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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to enhance Belt and Road cooperation and contribute to the economic revival of Sri Lanka in the post-pandemic era. Xi made the remarks during a phone call with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Xi said China will continue to provide necessary assistance to Sri Lanka, conduct cooperation in areas including aviation and education and explore other potential cooperation areas.

Xi said China will never forget Sri Lanka's support for the restoration of China's lawful seat in the UN, and is willing to continue working with Sri Lanka to support each other on issues of mutual concern, safeguard each other's legitimate rights and promote global justice and fairness.

Rajapaksa congratulated China on the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China and spoke highly of China's achievements in fighting the pandemic and its economic recovery.

Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka hopes to learn from China's experience in poverty reduction and rural revitalization and is willing to expand cooperation in infrastructure construction, tourism and so on, so as to benefit Sri Lanka's economic development and its people.(CGTN)

The importation of a large stock of crude coconut oil with impurities has opened big can of worms following the denial of Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) that it has not issued any directive to Sri Lanka Customs to release 13 substitute coconut oil containers now in detention.

Those who are responsible for the bond scam during the good governance administration will never be uncovered under the present government similar to how the masterminds behind the Easter Sunday attack and the mega sugar fraud can't be identified, popular social media activist and journalist Dharshana Handungoda said. He made this observation on the 'SL VLOG' YouTube programme referring to the political operation being executed against former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

"This is just a drama that is being played to hide the real culprits. This government needs to dramatize events to cover up certain issues. That is why the bond scam saga has raised its head again," Dharshana Handungoda said.   He also alleged that the real masterminds behind the Central Bank bond scam are still at large.

Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=596361881321567&t=0

A prompt probe is to be initiated into the ilmenite sale deal carried out by Lanka Mineral Sands Limited, a wholly owned state-owned company. Prof. Charitha Herath, Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) requested the Secretary to the Ministry of Industries, Anusha Palpita, to immediately investigate and submit a report on the tender awarded by Lanka Mineral Sands Limited for the sale of ilmenite.

Investigations are to be instigated in to the action taken by this wholly owned state-owned company, for the sale of 85,000 metric tons of ilmenite at USD 147 per ton to the third-placed bidder instead of the buyer who had offered the highest price of USD 165 per ton of ilmenite.

Officials of Lanka Mineral Sands said the tender for the sale has been awarded by a tender subcommittee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers and has been approved by the Cabinet.

The COPE members who drew their attention to this said it is observed that the officials of the Mineral Sands Institute have taken steps to mislead even the Cabinet of Ministers.

It was also revealed that the current price of a metric ton of ilmenite is close to USD 240. The committee focused its attention on the decline in sales in 2020 compared to the total sales in 2018 and 2019.

It was revealed that as a result of still storing the 85,000 metric tons of ilmenite sold to a buyer in October 2020 in the Pulmoddai deposit, the company is incurring losses due to minimizing the space available for the institution to store further minerals.

Officials of Lanka Mineral Sands Limited said that the deadline for the removal of the consignment has been extended due to the prevailing Covid situation.

It was revealed that payments had been made only for 65,000 metric tons from this stock and payment for another 20,000 metric tons is to be recovered.

Although the tenders were awarded by a subcommittee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Chairman stressed that in such cases, matters should be looked into more responsibly.

The COPE Chairman stated this at the Committee meeting held on the 23rd to review the performance of Lanka Mineral Sands Limited.

The committee also pointed out the importance of formulating a specific policy for the sale of mineral sands and instructed the Secretary to the Ministry to formulate a specific policy

The Sri Lanka Life Saving (SLLS) organisation held a graduation ceremony on March 27 for trainees who recently completed an intensive training conducted in partnership with the United States.

A blood donation drive will be held this Saturday (27), from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm at the Dharma Shastrodaya Piriven Viharaya in Piliyandala.

Sri Lanka has amended the list of designated persons published in the Gazette Extraordinary No.1992/25 of November 9, 2016.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the People’s Bank of China (PBC) entered into a bilateral currency swap agreement with a view to promoting bilateral trade and direct investment for economic development of the two countries, and to be used for other purposes agreed upon by both parties.

The People’s Republic of China remains Sri Lanka’s largest source of imports. In 2020, imports from China amounted to USD 3.6 billion 22.3% of Sri Lanka’s imports.

This Swap agreement has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers with the recommendation of the Monetary Board of CBSL. Governors of the two Central Banks, Prof. WD Lakshman and Dr. Yi Gang, from the CBSL and PBC respectively were the signatories to the agreement.

Under this agreement, CBSL is entitled for a swap facility amounting to CNY 10 billion (approximately USD1.5 billion which is equivalent to around LKR 225 billion.

The agreement is valid for a period of three (3) years. Economic experts say if implemented completely, agreement could keep in check rupee’s volatility against the USD.

Experts noted that once the currency swap agreement between China and Sri Lanka comes into full force, it will significantly lift pressure off the foreign exchange reserves and the dependency on the dollar will decrease.

They added that according to the pact, the limit for exchange of local currencies of the two cannot be used for the repayment of debt or import of goods from other countries.

This means at the end of the three years of the agreement, if PBC has accumulated LKR 225 billion, the PBC can ask for 10 billion yuan in exchange for LKR 225 billion.

The Sri Lanka Central Bank is obligated to pay it under the agreement. If the Sri Lanka Central Bank has only 2 billion yuan, Sri Lanka can’t pay the amount in yuan, veteran economic analyst said.  

Instead Sri Lanka has to pay the balance amount in a currency acceptable to PBC and that currency could possibly be U.S. dollars and this will put pressure on the country's foreign reserves.

Sri Lanka has faced a similar situation when it has re-payed USD 400 million currency swap to India before its due date on Indian  request from the island nations current reserves.

If this happens again Sri Lanka will be pushed into fire from the frying pan, he commented.Meanwhile Sri Lanka and Bangladesh central banks will conduct talks over a swap arrangement, a joint communiqué said after a visit by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to the South Asian neighbour.

The Attorney General (AG) has advised to appoint a five member committee for the administration of Sri Lanka Cricket until new officers are appointed from the next election.

Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapaksa said that steps will be taken to strengthen the sports economy by holding several tournaments such as LPL in conjunction with the tourism industry.

Sri Lanka ranked 129 out of 149 countries in the World Happiness Report 2021, released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.