The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has issued an order for the release of former State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran in the case related to her alleged statement endorsing the revival of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), as reported by Ada Derana.
The controversy stems from an address made by the then State Minister of Child Affairs, Vijayakala Maheswaran, during a state event at Veerasingam Hall in Jaffna on July 2, 2018. In this address, she had purportedly expressed support for the resurrection of the LTTE for the freedom of the Tamil people.
Following this statement, the Organized Crime Prevention Division (OCPD) initiated an investigation into the matter, leading to her arrest on October 8, 2018. Nevertheless, she was granted bail on the same day, with a personal bond amounting to Rs 500,000.
It is worth noting that Maheswaran, who is a member of the United National Party (UNP), had to step down from her position as State Minister for Child Affairs in the wake of the controversy.
As of October 19, there has been a marginal depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee against the US Dollar at commercial banks in Sri Lanka compared to Wednesday’s rates. Here is the latest exchange rate information from selected banks:
Peoples Bank: The buying and selling rates for the US Dollar have remained steady at Rs. 316.67 and Rs. 329.88, respectively.
Commercial Bank: The buying rate for the US Dollar has increased slightly from Rs. 317.68 to Rs. 318.18, and the selling rate has similarly risen from Rs. 328 to Rs. 328.50.
Sampath Bank: The buying rate for the US Dollar has seen a minor increase from Rs. 319.50 to Rs. 320, while the selling rate has also edged up from Rs. 329.50 to Rs. 330.
Colombo (LNW): The government’s move to lease out the President’s House in Jaffna to the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) has sparked widespread criticism on the shady deal to develop an IT University in collaboration with a Canadian investor.
The investment value here is approximately Rs. 5,000 billion and the proposal outlines the development of a portion of the property, excluding the existing buildings and reception halls.
The construction work of President’s House in Kankesanturai, Jaffna, was started during the administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was within the five years of 2010-2015.
Originally constructed at a staggering cost of Rs. 3.5 billion, the opulent Presidential Palace in Kankesanthurai (KKS) was envisioned and built by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Committee on Public Enterprises (CoPE) former Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath criticised the Executive for undermining the Legislature with its recent decision to lease the President’s House in Jaffna to the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT).
It was reported that the decision was reached regarding the premises following a recent discussion chaired by the Chief of Presidential Staff and Presidential Advisor on National Security Sagala Ratnayake.
“The decision clearly undermines the Legislature. On 6 April 2021, the CoPE presented a significant report to the Parliament, unveiling cases of fraud and corruption within SLIIT, which is situated on a State-owned three-acre plot of land in Malabe and was built with Rs. 500 million of public funds.
Numerous cabinet papers from members of successive governments have been submitted to address these issues. Despite this, SLIIT has been permitted to persist in this manner,” he noted in Parliament.
According to Herath, even the Cabinet paper presented during the tenure of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa regarding this issue was disregarded and not implemented.
Herath criticised the Executive for its recent decision and asserted that it was inappropriate for the Executive to make decisions that undermine the authority of the Legislature in the country.
The MP suggested that the Government should refrain from implementing the decision and, instead, conduct a thorough analysis of a 500-page report submitted by the Auditor General and a committee appointed to investigate fraud carried out by a temporary group appointed from the University of Moratuwa to oversee SLIIT.
“As the situation stands, the Executive’s decision to lease the President’s House in Jaffna to SLIIT for establishing a branch has undermined the authority of the Legislature.
There is no objection to setting up a branch of SLIIT in Jaffna, but the decision that undermines the CoPE, which is a part of the legislature, is incorrect,” he emphasised.
The President’s House, situated in Kankesanthurai, encompasses 29 acres of land, with 12 acres allocated to building complexes. It was constructed by the Rajapaksa Government in 2011.
In the initial phase, it has been decided to lease the 12 acres owned by the Government to SLIIT. Additionally, a decision has been made to lease the remaining 17 acres of land, which was acquired from the local population, with the aim of generating income for the people.
Currently, the land is under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy, and once the relevant lease agreement is finalised, the relevant land is expected to be handed over to SLIIT.
Colombo (LNW): A proposed restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt to dollar bondholders in the shape of new “macro-linked bonds” looks “extremely generous” to investors, according to analysts at Citibank.
Sri Lanka dollar bonds look attractive, and fair value for macro-linked could be in the high 50s to mid- 60-cents on the dollar if the proposal is accepted, Johanna Chua and Donato Guarino, strategists at Citi wrote in a note
Sri Lanka’s 7.55% 2030 bond advanced to 47.4 cents on the dollar Monday, the highest since March last year, before the nation’s historic default.
Macro-linked bonds are “a new instrument whose payouts are linked to the evolution of Sri Lanka USD nominal GDP.
The goal of this floating cash-flows structure is to comply with the Debt Sustainability Analysis targets embedded in Sri Lanka’s IMF Program”
Citi estimates a lower probability that the smaller payout for macro-linked bonds — that would be triggered in a lower GDP growth scenario — will be triggered.
Citi said “that they think terms being proposed here are still subject to renegotiation by the government.
The provision of this private creditor bondholder restructuring proposal, alongside news of a preliminary agreement with China Exim Bank on the treatment of $ 4.2 b of outstanding debt should eventually pave the way for an IMF Executive Board approval of the first program review, and $ 334 m in tranche disbursal by November,”it added.
Sri Lanka’s private creditors have sent a proposal on how to restructure $12 billion of overseas debt, including a new type of bond designed to ease repayments in case of future economic pressure, said two official sources .
The country of 22 million people tipped into its first foreign debt default in May 2022, after a severe shortage of dollars triggered its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
The proposal sent on Oct. 2 provides a write-down, or haircut, on both capital and interest, added the sources who declined to be named because the talks are private.
It foresees issuance of regular sovereign bonds and also of so-called Macro Linked Bonds (MLBs), which will automatically lower coupon payments starting in 2027 if Sri Lanka fails to meet some of the economic targets linked to its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
The latest update from ‘IMF Tracker’ of Verité Research, an online platform which tracks the 100 identified commitments in Sri Lanka’s 17th programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), shows that Sri Lanka verifiably met only 40 of the 71 trackable commitments that were due for completion by end-September 2023.
It also shows that Sri Lanka had, at the same time, reached its lowest point in terms of both performance and transparency since the programme commenced in March.
This is because the status of about 30% of the commitments due to be completed by end of September were unknown, and three of the four commitments due which specifically require the government to enhance transparency were not met.
This unveils a “twin deficit in transparency”: (a) a growing lack of transparency in the progress of the programme, and (b) a growing failure to meet IMF commitments that call for increased governmental transparency.
Growing lack of transparency in the progress of the IMF programme
The number of commitments with unknown statuses has surged to an all-time high about 30%, up from around 20% in August. This growing lack of transparency risks eroding public and institutional confidence, both in Sri Lanka’s economic progress and in the effectiveness of the IMF programme itself.
Growing failure to meet IMF commitments that call for increased transparency of government
In the seven months following board-level agreement, most requirements mandating transparency have been unfulfilled. A current example is the commitment to “Report monthly cash flows from revenues, expenditures, and financing, by the third business day of the subsequent month, by the Department of State Accounts,”. Another example is the creation of an online fiscal transparency platform.
This was due in March, but remains not met even at the end of September. The need for such a platform was underscored in both the governance diagnostics published for Sri Lanka – one by Sri Lanka’s Civil Society, and the other by the IMF. The only transparency commitment that was met by the government was the publication of the IMF governance diagnostic, which was also published by the IMF.
Transparency is foundational to public accountability in a democratic system. Yet, data from the IMF Tracker suggests that Sri Lanka has a twin deficit in transparency. The two governance diagnostics done indicate that Sri Lanka’s economic issues cannot be resolved unless the government first addresses its accountability shortfalls. If these assessments are accurate, the twin transparency deficit could be a leading indicator that the anticipated economic recovery may not materialize as expected.
IMF Tracker is the first and only platform in Sri Lanka which tracks the 100 identified commitments recorded along with Sri Lanka’s letter of intent to the IMF on the programme approved on 20 March 2023. It is available for the public on the manthri.lk website at https://manthri.lk/en/imf_tracker
Indian Navy Ship Airavat, Shardul-class Landing Ship Tank (LST) arrived in Colombo on 18 October 2023. Commanding Officer of the vessel, Commander Rindu Babu, called on the Commander Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral TSK Perera during the visit.
In line with Government of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ Policy the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff – Foreign Cooperation, Indian Navy Rear Admiral Nirbhay Bapna handed over valuable Machinery test and trial equipment including machinery items for Sri Lanka Navy on grant by GoI to Director General of Engineering, Sri Lanka Navy Rear Admiral (E) KWARI Ranasinghe, in a ceremony onboard the ship on 18 October 2023. The timely availability of spares would ensure optimal operational availability of the SLN platforms.
The efforts of the Indian Navy are in keeping with its core ideology of ‘Bridges of Friendship’, towards strengthening it’s relations with friendly neighbours.
Colombo (LNW): The Colombo stock market suffered a Rs. 254 billion worth loss of value so far in October due to negative investor sentiment over lack of credible progress in resolving some of the major macroeconomic issues.
The market capitalisation of the CSE was Rs. 4.537 trillion as at end September and by yesterday it had dipped to Rs. 4.283 trillion reflecting a drop of quarter billion rupees.
The benchmark ASPI has lost 7% in the first 13 market days of October so far whilst for the active S&P SL20 it has been 8%.
Delay in securing the next release of IMF funding, external debt restructuring, continued downturn in manufacturing and export sector are among investor concerns.
However year to date, ASPI has offered a 24.4% return and 11.6% by S&P SL20 thanks to gains in the earlier part of the year.
The CSE yesterday marked its fourth consecutive dip amidst low turnover due to lacklustre investor interest. The ASPI was down by 1% and the ASPI by 0.8%. Turnover was Rs. 822.6 million involving 38 million shares.
Asia Securities said the indices trended downwards throughout the session dragged by BIL (-3.8%), CALT (-4.5%), MGT (-4.6%), HAYL (-3.2%), RCL (-2.5%), and CIC (-2.1%). However, LHCL saw a 7.1% increase following the Government’s announcement of the Expression of Interest (EOI) for the sale of its stake in the company.
From a technical point of view, the ASPI is retesting key retracement support zone 10,600 – 10,500 while approaching oversold Relative Strength Index (RSI) levels for the first time since August 2023 swing high levels. MELS (-14 points), HNBN (-9 points), and HAYL (-7 points) came in as the biggest laggards on the ASPI. Turnover was led by CTHR (Rs. 93 m), JKH (Rs. 64 m), and FCT (Rs. 64 m).
Asia said foreigners recorded a net outflow of Rs. 3.3 million. Net foreign buying topped in JKH at Rs. 23 million and selling topped in FCT at Rs. 12 million. October has so far seen a net foreign inflow of Rs. 121.4 million whilst for the year the figure is Rs. 3.8 billion.
First Capital said the Bourse closed in the red for the fourth consecutive session amidst continuous price declines stemming from index heavy weights and banks.
It said the ASPI moved negatively throughout the session and closed at 10,557 losing 90 points with investors resorting to the sidelines seeking direction on the upcoming budget.
However, SOEs namely SLTL and LHCL were among the top positive contributors to the ASPI owing to on-going privatisation talks.
Investors showed interest on Treasury counters, with anticipated decline in yields at the weekly T-Bill auction while defensive counters too enticed slight buying in the midst of uncertain market sentiment.
On Wednesday, the 18th of October, a crucial public consultation concerning the proposed increase in electricity tariffs is taking place at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) from 9 a.m. The Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Of Sri Lanka, Manjula Fernando, has disclosed that this consultation will involve discussions with 30 parties, including the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
In recent developments, the PUCSL expressed concerns to the CEB regarding the data presented for the proposed electricity tariff increase, indicating that it may not align with the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka. In response to these concerns, the CEB has provided the PUCSL with a document addressing these issues.
CEB Chairman Nalinda Ilangakoon emphasized that the CEB is currently facing an operating loss of 22% and has submitted proposals to the PUCSL to address this challenge. The PUCSL Chairman has underscored that a final decision on the revision of electricity tariffs will be made after the conclusion of the public consultation on Wednesday.
Govt Medical Officers Assn Spokesman Dr Chamil Wijesinghe says patients seeking treatment at the state-run hospitals are asked to buy almost all medicines from the private sector: also says there are “issues” with the quality of the drugs used in Govt hospitals and doctors & nurses are now afraid to administer drugs to patients.
PM Dinesh Gunawardena says 800 schools have been closed in the country: urges education officials to focus deeply on protecting & preserving existing ones: laments that these schools built by “elites” in distant regions have been closed.
Court Productions Room at the Hulftsdorp Court Complex broken into once again: the 2nd unauthorised entry in 1 month: authorities yet to identify those individuals responsible for the twin break-ins.
Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapaksha says there are no moves to scrap the Executive Presidency as it is “a difficult task”: asserts there is no way it can be done through the present Parliament: also says that however, a new electoral system has been proposed.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe appoints a 9-member Commission headed by former Chief Justice Priyasath Dep to prepare proposals for electoral reforms.
Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption informs Fort Magistrate’s Court that it will not pursue the discovery of Rs.17.85 mn cash from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s room at the President’s House in July, 2022, because of lack of evidence.
Reportedly US-funded think-tank “Verité Research” raises concerns about SL’s IMF programme transparency & performance: highlights that, by end-September’23, only 40 out of 71 trackable commitments have been achieved: asserts this finding reveals a growing lack of transparency in the programme’s progress and a failure to meet the commitment to increase government transparency.
Excise Commissioner temporarily suspends the Soft Liquor Licences (beer, wine etc.) given to establishments registered with the Tourism Development Authority, with immediate effect.
Police Media Division announces that the public could now report incidents of Police personnel misconduct on the ‘118’ hotline: this hotline was initially established by the Ministry of Public Security to report crimes, but has now been extended.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says although prices of chemical fertilisers including urea may increase due to escalating tensions between Russia & Ukraine, and Palestine & Israel, the prices of fertilisers provided to farmers in the country will not be increased.
Minister of Power and Energy, Kanchana Wijesekera, revealed the appointment of Surath Ovitigama as the Chairman of the Petroleum Development Authority. Minister Wijesekera introduced Surath Ovitigama as an energy sector expert with an impressive track record, boasting over 20 years of international experience. Ovitigama’s career has taken him to various energy hubs, including the UK, the Norway North Sea oil and gas sector, and South East Asia.
Notably, Surath Ovitigama had previously held the position of Director General of the Petroleum Development Authority starting in 2020. As the newly appointed Chairman, he will be entrusted with the crucial task of accelerating and executing the development and regulation of Oil and Gas exploration, offshore energy resources. He will also be responsible for establishing national policies, a roadmap, safety measures, and regulatory frameworks for the production, utilization, and export of green hydrogen.
