles. 

Even though services related inflows such as tourism performed notably and the financial account of the Balance of Payments (BOP) strengthened during the year, outflows of foreign investment from the government securities market exerted pressure on the Balance of Payments (BOP).

Marking a milestone in the history of Sri Lankan printed media, two brand new Sunday newspapers, ‘Sathi Aga Aruna’ and ‘The Sunday Morning’, entered the Sri Lankan market today (30).

Published by Liberty Publishers, these newspapers will quench the Sri Lankan readers’ thirst for credible news and ethical journalism.
The launch of the two newspapers today, was attended by veterans and scholars of many fields.

‘Sathi Aga Aruna’, published in Sinhala, will contain many features including political and current news, economic news and entertainment.

‘The Sunday Morning’, catering to the English readers, will also feature many aspects of news including business, political, current and entertainment news.

‘The Sunday Morning’ and ‘Sathi Aga Aruna’ will be readily available for the Sri Lankan reader, every weekend from Sunday (30) onwards.

Chief of Staff (CoS) of Sri Lanka Army Major General Dampath Fernando’s term of office has been extended by three months with effect from today by President Maithripala Sirisena,  Army Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said today.

He was scheduled to retire the day before yesterday and a farewell guard of honour was also held in his honour at the Kuruwita Gemunu Watch Headquarters. “Major General Fernando was given a guard of honour because they were unaware of his extension before giving the guard of honour,” he said.

According to security forces sources, the Army Commander had recommended six senior officers to fill the post of Chief of Staff of the Army and sent this list to the President.

However, under such a situation, it is unique that the President upon arriving from New York had taken the decision to extend Maj. Gen. Fernando’s term.

Maj. General Dampath Fernando was appointed as the 52nd Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army on March 27. He had joined the Army as a Cadet Officer of the Gemunu Watch on April 27, 1983.

A Police Inspector attached to the Police Field Headquarters was killed when a vehicle driven by a Doctor crashed into his car yesterday morning.The accident had occurred in the Boralesgamuwa area. The killed cop, identified as IP Ajantha Gamini Gamage had been travelling back from his parents home after attending an almsgiving when the incident occurred around 12.45am. The wife and two sons of the Policeman aged 19 and 8 remain in critical condition. 

According to sources the Doctor responsible for the accident, Dr Tirani Kavindhya Gunawardena (39), a specialist Doctor attached to the Ratnapura base hospital had been heavily intoxicated at the time. She has been remanded till October 9 by the Gangodawila Acting Magistrate.

Minister Duminda Dissanayake yesterday called for an independent investigation into the alleged fraudulent money transfer to a bank account belonging to a Government Minister. 

The Minister lamented damage to his good name as it has been suggested that a sum of Rs. 150 million had been transferred to his account.  “My image, although blurred, has been used by different websites which have published the story. No one will come to rectify the damage to my reputation so I, too, urge authorities to conduct a proper investigation into the matter,” he said, speaking to reporters yesterday. 

The Minister also said that the entire Government should not be held responsible for the misconduct of one Minister, highlighting that an independent system has been set up by the current administration to deal with such frauds. 

“No one is above the law now. There is a system in place to carry out independent investigations and bring wrongdoers to book,” he said.

Source : Daily FT

Colombo municipal commissioner V.K.A. Anura and Deputy Municipal Treasurer Meryl Ponweera are said to be attempting to illegally handover a plot of land in Maradana to Meerania & Company, according to sources. 

The property located at No. 35, Devanampiyatissa Mawatha, Maradana had been taken over by the Colombo Municipal Council around 20 years ago due to non-payment of assessment tax while a court case against  Meerania Company too, had upheld the CMC’s ownership of the land.

According to the law, therefore the land cannot be returned if the CMC has made a registration of the takeover with a purchasing certificate though the assessment tax dues are paid by the defaulter. However, the company has been trying for the past eight years to get the land back.

But the CMC legal officer and the Former municipal Treasurer had informed them that this was not possible. However, Anura, Ponweera and certain councillors are now said to be trying to give the land back to the company a reliable CMC source said adding that the groups had even submitted a proposal to the finance committee that the land should be returned.

The United Nations Development Progeramme (UNDP) has partnered with a range of stakeholders from the Government and the private sector to further invest in the potential of young people in the areas of technology, entrepreneurship and social innovation.

'HackaDev', the National Youth Social Innovation Challenge, is one such initiative which is a platform for young people to be a part of the solutions to development challenges within their communities.

Co-financed by the Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), together with the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka and the National Youth Services Council, the challenge recently carried out 9 idea auditions through 9 provincial programs.

Following the idea auditions, the 45 best social innovation ideas have now been selected for 3 five-day residential social innovation camps in 3 locations around the country throughout the month of October, engaging 15 teams each. At the camps, the teams will be taken through a journey of building, refining, mentoring and validating their idea, in a carefully designed program to support social innovation ideas in the Sri Lankan context. A total of 11 teams will receive seed funding and incubation support.

Earlier in the year, prior to the call for applications, the program successfully concluded an Ideation and outreach phase in 25 programs covering all districts of the country, engaging more than 2500 young people.

Sachindra Samararatne, Programme Manager, ICTA Sri Lanka stated "The Idea Auditions were an interactive experience for the applicants where the teams were given an opportunity to present their innovative solutions to a comprehensive panel of judges. There were some very interesting solutions to some development issues so now we are excited to see how the selected teams will refine and validate these ideas with the knowledge and expertise shared at the five-day social Innovation camps in October." 

Another flagship initiative is the 'Technopreneurship for Social Change' program which focuses on catalyzing social change by creating and empowering a large cohort of Technopreneurs in the country. The initiative reaches more than 1000 young people around the country through 20 programs in 20 locations through e-learning courses on leadership, financial literary and entrepreneurship.

Speaking about her experience, Hansani Erangika Palihawadana, participant from Matale in the Central Province stated, "I had always wanted to start my own business but it was just an idea and I didn't know how to go about it. I heard about this programme through our youth center and so I signed up immediately. Through the modules that were taught to us, I realized that it is actually a possibility. I am very excited now and confident that I can make it happen."

The long overdue LP gas pricing formula will soon be submitted for Cabinet approval, a top official confirmed yesterday.

“The pricing formula was revisited by the Authority’s Pricing Committee after the industry requested to change the prevailing pricing formula which was introduced in 2007. The amended pricing formula has now reached the final stages, and the Industry and Commerce Minister (Rishad Bathiudeen) is ready to submit it to the Cabinet for approval in the near future,” a top official of the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) told Daily FT on condition of anonymity.

Noting the original pricing formula had to obtain Supreme Court approval, he believes that the new mechanism might also have to go through the same process.

“The swift implementation of the LP gas pricing formula is the only way to resolve the issues looming in the industry,” he added.

The two companies involved in the distribution of LP gas in the country, State-run Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. and Laugfs Gas PLC, have continuously lobbied to Government to implement the pricing formula, which has been overlooked by authorities for many years.

Currently, both these companies, as well as its stakeholders in the value chain, are grappling with many difficulties from skyrocketing costs on a daily basis.

As the sole regulatory body, the CAA introduced a pricing formula in 2007, allowing then Shell Gas Lanka Ltd. (now Litro Gas Lanka Ltd.) a lesser margin (18% on landed cost) and a higher margin to Laugfs Gas (30% of landed cost). (FT)

The Government has allocated a mammoth  LKR 1, 000 billion to pay as salaries for 1.1 million public servants and 600,000 pensioners, the Ministry of Finance and Media said today. LKR 5 billion has been allocated for the proposed Colombo Light Railway Transit System which has been earmarked to begin construction from the Peliyagoda New Bridge next year.

As per the Appropriation Bill, which was presented to the Cabinet recently by Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, next year’s annual state expenditure will be LKR 4,376 and the budget deficit will be LKR 644 billion which is 4.1% of the GDP.

The Government revenue in the year 2014 was 11.5% of the GDP and, it was gradually increased after the unity government came in to power and, it is expected to be increased to 15.1% of the GDP in 2019.

At the same time, a surplus was reported for the time after 63 years in the Government’s Primary Balance in 2017 and, it is expected that this surplus will increase by 1.3% of the GDP in 2019.
 
LKR 2, 057 billion has been allocated for debt servicing in 2019. This is the largest amount of money a government in the history of this country is compelled to bear in repaying its borrowings. Out of this amount, LKR 1, 271 should be paid locally next year while LKR 786 billion, which is equal to USD 4,650 million should be paid to foreign lenders. Accordingly, the Government expects to borrow LKR 1, 944 billion from local and foreign sources for its debt servicing including the financing of the budget deficit in 2019.

Among the government expenditures, LKR 1,456 billion have been allocated for recurrent expenditure of the public sector while LKR 856 billion has been allocated for capital expenditure.

An additional LKR 220 billion is allocated to provide public welfare such as Samurdhi allowance, school uniforms, free medicine , allowances for the elders, fertilizer subsidy, bag of nutritious food, payment for kidney patients and payments for the differently-abled.

Finance and Media Minister, Mangala Samaraweera has made allocations through appropriation Bill substantially to implement major development projects which bring direct benefits to the people of this country. These include road development, housing development, irrigation and drinking water supply development.
 
LKR 63 billion has been allocated for series of development projects aimed at rural livelihood development programmes such as ‘one project for one village development programme’, Grama Shakthi, Gamperaliya and Pibidena Polonnaruwa.

LKR 175 billion has been allocated to develop highways and complete the Southern Expressway development up to Mattala; to develop and complete Colombo Outer Circular Road from Kadawatha to Kerawalapitiya and, construct the stretch of Central Expressway from Kadawatha to Mirigama. This will also include the construction of the elevated Port Entry Road from Peliyagoda to  Colombo International Financial City.
 

Furthermore, LKR 75 billion has been allocated to complete middle and massive irrigation projects including the completion of the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Projects and Moragahakanda Development project.

At the same time, the Government has identified various housing schemes to be launched throughout the country in 2019. Accordingly, LKR 50 billion has been allocated for the relevant ministries which are responsible to launch these housing development projects. Among them are urban housing development projects to be built by the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry, housing projects implemented by the Housing Development Ministry, housing development projects in the North and the East and the Estate housing development projects. 
Simultaneously, LKR 5 billion has been allocated for the proposed Colombo Light Railway Transit System which has been earmarked to begin construction from the Peliyagoda New Bridge next year.

In addition, LKR 50 billion has been allocated to implement several water supply schemes including Jaffna Kilinochchi Water Supply System, Kelani River South Bank Water Supply scheme and Matale Water Supply system. Extra funds have been allocated for the development of the railway and road transport sectors in order to upgrade the strategic city development.

Meanwhile, the highest amount of allocations under the Appropriation Bill, which is to be presented to parliament by Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera on October 09 has been made for the ministry of Defense. The allocation for Defense in the year 2019 is LKR 306 billion. 

LKR 221 billion have been allocated for the capital and recurrent expenditure of Provincial councils. At the same time, capital expenditure of several ministries including, Education, Health, Provincial Council and Local Government, Finance, Fisheries, Agriculture and Megapolis and Western Development have been increased.

The Budget will be presented in Parliament by Minister Mangala Samaraweera on November 05, 2018.

Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Superintendent Nalini Malkanthi Bandara told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that Rs 500 million has been spent from the EPF to purchase SriLankan Airlines’ shares belonged to Emirates in 2010 violating all rules and regulations. She had revealed this on 28 September before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate corruptions in SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka.

It was also revealed through the inquiries carried out by Additional Solicitor General Neil Unamboowe that the above transaction had been approved without required proposals, recommendations and estimations. 

Nalini Malkanthi Bandara had further disclosed before the commission that this transaction had taken place at the discretion of Assistant General Manager of Bank of Ceylon, B.A. Lionel and several Central Bank officials, and that Ajith Nivard Cabraal served as the Central Bank Governor at that time. She had further stated that neither the cabinet nor the Treasury had granted approval to spend EPF money to purchase SriLankan Airlines’ shares.

Former Finance Minister and President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 4 May 2010 had presented a cabinet paper regarding purchasing shares belonged to Emirates, and the cabinet paper said that Bank of Ceylon and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation must purchase the shares in question, not EPF, she had further stated. However, on 6 July 2010, Assistant General Manager of Bank of Ceylon, B.A. Lionel, had written to the Funds Management Committee of the Central Bank informing to credit Rs 500 million from the EPF to the current account of the corporate branch of the Bank of Ceylon to purchase the shares. No relevant documents with regard to this investment are available, and it indicates that this transaction took place without an agreement or any other legal proof, she added. (Lankanewsweb)

More than 500 doctors and residents, as well as over 150 medical students in Canada, have signed a public letter protesting their own pay raises.

"We, Quebec doctors who believe in a strong public system, oppose the recent salary increases negotiated by our medical federations," the letter says.

The group say they are offended that they would receive raises when nurses and patients are struggling.

"These increases are all the more shocking because our nurses, clerks and other professionals face very difficult working conditions, while our patients live with the lack of access to required services because of the drastic cuts in recent years and the centralization of power in the Ministry of Health," reads the letter, which was published February 25.

"The only thing that seems to be immune to the cuts is our remuneration," the letter says.

Canada has a public health system which provides "universal coverage for medically necessary health care services provided on the basis of need, rather than the ability to pay,"   the government's website says.

The 213 general practitioners, 184 specialists, 149 resident medical doctors and 162 medical students want the money used for their raises to be returned to the system instead.     "We believe that there is a way to redistribute the resources of the Quebec health system to promote the health of the population and meet the needs of patients without pushing workers to the end," the letter says.

"We, Quebec doctors, are asking that the salary increases granted to physicians be canceled and that the resources of the system be better distributed for the good of the health care workers and to provide health services worthy to the people of Quebec."

Facebook Inc. said on Friday that hackers stole digital login codes allowing them to take over nearly 50 million user accounts in its worst security breach ever given the unprecedented level of potential access, adding to what has been a difficult year for the company’s reputation.

Facebook, which has more than 2.2 billion monthly users, said it has yet to determine whether the attacker misused any accounts or stole private information. It also has not identified the attacker’s location or whether specific victims were targeted. Its initial review suggests the attack was broad in nature.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg described the incident as “really serious” in a conference call with reporters. His account was affected along with that of Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, a spokeswoman said. (Reuters)