Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lanka Rupee remains steady against the US Dollar, according to the exchange rates of several commercial banks today (06).
Accordingly, the buy rate and the sell rate of the US Dollar remain at Rs. 311.76 and Rs. 330 respectively at Commercial Bank.
The buy rate and sell rate of the US Dollar remain at Rs. 313 and Rs. 328 respectively at Sampath Bank.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Rupee indicates a slight appreciation at Peoples’ Bank, with the buy rate dropping to Rs. 311.59 from Rs. 313.52, and the sell rate, to Rs. 334.02 from Rs. 336.02.
Colombo (LNW): The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has decided to extend its trading hours with effect from Monday (10), following a directive issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC).
Colombo (LNW): The Sectoral Oversight Committee on International Relations held recently (22) under the Chairmanship of MP Namal Rajapaksa took into discussion the possibility of setting up a Sri Lanka Embassy in Romania.
Accordingly, the Committee questioned the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the challenges pertaining to the establishment of a mission in Romania.
The Committee was of the view that given the considerable percent of Sri Lankan population present in the said country, many inconveniences are caused as there is no Sri Lankan Embassy to look into their grievances.
The officials present stated that the Cabinet approval has been obtained to establish a Mission in Romania and the cadre has already been approved and the establishment of an Embassy is on course. The Committee instructed the officials present to take action on the matter without further delay.
The Committee further took into discussion the foreign policy of Sri Lanka. The Secretary to the Foreign Ministry elaborated on the 20 key point foreign policy directives of the Ministry. Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the foreign policy of Sri Lanka is based on friendly relations with all sovereign countries upholding a policy of neutrality and non-alignment.
Furthermore, the Secretary stated that it also aims to strengthen close cooperation between Sri Lanka and South Asian countries.
MPs Niroshan Perera, Mayantha Dissanayake, Akila Ellawala, Yadamini Gunawardene, and Dr. Harini Amarasuriya were present at the occasion.
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka is set to increase duty-free allowances for migrant workers at the airport starting May in order to encourage remittance, Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said.
The increase will be based on the amount of money remitted by the workers, Nanayakkara said during a media briefing.Under the new scheme, there will be five categories of concessions.
For people having remitted 2,400-4,799, 4,800-7,199, 7,200-11,999, 12,000-23,999 and 24,000 U.S. dollars or more, they will be eligible for an additional duty-free allowance of 600, 960, 1,440, 2,400, and 4,800 U.S. dollars, respectively, when shopping at the airport, according to the minister.
The concessions will be available to anyone who has sent the mentioned amount of money through official channels to the country within a year, the minister said.
He added that no tax will be charged on foreign worker remittances and money held in banks in the form of foreign exchange.
Migrant workers’ remittance is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for the South Asian country.
Sri Lankan migrant workers’ foreign remittances amounted to a total of US$ 844.9 million in the first two months of 2023, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) says.
According to a latest report published by the central bank, this is an increase of 82% in comparison to the total sum of $464.1 million foreign remittances recorded in both January and February last year.
The central bank’s figures have shown that the foreign remittances earned by Sri Lankan migrant workers’ were at $437.5 million and $ 407.4 million in January and February 2023, respectively.
Meanwhile, foreign remittances received in December 2022 alone amounted to $475.6 million, recording the highest figure reported in a single month since June 2021.
Worker remittances during the six years from 2015 to 2020 had averaged more than $ 7 billion each year, substantially improving the foreign exchange liquidity in the country and in the banking system.
But in 2021 worker remittances dropped to $ 5.5 billion and in 2022 dropped further sharply to $ 3.8 billion. The country lost thereby $ 1.6 billion in 2021 compared to $ 7.1 billion earned in 2020 in 2022 it has e lost $ 3.3 billion compared to 2020 as well as compared with the previous six year annual average earnings.
However, despite the increase in migration, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) statistics fail to show a similar growth in remittances. During the period from January to October 2022, the remittance inflow has been recorded as $ 2.9 billion compared to $ 4.8 billion in the same period in 2021.
However, total departures for foreign employment during January to October 2022 were recorded at 251,151, which exceeded the annual departures in the pre-pandemic period.
Colombo (LNW): There is no truth the claims made on certain Social Media platforms that telephone conversations and social media interactions are being monitored and recorded, the Defence Ministry said.
The Defence Ministry made this response following the swarming in of such claims on a number of Social Media platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.
The Ministry dismisses these claims stating that they are completely false.
Colombo (LNW): The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) annual flagship economic publication – the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) April 2023, released yesterday forecasts Sri Lanka’s economy to contract further in 2023 before it begins a gradual recovery in 2024, as the country navigates an unprecedented economic crisis.
Noting that the economy contracted by 7.8% in 2022, the ADO forecast Sri Lanka to contract by 3% in 2023 but grow by 1.3% in 2024 as it continues to grapple with the challenge of debt restructuring and balance of payments difficulties.
Sri Lanka will be the only major country in South Asia to suffer negative growth this year. ADO forecasts South Asia as a region to grow by 5.5% this year on top of 6.4% in 2022. According to ADO the growth in developing Asia is forecast at 4.8% this year and in 2024, up from 4.2% last year.
With regard to Sri Lanka, ADO said reform measures, such as the reversal of the tax cuts of 2019, and the recent approval of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Fund Facility arrangement will support the country’s efforts to stabilise its economy.
Sri Lanka’s recovery from the crisis hinges on timely progress on debt relief and steadfast implementation of reforms.
Sri Lanka entered the crisis on a weak footing as pre-pandemic macroeconomic vulnerabilities, policy missteps, and shocks left the country with thin buffers on the eve of the pandemic. In 2022, foreign currency scarcity led to shortages of essentials and triggered an acute energy crisis with prolonged power cuts and transport bottlenecks due to lack of fuel, which Sri Lanka needs to import.
Inflation soared and eroded living standards, pushing many into poverty. The economic crisis has impacted the poor and vulnerable disproportionally.
“Sri Lanka has a long road to recovery, and it will be critical to ensure the poor and vulnerable are protected,” said ADB Deputy Country Director for Sri Lanka Utsav Kumar.
“It is imperative that the country address the root causes of internal and external imbalances, for which an unwavering commitment to reforms is essential,” he added.
The needed reforms include enhancing domestic resource mobilisation, improving the performance of state-owned enterprises to reduce their fiscal burden, strengthening public financial management, and encouraging private sector activities through harmonising trade and investment policies.
Improving governance and accountability mechanisms, such as strengthening anti corruption legislation, building strong institutions, and increasing transparency, will also be essential to address Sri Lanka’s economic vulnerability. ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.
Colombo (LNW): The tabling of the proposed “Anti-Terrorism Bill” has been delayed, Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa said.
Speaking to reporters, the Justice Minister noted that the bill was widely condemned across all social sectors in the country and was delayed subject to the requests made by the opposition and lawyers.
The controversial “Anti-Terrorism Bill” was purported to be a heinous weapon against democracy vesting an unimaginable power with the President and the State, which, according to some analysts, can label common citizens as ‘terrorists.’
The bill was presented in replacement to the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and was gazetted only to meet a severe backlash from a number of parties, including the Opposition, Civil Society, Activists and the International Community.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) revealed that the bill was gazetted without adequate consultations with the relevant stakeholders, and according to some critics, it has been formulated in the government’s sole intention of repressing the dissent taking almost every public action evident during the ‘Aragalaya’ people’s protest which ousted Sri Lanka’s eighth Executive President Gotabaya Rajapaksa into account.
Colombo (LNW): The government will firmly go ahead with Sri Lanka Telecom Group (SLT Group) restructuring process owing to its inefficiency, unproductivity and its less contribution for economic growth with massive overheads, although it has been considered as a profit making institution.
The aim of the government is to restructure it making the National Telecom Provider as an efficient, transparent and accountable business enterprise capable of providing effective service delivery, finance ministry sources disclosed.
This Telecom giant with 4,697 employees is currently operating with 21 trade unions and it has become a burden to the state with frequent workers protests and strikes making it difficult to the management navigate the public enterprise in a real profitable path.
It has failed to achieve the establishment objectives of ensuring the maximum return on public investment while making sure the optimum utilization of institutional resources as well as the ability to operate with commercially viable and independent from the government budget.
Sri Lanka Telecom’s profitability ratio is very much lover than its competitors operating in the country.
The average profitability ratio of SLT during past five years was around 6.52 percent where as the Dialog Axiata PLC,s Sri Lanka’s Leading Quad-Play Connectivity Provider maintains profitability ratio of 15.2 percent.
Profitability ratios are a class of financial metrics that are used to assess a business’s ability to generate earnings relative to its revenue, operating costs, balance sheet assets, or shareholders’ equity over time, using data from a specific point in time.
Restructuring of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) will be done by Public Enterprise Holding Company Limited without any political interference. The company was set up following the model of Singapore and Malaysia to run state institutions, State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya revealed.
“This institution will decide on restructuring patterns of state owned enterprises and would consider total privatization, building up of private public partnership and deciding upon what strategically important institutions should vested with the state sector,” the State Minister said.
“The total losses incurred by more than 400 state run institutions have been Rs. 322 billion and it is not possible to put the burden on running these institutions on the people,” he added.
Referring to SLT in particular, he said the number of landlines which the country had before privatization was 270,000 but the number of landlines have increased up to 10.2 million after the restructuring.
“The Government owns only a 49 percent stake of SLT at the moment and why make a fuss about it,” he questioned.
The Cabinet of Ministers’ approval had also been granted recently for the divestiture of several SOEs including SriLankan Airlines Ltd., Sri Lankan Catering Ltd., Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd., Canwill Holdings Private Ltd. (Grand Hyatt Colombo), Hotel Developers Lanka Ltd. (Hilton Hotel Colombo), Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. including Litro Gas Terminals (Pvt.) Ltd. and the Lanka Hospital Corporation PLC.
Colombo (LNW): The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) concluded that the Supreme Court verdict on the Local Government Election has not violated any Parliament privileges, as suggested by certain Ruling Party MPs.
In a statement, the BASL emphasised that the Judiciary should be allowed to operate independently, free from external pressures, threats or any interference, for a vibrant democracy to exist.
It noted that it is the duty of all governmental and other institutions to respect and observe the independence of the judiciary, adding that any interference in the judicial process sets a dangerous precedent, which must be strongly condemned.
Colombo (LNW): Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Central, North-Western and North-Central provinces and in Mannar district during the afternoon or night, and fairly heavy showers above 50mm are likely at some places in above areas, said the Department of Meteorology in a statement today (06).
A few showers may occur in the southern coastal areas during the morning too, it added.
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damages caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 15th of April in this year. The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (06th) are Udugama, Nelluwa, Maduwanwala, Kumbukwewa and Yala at about 12:13 noon, the statement further said.
Marine Weather:
Condition of Rain:
Showers or thunder showers will occur at several places in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Hambantota via Colombo, Galle and Matara during the night.
Winds:
Winds will be south-easterly to south-westerly and wind speed will be (20-30) kmph.
State of Sea:
The sea areas around the island will be slight. Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.
