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The government has given close to 23,000 loans under its 'Enterprise Sri Lanka' concessionary credit schemes aimed at reviving entrepreneurship and private enterprise in the island.

The Ministry of Finance and Media in statement said that 22,957 people have been granted these concessionary loans amounting to more than LKR 49 billion.

All of these loan amounts are distributed through state and private banks with Bank of Ceylon awarding the most loans to 11,711 applicants.

Regional Development Bank has provided loans to 5,612 individuals and institutions while the People’s Bank have provided loans to 1,402 applicants.

Spearheaded by Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme will aim to create 100,000 entrepreneurs in the country within the first year of the programme which consist of 16 collateral free concessionary loan schemes for aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike.

Rather than provide employment based on personal connections employment is now being provided according to talents and qualifications thereby strengthening the country’s economy, Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera said. 

The Minister pointed out that providing jobs based on race, religions or political allegiance is now over. Samaraweera made these comments while providing appointment letters to 77 Grade II Customers Officers on Friday at the Ministry’s auditorium. 

“The customs is one of the main sources of income for the country along with the Department of Excise and the Department of Inland Revenue.

We provide free education because of these Departments. So you are joining one of the most economically important agencies for the country” the Minister further added. 

He also claimed that only talent was looked at in providing these positions after receiving almost 7400 applications. “In a different time 99 per cent of the jobs would go to Matara,” he said adding that however times have changed. “We didn't care for religions, race, area or political party to provide these jobs,” the Minister said.

Sri Lanka will be implementing worldwide brand promotion campaign with the aim of finding new markets and strengthening existing ones for Ceylon Tea.

Sri Lanka Tea Board will provide financial assistance for registered tea exporters under the Brand Promotion Scheme for promotion of pure Ceylon tea brands with Lion Logo in selected overseas markets for the year 2019.

Only Sri Lankan owned tea brands which have been registered in Sri Lanka by the Director General, National Intellectual Property office will be eligible for promotional assistance under the scheme.

Applications for financial assistance for brand promotion projects with lion logo were closed  on September 21.  

As the facilitator, Sri Lanka Tea Board is assisting the private sector companies to improve their performance in terms of exports. The government has set a target of USD 5 billion by 2020.

In order to achieve these targets and since the country’s production capacity is limited, the Tea exporters will have to bring a higher dollar value per kilo of teal.

The Tea board has launched this campaign involving marketing, branding, value addition and attracting a higher consumer level than the mass-market consume. 

Former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not qualified to receive protection, says Minister of Sustainable Development, Wildlife and Regional Development Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.
 
The Minister made this statement while speaking to the media following a public meeting held in Kelaniya, yesterday (22). “Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not a public servant anymore and he currently does no service for the public” Fonseka pointed out.
 
He further said that he only has 17 police officials for his protection while 25 army officials are deployed for the protection of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

A JO provincial politician using a Diplomatic passport is said to have travelled to South Korea and is being accused of human smuggling social media sources say. 

According to Lanka E News, Chairman of the Baddegama Pradeshiya Sabha and Sri Lanka Podhu Jana Peramuna Politician Anura Narangoda is said to be involved in this racket. 

Sources say he has acquired Rs. 600 000 each from three people on the promise that he will safely drop them off to Korea and has left the country now for this purpose.

Gunmen have opened fire on an Iranian military parade in the south-western city of Ahvaz, killing at least 24 people, including civilians, and injuring more than 50, state media say.

The attackers shot from a park near the parade and were wearing military uniforms, reports say.

An anti-government Arab group, Ahvaz National Resistance, and Islamic State (IS) have both claimed the attack.

The foreign minister has blamed "terrorists paid by a foreign regime".

Javad Zarif added that "Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable".

Iran has previously accused its regional rival, Saudi Arabia, of supporting separatist activity amongst Iran's Arab minority.

Meanwhile, an Iranian military spokesman claimed the attackers were not from IS but "were trained and organised by two Gulf countries", and had ties to the US and Israel.

Source : BBC

The currency depreciation in the face of the US Dollar is not a phenomenon particular to Sri Lanka, but common in many countries in South and East Asia. Therefore, it is very unfair to interpret this tendency as a fault of the Government, SLMC Leader and City Planning and Water Supply Minister Rauff Hakeem said.

He said the currency depreciation rate is much higher in countries such as, India and Indonesia than in Sri Lanka. Minister Hakeem said so after participating in a ceremony held at the Badi-ud-Din Mahmud Vidyalaya in Kandy on September 22.

Minister Hakeem said the only way we could arrest this tendency is by increasing foreign investments and boosting exports. He said increased purchase of imported goods may also jack up prices.

“As such, there was no cause for anxiety thinking that the rupee depreciation was a problem endemic to our country only,” Minister Hakeem said.

He said the economic policies of U.S. President Donald Trump had caused this situation. “America’s economic war with China and the European Union had caused the currency depreciation in several countries,” Minister Hakeem said.

He said the present IGP is an efficient and talented officer but the manner in which he expressed his ideas had caused some problems.

“A government should bring in a new Constitution within its first year in office. Prolonging it had caused objections. In this situation no one could expect the 20th Amendment to succeed,” he said.

Source : Daily News

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday appointed eight new Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) electoral organisers by removing the electoral organisers who failed to support the party’s reorganisation drive, SLFP General Secretary Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa said.

Prof. Piyadasa added that eight SLFP organisers representing the SLFP 15 Group, lost their organiser posts as they had failed to support the party’s reorganising drive by establishing electoral organisations in their respective areas.

He said that new organisers were appointed to five districts including Ratnapura, Kurunegala and Colombo.

They received their appointment letters from the President last evening.

Piyadasa added that electoral organisers should actively get involved in the Party’s reorganising process. “Establishing electoral organisations (Pradeshiya Balamandala) at electoral level is a part of this reorganising process and all electoral organisers should extend their fullest cooperation to the party reorganisation drive to achieve success. Eight Parliamentarians representing the 15 Group were expelled from the post of organisers for failing to form Pradeshiya Balamandalaya (Electoral Organisations) as part of the reorganisation drive.

Therefore, Parliamentarians Susil Premajayantha, W.D.J Seneviratne, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, Chandima Weerakkodi and three others lost their electoral organiser posts. “So far, more than 150 SLFP Pradeshiya Balamandala have been established countrywide. Establishing Pradeshiya Balamandala is important so as to strengthen the party and to go to the next elections” he added.

When asked whether the SLFP hopes to go to the next elections by forming a broad alliance with the United National Party (UNP), Piyadasa said that such a decision has not been taken as yet.

The party is being strengthened to face the forthcoming elections, including the Provincial Council Elections to be held in January.

Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews has handed over a letter to the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) addressing the decision to dismiss him as the Captain of the ODI Captain.
 
Sri Lanka’s selectors removed Angelo Mathews as ODI captain, last night (23) and appointed Test captain Dinesh Chandimal in his place. The move comes after Mathews attracted a hail of public criticism over the team’s performance in the Asia Cup, where they were knocked out following first-round defeats to Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
 
Following the announcement, Angelo Mathews has officially resigned from the captaincy f the ODI team through his letter to SLC. In the letter, Mathews expresses that he “initially surprised” by the decision but then made it feel he had been made “the scapegoat in the entire saga of Sri Lanka’s dismissals performances against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup”.
 
“I’m willing to take part of the blame but at the same time, feel betrayed and let down if the blame is solely put on me. As you know all decisions are taken tough the a mutual understanding with Selectors and the Head Coach,” wrote Mathews. “And though I do not agree with the reasoning that the losses should be carried single handedly to the Captaincy, I however eagerly and wholeheartedly respect the request of the selection committee and the head coach asking me to step down and do so with immediate effect.
 
“I wish to put it on record that though Sri Lanka had suffered these heavy defeats in the Asia Cup, which is shocking to say the least, especially in the backdrop where we had a reasonable series against South Africa, I had no intention of quitting and running away from the issues at hand especially owing to the World Cup being a dozen games away.”
 
Mathews went on to ask the selectors whether the find him suitable for the ODI and T20I teams, in which case he would retire from these two formats. He also added that he was Sri Lanka’s highest run-getter in the home series versus South Africa this summer, while wishing the team all the best.

Source : Ada Derana

Sri Lanka’s Strategic Enterprises Management Agency (SEMA) set up to carry of public enterprise reforms in 2004 is to be closed down on a directive issued by President Maithripala Sirisena. 

This agency was almost defunct and it was not in the public domain during the past few years, official sources revealed adding that it had been operating under the Presidential secretariat to formulate strategic plans for the strategic sectors of the government. 

Ina letter sent to the Chairman of SEMA under the signature of the Additional Secretary to the President A.Muthumala Last Friday 14,  he requested him to close down all operations of the Agency with immediate effect. Mr Muthumala has also brought to the notice of SEMA Chairman / CEO Asoka Abeygunawardana that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to close down the agency at their meeting held on 03-07-2018 and all financial transactions of the institution should be concluded forthwith.   

SEMA has been mandated to assist the state owned strategic enterprises to devise policy frame works for the long term sustainability of those state enterprises. The aim was to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the economy by upgrading these enterprises on par with their private sector counterparts while retaining state ownership.  SEMA has been entrusted with the task of improving thirteen key state enterprises under its purview to drill in reform and turn them into commercially viable entities.    

The State owned enterprises under SEMA supervision include State Banks, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), Central Transport Board (CTB,) Ports Authority, Railways and plantation companies.

Noting that in the Western World, Human rights has become almost like a religion Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith during a sermon today noted that Sri Lankan society has lived without this concept in peace and harmony. He was addressing a sermon at the St. Matthew's Catholic Church today when he made the comments. 

“They now act as if Human Rights is a novel concept and carry it on their heads” the Cardinal said adding that those Western countries only adhere to religion now when it suits them and its beneficial to them. 

“This is spreading now in Sri Lanka as well with people only going after material comforts” the priest said. However he also noted that if people follow our respective religions Sri Lanka does not need to speak specifically about human rights. “Religions consist of Human Rights, What else?” he said.

The Colombo Magistrate's Court has issued an order temporarily suspending investigations on former Minister Ravi Karunanayake on allegations that he had provided false evidence to the Bond Commission. 

The Court had earlier ordered the CID to conduct investigations into the matter. The Magistrate said that an order in this regard would be given on September 28.