Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s official reserves have dropped to US $3,598 million in August, 2023, a decline of 4.4 per cent compared to the month before, revealed the the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
In July, the official assets remained at US $3,765 million, and in the following month, the assets have dropped to US $3,598 million, indicating a drop of 4.4 per cent.
The official reserves include the US $ 1.4 billion swap facility from China, the CBSL noted, adding that the amount is subject to conditionalities on usability.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) happens to be remaining steady against the US Dollar at leading commercial banks in the country today (08) in comparison to yesterday.
Accordingly, Peoples Bank reveals that the buying and selling prices of the US Dollar remain unchanged at Rs. 314.34 and Rs. 329.34, respectively.
At Commercial Bank, on the other hand, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 314.73 from yesterday’s Rs. 314.24, and the selling price to Rs. 326 from Rs. 325.
At Sampath Bank, the buying price of the US Dollar remains stead at Rs. 317, and the selling price has dropped to Rs. 327 from yesterday’s Rs. 328.
Cumulative tourist arrivals for the period January 1 – September 6 stand at 927, 214, nearing the 1mn milestone
By:Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 22,896 tourists for the first six days of September, fulfilling 19 percent of the target set for the month. Sri Lanka aims to draw at least 120,201 international visitors for the month of September.
Based on the provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLDTA), the cumulative tourist arrival for the period January 1 – September 6 stood at 927, 214, nearing the 1 million milestone.
The daily arrival average in the six days of September is 3,816. The composition of the top source markets for Sri Lanka has changed with China slipping away from the third position, moving to the sixth. China contributed to 5 percent of the total arrivals for the month of September so far, bringing in 1,114 tourists.
India and the United Kingdom retained their position as the first and second largest tourist traffic generators for Sri Lanka, accounting for 27 percent (6,188), and 7 percent (1,693) of the total arrivals so far for the month.
While Germany ranked in the third position, bringing in 7 percent (1,513) visitors, the Russian Federation moved up to the fourth position, accounting for 6 percent of the total arrivals (1,434).
Sri Lanka expects to host 1.55 million visitors and earn $2.7 billion in much-needed tourism revenue this year, as it maps a road to the recovery of its tourism sector amid its worst economic crisis in decades.
This is up from the 720,000 tourists and $1.1 billion in tourism earnings in 2022, Padma Siriwardana, managing director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, told The National on Thursday on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. However, this is still below the record 2.3 million visitors that flocked to the country in 2018. The recovery comes after the country’s tourism sector suffered several setbacks: the Easter attacks in 2019, the two-year Covid-19 pandemic and widespread street protests in 2022 in response to an unprecedented economic crisis that led to severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel, cooking gas and electricity.
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka will assume the Chairmanship of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for the period 2023 to 2025 at the forthcoming 23rd Council of Ministers’ Meeting hosted by Sri Lanka on 11 October 2023 in Colombo.
The Council of Ministers’ Meeting will be preceded by the 25th Meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials. This is the second time that Sri Lanka will assume the IORA Chairmanship, having previously served as the Chair from 2003 to 2004.
The Indian Ocean Rim Association is the only intergovernmental regional forum that brings together 23 littoral States of the Indian Ocean.
There are also 11 Dialogue Partners in the Association. Sri Lanka is a founding member of the Association. The Indian Ocean Rim Association marked its 25th anniversary in 2022.
The Secretariat for Sri Lanka’s Chairmanship of IORA will function under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Executive Director General Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratne, former High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Bangladesh. Officials of the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) and Sri Lanka Navy will be attached to the Secretariat, along with senior officials of the Foreign Ministry.
The Council of Ministers is the highest decision making body of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, and Foreign Minister Ali Sabry will be the Chair of the Council of Ministers during Sri Lanka’s Chairmanship. Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane will chair IORA Senior Officials Meeting preceding the Council of Ministers.
Sri Lanka has chosen ‘Strengthening Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity’ as the theme for its Chairmanship of IORA. Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 23 Member States and the 11 Dialogue Partners or their representatives and Senior Officials are expected to attend the Indian Ocean Rim Association Council of Ministers and Committee of Senior Officials meetings in Colombo in October 2023.
The Member States of the Indian Ocean Rim Association are Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The Dialogue Partners are China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, UK and USA.
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka has over Rs.1.1 trillion worth of currency notes and over 67% of them are among public and are not in circulation, said General Manager, Chief Executive Officer of LankaClear, Channa De Silva.
He said that according to the Central Bank Q 3 figures out of Sri Lanka’s total currency notes, only Rs. 281.4 billion are banked. “A staggering Rs. 828.7 billion is not in circulation and is being kept by people in either safety boxes or in their personal care.”
“As per regional statics, ‘cash costs’ for printing money accounts to around 1.5% of GDP to an economy,” he said at a special event held to create awareness to the entire financial sector towards countering social engineering attacks and financial scams with a nation level public awareness campaign.
This was done on the direction of the National Payment Council of the Central Bank and Sri Lanka’s National Payment Network, (LankaClear) partnering with Sri Lanka’s Banks’ Association, SL CERT, FinCSIRT and the initiative funded by the International Finance Corporation and the campaign will be carried out island wide.
“This campaign will no doubt meet a long-felt need towards apprising the general public on financial frauds which has grown in numbers and complexity to an alarmingly high level over the last few years.”
He said that digital transactions among people have increased steadily. He said that in 2022 and 2023 up to now Rs. 24.1 trillion and USD 922 million transactions were facilitated via connecting 30 banks and 27 Non Banking financial institutions. Real time payments to government institutions amounted to Rs. 591.53 billion. “In addition 32.5 million cheques to the value of Rs. 9.9 million were cleared.
Over Rs. 89 million interbank ATM transitions amounting to Rs. 1.08 Trillion in value were facilitated. He said that there are also few incidents where hackers and fraudsters have taken money from users and on average around 130 takers are reported each month.
“But sadly the defense and recovering money from such crimes is still very low in Sri Lanka. It’s not because there aren’t adequate laws but there are delays in executing them. True we see a gap here.”
Director Payments and settlement Central Bank, Vasantha Alwis said that up to now the most secured system to prevent such incidents is the One Time Password (OTP) , the temporary, secure PIN-code sent via SMS or e-mail that is valid only for one session. “This like the bank or credit card PIN should never be given to anyone.”
Colombo (LNW): Leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) said this week it will provide a holistic offering to the Sri Lankan Government in successfully carrying out the divestiture of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation.
The assurance follows A&M being appointed by the Government’s State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SRU) to advice on the divestiture of the Government’s shareholding in the state-owned SLIC.
A&M has been mandated in partnership with Capital Alliance (CAL), the Colombo-headquartered investment bank, to manage the divestment of all, or part of, the shareholding of SLIC, one of seven state-owned enterprises currently being targeted for divestiture of government ownership by the SRU.
The A&M team delivering the mandate will be led by the firm’s Sovereign Advisory Services (SAS) practice Global Head Dr. Reza Baqir, a former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, and previously a senior official of the IMF.
The CAL team will be led by the firm’s Investment Banking practice head Nishok Goonasekera, a former Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Asia in its Institutional Securities business.
The mandate is part of the Government’s overall reform program to enhance competitiveness, productivity and efficiency across the economy and to assist in the country’s socio-economic development and fiscal consolidation efforts.
A&M’s Global Head Sovereign Advisory Services practice Dr. Reza Baqir said: “We are delighted to support the Government of Sri Lanka’s economic reform program and its efforts to divest Government ownership in identified state-owned enterprises.
The goal of SAS is to provide a holistic offering to sovereigns to help them with their needs in sovereign finance, operational and financial performance improvement in state-owned enterprises and financial services, and related challenges. We will be working closely with our partners at CAL on this mandate.”
CAL Founder and Director Ajith Fernando said: “CAL is pleased to be partnering with A&M on this strategic collaboration, which signifies a powerful fusion of our on-the-ground knowledge and A&M’s deep restructuring experience. This is a welcome opportunity to support the Sri Lankan Government in achieving its economic reform policy objectives.”
A&M’s Financial Services Practice Managing Director Tariq Hameed said: “The appointment of A&M and CAL on this mandate is testament to the holistic approach of our Sovereign Advisory Services offer. A&M’s heritage in corporate restructuring and financial services and CAL’s local capital markets expertise makes us well-positioned to jointly lead this economically important mandate.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the release of Myanmar photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike, who was recently sentenced to a 20-year prison sentence, the longest given to a journalist in Myanmar since the military junta regained its power in February 2021.
On 6 September 2023, Sai Zaw Thaike, a photojournalist for the independent media Myanmar Now, was sentenced to 20 years in prison with hard labour by a military court held inside the notorious Insein prison in Yangon, a former Myanmar capital. The forty-year-old photojournalist was charged under four charges, including misinformation and sedition, which is widely used to persecute journalists.
“Despite the climate of fear that the junta has imposed on journalists, Sai Zaw Thaike has continued his reporting, serving the public interest, and he should be treated as a hero rather than persecuted by the authorities. We call on the international community to step up its pressure on the Myanmar regime for the release of Sai Zaw Thaike as well as all the other 69 journalists and press freedom defenders detained in the country.”
Cédric Alviani RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director
Sai Zaw Thaikewas arrested on 23 May 2023 in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, while covering the aftermath of cyclone Mocha, which caused the death of at least 148 people and damaged more than 186,000 buildings. Detained for his “connections with illegal news outlets”, the photojournalist has been held in pre-trial detention for three months without access to a lawyer and was denied family visits.
“[Sai Zaw Thaike’s] sentencing is yet another indication that freedom of the press has been completely quashed under the military junta’s rule, and shows the hefty price independent journalists in Myanmar must pay for their professional work.”
Swe Win Myanmar Now Editor-in-chief
Although Myanmar Now was among the five media banned shortly after the Myanmar military junta regained its power since the coup on 1 February 2021, it continues to operate from exile. A video reporter for the same media, Kay Zon Nway, was arrested while live-streaming a protest on 27 February 2021, and was placed in provisional detention in Insein prison for four months. A week after his arrest, junta soldiers raided Myanmar Now’s office in downtown Yangon.
Myanmar, ranked 173th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index, is the world’s second biggest jailer of journalists, second only to China.
The Inland Revenue Amendment Bill which empowers the Govt to “tax” EPF & ETF at 30%, passed in Parliament103-58: FUTA’s Ramindu Perera says SL is the only country that has exclusively used pension funds when restructuring domestic debt: analysts point out that former CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal had warned in December’21 that Superannuation Funds would be subjected to a massive “haircut” if Sri Lanka seeks an IMF programme.
UK’s Channel 4 beams video with allegations about SL’s Easter Sunday attacks implicating certain SL leaders: video mainly based on “whistle-blower” Hanzeer Azad Maulana, previous spokesman for LTTE’s breakaway group led by current State Minister S Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan: in the Channel 4 video, Swiss asylum-seeker Maulana claims the plot to create insecurity in the country was to pave the way for former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the Presidential Election later in 2019.
Cardinal Ranjith calls for an “impartial, broad-based investigation” into what the Channel 4 documentary has “revealed”: asks that domestic investigation officials provide assistance to an “independent international investigation team” in that regard: wants certain officials in the Police and the Intelligence services suspended “to make the new investigations transparent”.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says the latest “film” by Channel 4 is mostly an “anti-Rajapaksa tirade” aimed at blackening the Rajapaksa legacy from 2005 onwards and is a tissue of lies just like the previous films broadcast by the same Channel.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe appoints Professor Jayantha Balawardane as Chancellor of the Uva Wellassa University with effect from 9October’23.
State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe says a survey of beggars is to be commenced by the Dept of Social Services this month: also says it has been reported that children and women are mostly being used in begging and steps will be taken to curb this situation.
State Minister for Home Affairs Ashoka Priyantha says swift action will be taken to fill nearly 4,000 vacant Grama Niladhari positions: also says an “e-GN programme” to digitalize all 14,022 Grama Seva domains across the country is in progress.
Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs & Constitutional Reforms Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe confirms that the new Anti-Corruption Act is due to be effective from 15 September.
Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga says President Ranil Wickremasinghe did not go for an election because he feared defeat: claims the President is unable to move forth because he is working with “corrupt politicians”: also says she doesn’t think “Ranil is stealing, but everyone around him steals”.
SL Women’s Cricket coach Rumesh Ratnayake describes his team’s T20I series triumph over England as “really huge” for cricket in the country: SL defeated England by 7 & 8 wickets respectively to come back from 1-0 down and hand England their first T20I series defeat by a side other than Australia since 2010.
A few days ahead of United States President Joe Biden’s state visit to Vietnam, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges him to address the dire situation of press freedom and the right to information in the country.
In a joint letter submitted to the White House on September 5, RSF and seven other human rights organizations, including Viet Tan, called on US President Joe Biden to address the dire state of press freedom and the right to information in Vietnam during his state visit to the country, scheduled for September 10.
Although press freedom is enshrined in Article 25 of Vietnam’s Constitution, the regime has stepped up its crackdown on journalists and press freedom defenders in recent years. Harsh prison sentences have systematically been pronounced against independent journalists such as Pham Doan Trang, 2019 RSF Press Freedom Prize laureate who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2021 for spreading so-called “anti-state propaganda.”
In Vietnam, jailed journalists are almost systematically subjected to mistreatment and denied medical care. On August 2, 2022, political commentator Do Cuong Dongdied in detention at the age of 58, as a result of the mistreatment he had been subjected to since his arrest. More recently, in August 2023, the family of freelance reporter Le Huu Minh Tuan, who was sentenced in 2021 to 11 years in prison, revealed he is suffering from a severe scabies infection.
“As one of Vietnam’s major economic partners, the US should address the systematic violations of press freedom and the right to information perpetrated by the regime. We urge President Biden to step up pressure on the Vietnamese authorities to obtain the release of all 41 journalists and press freedom defenders detained in the country.
Colombo (LNW): The recently passed Anti-Corruption Act will be implemented from September 15, 2023 and a gazette notification will be published in this regard soon, assured Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa during a briefing yesterday (07).
The Minister told the media that although the existing laws pertaining to bribery are only applicable to the public sector and politicians, the new Anti-Corruption Act will allow these laws to be enforced against those of the private sector as well.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has produced a wrong verdict or withdrawn certain cases pertaining to the events of corruption on a number occasions, and the new Act, therefore, will pave the way for the Commission to re-investigate the matters and take due action, he added.
