By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): With increasing tourist arrivals and innovative strategies in place, Sri Lanka Tourism will unveil the first phase of the highly anticipated check-in promotion next week under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka has welcomed over 51,500 tourists during the first 10 days of the month, propelling the impetus to reach the monthly target of 149,075 arrivals.

The country received 51,594 tourists during the first 10 days of the month, comprising 35,775 during the first week, and 15,819 in the balance three days.

The first 10-day arrivals have also pushed the cumulative figure to date to 819,507, driving the impetus to continue in the year 2023.

India continues to grow reflecting 18% or 9,146, followed by the UK with 13% or 6,939, China with 7% or 3,707, France with 6% or 3,249 and Germany with 6% or 3,155.

As per the latest Central Bank data released yesterday, in the first seven months of 2023, tourism earnings were at US $ 1.09 billion, reflecting a 43% increase from the corresponding period of last year, whilst July earnings stood at $ 219 million, showcasing the highest monthly increase thus far.

“President Wickremesinghe will inaugurate the short-term campaign ‘Rejuvenating Sri Lanka’ coinciding with the inauguration of the Hilton Yala Resort on 19 August,” Tourism Minister Harin Fernando told journalists on Thursday.

He affirmed that Sri Lanka Tourism is poised to embark on its comprehensive two-phased marketing blitz with the highly anticipated check-in promotion next week and the long-term campaign targeting 14 markets in October.

“The first wave of the thematic campaign is set to debut in four key markets — India, China, Russia, and Australia. This strategic approach aims to maximise impact while ensuring a gradual and well-structured expansion of the campaign’s reach,” he disclosed

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu explained that the initial phase of the campaign will focus on ‘Rejuvenating Sri Lanka’ commencing at the end of this month which will span two to three months, followed by the launch of a more extensive thematic long-term campaign focused on 14 key markets scheduled for a grand launch in October.

“For the past 16 years, Sri Lanka Tourism has not undertaken such an extensive campaign. Our approach involves a strategic roll-out, with the thematic campaign being tailored to the booking patterns of our key markets, in a phased manner and not all in one go,” he added.

Gajabahu also addressed the efficient execution of the campaign, noting that the Ministry is spearheading a fast-tracked process with the objective of completing the tender procedure within 21 days — a swift approach necessitated by previous delays caused by issues with tender documents.

Noting that SLTPB has appointed a strategic and creative agency already, he said Sri Lanka Tourism will spend Rs. 1.4 billion over the next 12 months from the end of this month to mark a fresh approach to destination marketing including two domestic campaigns.

He also said plans are underway to conduct two domestic campaigns to remind 22 million Sri Lankans that the warm-friendly people are ready to welcome visitors from around the world.

One campaign is to remind the importance of tourism to locals and the other campaign is aimed at the Sri Lankan diaspora towards luring visitors and investments.

 ”No matter what global campaigns we do, if the local community is not welcoming towards them the efforts put into drawing tourists will not reach its full potential. Thus, a domestic tourism campaign will be launched towards the end of the year,” he said.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): Some 3.9 million Sri Lankans are moderately food insecure with more than 10,000 households facing severe food insecurity, according to the latest situation report issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The report says that about 2.9 million children need humanitarian assistance to access lifesaving nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation, protection, and social protection services.

The UNICEF report “Sri Lanka Humanitarian Situation Report No.01 (Economic Crisis)” covers the period from January 1 to June 30 this year. It notes that about 3.9 million people were classified as moderately food insecure as of May.

Estate sector communities are found to be suffering from the highest level of acute food insecurity, followed by households highly dependent on social protection schemes such as Samurdhi or disability benefits.

Despite the apparent economic stability and improved food security in the country, a significantly high 62 percent of households are adopting livelihood-based coping strategies such as withdrawing savings, borrowing money, and buying food on credit to access food compared to 48 percent in May last year, the report says.

It highlights that 26 percent of households are employing emergency or crisis-level livelihood coping strategies, which include “selling productive assets (e.g., farming equipment), reducing essential health/education expenses, withdrawing children completely from school, and selling land.”

According to the report, in April 2023, the percentage of underweight children under five was 15.8 percent, compared to 13.1 percent in April last year.

More families are resorting to negative coping mechanisms to prioritise food consumption over expenses for education, health, and protection, UNICEF states.

“Parents are facing challenges in prioritising income at the household level for education. As a result, partner reports indicate irregular school attendance, which could lead to school-drop out eventually, is increasing among students, along with increasing mental health issues related to education among children.”

The report notes that drought conditions may negatively affect the upcoming “Yala” agriculture season and already 45,000 acres of paddy fields in the Hambantota district are at high risk of being destroyed due to severe drought.

“With the worsening drought conditions affecting the yala harvest, rice wholesale and retail prices are expected to increase, exacerbating the existing food insecurities in the country.

In addition, many forest fires had been reported across the country due to the prevailing dry weather conditions, including in the water catchment-protected areas,” the report states.

UNICEF reached more than 647,900 people, including 360,941 children with, humanitarian assistance in the first half of this year. The agency’s humanitarian cash transfers reached 70,571 households ensuring nutrition food access to mothers with young children in the most vulnerable districts.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s Revenue enhancement performances for this year have not been in line with expected targets and there has been a “significant” shortfall in the revenue performance this year, the Treasury has acknowledged.

In a circular, Treasury Secretary K.M. Mahinda Siriwardene instructed government institutions to stick to the stringent expenditure control measures until further notice as the Government was still struggling “for various reasons” amid fiscal challenges and inadequate revenue performance.

The Treasury Secretary noted in the circular titled “Guidelines for the Preparation of Annual Estimates 2024″.

It is critically important that government expenditures are managed carefully and efficiently considering the limited fiscal space and the need for channeling scarce resources to essential areas while making all efforts to efficiently manage expenditure, Secretary Siriwardena said.

 He stressed that “public finances of the country should be managed with the utmost care, discipline and accountability.”

According to the circular, there will be no provision of funds allocated to the Provincial Councils (PCs) under line ministries, or departments for functions directly assigned to PCs.

The circular said this was “to avoid overlapping programmes carried out by line ministries and departments at regional level with PCs. This should be prepared in coordination with PCs.

As per the medium-term macroeconomic targets under the International Monetary Fund’s Extended Fund Facility, the primary balance of the budget which is estimated to be a deficit of 0.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023 needs to be increased to a surplus of 0.8 percent of GDP in 2024 to reach a surplus of 2.3 percent of GDP in 2026, the circular noted.

“This has to be achieved through a combination of revenue-enhancing and expenditure-rationalisation policies.”

To reach the targeted primary balance of the budget, the Secretary stressed that government expenditure should be managed prudently while continuing the stringent expenditure control measures.

Accordingly, heads of state institutions are instructed to adopt a “zero-based budgeting approach” while “making a transformational change through minimum inputs” aiming at curtailing government expenditures when estimating the expenditures for the Budget 2024.

When preparing budget estimates, heads of departments of spending agencies are told to carry out only activities that are relevant to the performance of the core functions assigned to the respective ministries and departments and withdraw from performing irrelevant tasks, and assign them to appropriate institutions.

The implementation of development programmes and projects by departments and institutions should be carried out under the coordination of the ministry, instead of direct implementation by the ministries, one of the guidelines reads. The heads of the departments are also told to carry out a cadre review to abolish positions of which functions are similar or no longer needed and deploy the staff only for the core functions of the concerned institutions as far as possible.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka the ninth largest gem exporter to the global market and one of the world’s five most important gem bearing nations is now ready to  implement a well-structured strategy aimed at attaining an annual export revenue of at least two billion US dollars.

The country’s Gem export industry’s contribution to economy is yet to match the other global stakeholders such as Thailand, which is an international trading hub for gem and jewellery and generates around US$ 12 billion in export revenue, Hong Kong, which notches US$ 30 billion.

As per the Central Bank Annual Report 2022, Sri Lanka earned US$ 450 million as export income from gems, diamonds, and jewellery during 2022 while the annual average for the past 5 years was US$ 298 million.

During a recent discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat to address issues within the gem and jewellery industry, President Ranil Wickremesinghe urged officials to swiftly implement comprehensive strategy for achieving the country’s objective of bolstering annual export earnings through enhancements in gem and jewellery exports and re-exports.

Furthermore, the President revealed that recommendations pertaining to tax policies for the advancement of the gem and jewellery sector were submitted to him by the “Sectoral Monitoring Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development”.

Deliberations extended to discussions on taxes impacting the industry as well as the export and re-export procedures. Pertinent stakeholders also shared insights with the President regarding the challenges that have arisen within the sector.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe assured that the government is fully prepared to provide necessary support and facilities if a formalized plan to elevate the gem and jewellery industry in Sri Lanka is promptly presented.

Sri Lanka has recorded a significant rise in its export revenue from the gems, jewellery, and diamonds sector, recording a 32% increase compared to the same period the previous year.

The country’s ability to leverage its rich natural resources and skilled craftsmanship has played a vital role in this sector’s growth, despite global economic challenges.

The National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA) reports that the revenue from these exports has increased dramatically.

The Chairman of the NGJA, Viraj de Silva, disclosed that the total revenue generated from gems, jewellery, and diamonds exports from January to the end of May 2023 reached US$ 222 million.

The figure indicates a substantial surge in comparison to the same period in 2022, which saw approximately $ 161 million in revenue.

The country’s thriving gem industry benefits from the abundance of resources and the traditional skills of local gem cutters and jewellery makers.

The robust increase in revenue from gem, jewellery, and diamond exports demonstrates Sri Lanka’s potential as a global leader in the sector. As the country continues to enhance its capabilities, the future looks bright for Sri Lanka’s gem and jewellery industry.

1. Opposition lawmakers including JVP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake and SJB’s Sajith Premadasa demand that the Speaker withdraws his statement, in which he ruled that the proposal on executing the Domestic Debt Optimization program cannot be challenged in any Court: however, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena asserts he would not amend his stance on the matter.
   
2. Tourist Hotels Assn President M Shanthikumar says the re-introduction of the Minimum Room Rate Policy was to prevent the hotels from being degraded: also says that getting higher numbers in and charging lower does not help the industry: certain other stakeholders say the move will lead to the downfall of the industry.
   
3. Top business analysts expect the Banking Sector NPL ratio which is currently in excess of 18% to shoot up to 40% if no action is taken by the banks or the Central Bank to restructure bad and irrecoverable debts of small and medium sized enterprises.
   
4. President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that resolving the country’s economic challenges goes beyond the success of the debt optimization programme: emphasises the need to promptly initiate an economy-building strategy guided by sound decisions: cautions that failure to proactively adopt a new program would inevitably result in the country facing another economic hurdle within a decade.
   
5. The Mahaweli Authority raises concerns about the limited water capacity of the Udawalawe Reservoir: indicates that it can sustain the region’s water needs for just 3 more days only.
   
6. Sri Lanka Telecom which is earmarked by the Govt for Privatisation, reports a net loss of Rs.2.1 bn for 2Q23, compared to a profit of Rs.1.96 bn in 2Q22: also says the group revenue has declined to Rs.26.1 bn from Rs.26.9 bn: explains that the delay in monetisation of the fibre network and the revenue contraction in Mobitel due to the decline in the subscriber base by 1 mn, are the reasons for the decline.
   
7. Public Health Inspectors Assn cautions about an upsurge in the spread of Leptospirosis, also known as “rat fever”, amidst the ongoing dry weather conditions: its Chairman Upul Rohana says those involved in freshwater fishing, should remain vigilant in this regard.
   
8. Former Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Jagath Dias queries as to whether a plan is currently underway to help establish “Eelam” by Constitutional means.
   
9. President Ranil Wickremasinghe emphasises the need to implement a well structured strategy to earn at least USD 2 bn from the Gem and Jewellery industry.
   
10. The Australian Government alerts its nationals travelling to Sri Lanka to exercise a ‘high degree of caution’ due to the threat of public demonstrations, shortages of some imported foods & medicines, and security risks: also warns that dengue fever is another risk owing to the monsoonal weather.

Colombo (LNW): The government of Sri Lanka will be looking out at possibilities of holding the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) Examination in the 10th Grade in the future, revealed Education Minister Susil Premjayanth.

In a statement, the Minister emphasised that the move is being made in the objective of paving the way for children to become independent in choosing their future paths after facing the GCE Advanced Level Examination via a transformational change in the Education Sector that allows the growth of knowledge in a very short period of time.