By: Isuru Parakrama
World (LNW): The death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to over 25,000 surpassing World Health Organisation predictions due to the recent earthquakes, whilst millions of people have been left homeless, Sky News learns.
The death toll in Turkey and Syria could double, according to UN aid Chief Martin Griffiths.
Sky News confirms that the death toll in Turkey has reached up to 21, 848, whilst in Syria, 3,553, totalling 25,401.
This is a developing story..
Photo: GETTY
President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the “Art of Sri Lanka” art exhibition on yesterday (09), in line with the country’s 75th National Independence Celebrations.
The “Art of Sri Lanka” art exhibition organized on the instructions of President Wickremesinghe was inaugurated on the Independence Day (04) under the patronage of Mr. Poj Harnpol, the Thai Ambassador to Sri Lanka.
The art exhibition, which highlights the pride of Sri Lanka, was put together by veteran artist H. S. Sarath and featured contributions from new and talented artists. A large number of painters of all ages from around the country submitted their paintings for this exhibition, including those involved in the ‘Aragalaya’.
During his visit, President Wickremesinghe inquired about the artists who participated in the exhibition and was presented with several paintings, including a portrait of him. The artists requested that the President organize similar exhibitions at least once every three years and aim to target the tourism industry.
The “Art of Sri Lanka” art exhibition will be held from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm today (10th) at the JDA Perera Gallery at the University of the Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo 7.
The exhibition is a celebration of the country’s independence and the rich artistic heritage of Sri Lanka, and highlights the importance of supporting artists and preserving the country’s cultural heritage.
Sri Lanka is likely to go dark soon following the shut down of Kelanitissa power plant and the impending suspension of power generation by Norochcholai power plant due to shortage of fuel and coal, CEB officials said.
The power generation at the Kelanitissa power plant has come to a halt since Wednesday evening, with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) suspending fuel supply required for power generation.
If the CEB does not receive Coal shipments by the 15th of April, come July, or August 2023 we will have to go for extremely lengthy power cuts owing to the shut down of Norochcholai power plant.
It would become the longest power cut in history. That is why we warn that we will have a Dark July in 2023,” warned Nihal Weeraratne, the Chairman of the CEB Engineers Union.
“The CPC has for some unknown reason suspended fuel supply to the Kelanitissa plant, although we are informed that CPC has sufficient stocks of Naphthalene required for three days,” President of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union Nihal Weeraratne said.
“Power generation has been awarded to West Coast Power (Pvt.) Ltd. to meet the country’s power demand, costing the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) around Rs. 10 per unit,” he revealed. As a result the CEB incurs a loss of Rs. 40 million per day,” Weeraratne charged.
He questioned as to why two state entities, namely the CEB and the CPC which are under the Ministry of Power and Energy have awarded power generation to a private company. “It begs the question as to why the subject Minister is instrumental in causing such a great loss to the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, only 12 shipments of coal have reached the country and the unloading of the 12th shipment is facing uncertainty, Weeraratne said.
He charged that the Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera failed to secure payments for these shipments, casting doubt over the country’s power generation capabilities over the next few months.
“We have a limited window of opportunity and the Minister seems to be ignorant of this. I have been criticized for my statements in the past. But the more delays we face in unloading these shipments, more blackouts are highly likely in July,” he opined
By: Saurabh Sinha
NEW DELHI: Financially-strapped could soon initiate a move to divest stake in some state-owned companies, including SriLankan Airlines which has substantial access to India and is a major player for flying people between India and rest of its global network via the hub Colombo.
And thanks to the Modi government’s consistent policy of not easily increasing flying rights for foreign countries so that Indian airlines can grow their wings, state-owned SriLankan’s likely divestment may see significant interest from some cash-rich mega carriers of nearby hubs (mainly Gulf and West Asia) that have for years been in vain trying to get more flights to India. An Indian carrier with deep pockets is also being seen as a potential bidder, along with investment funds.
“The Sri Lankan government has appointed a ‘State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit’ to help privatise or restructure such organisation. Their decision (for SriLankan) is awaited.
India is a huge market for SriLankan. Pre-Covid we had 120 weekly flights to 14 Indian cities and are currently at 70 weekly flights to nine Indian cities,” SriLankan Airlines CEO Richard Nuttell told TOI recently. The state owns 99% of the airline, with the remaining 1% being with ex-employees.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data for January- March 2020 shows SriLankan as the ninth biggest airline in terms of flying passengers in and out of India with a 3.1% share of the pie (same as Oman Air at the eighth spot). A significant number of passengers from India transit via Colombo to London and Paris in the west to Tokyo and Sydney in the east.
“We have three different kind of traffic flows — the Sri Lankan diaspora; inbound tourists for which India was the biggest source market and transit traffic between India and rest of our network,” he added. In pre-covid FY 2018-19, 49% of passengers from India would transit via Colombo. In April-December 2022, this number rose to 60%, said the CEO.
While historically SirLankan used to see transit traffic essentially between south India and the Gulf, at the moment it is witnessing a shift in the opposite direction, especially Australia.
A sale is likely as SriLankan can’t borrow money because the island nation defaulted on its external debt repayment. It is running on its own cash generation. Ironically weakening of the Sri Lankan has helped the airline whose revenue is essentially in US dollars. The exchange rate has fallen from 188 Sri Lankan Rupees to a dollar in January 2022 to about 370 now.
If privatised, partially or fully, SriLankan will come a full circle. The government had in 2010 acquired the 44% stake Emirates had in SriLankan for $53 million. The Dubai-based carrier had in the late 1990s bought this stake.
“Pre-Covid we used to have 27 aircraft. Right now we have 24 — 12 Airbus A330s and as many A320s. We have issued a request for proposal to dry lease 10 aircraft (five narrow and as many wide bodies) to bring fleet size back to 27 as some planes will be returned to lessors,” the CEO said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is still awaiting adequate assurances on Sri Lanka from the creditors and for the remaining requirements to be met to unlock much needed US$2.9 billion external financing.
An IMF Spokesperson said that Sri Lanka continues to engage with official bilateral creditors to obtain financing assurances and also continues to advance domestic reforms.
“We welcome the recent statement by the Paris Club to provide financing assurances to Sri Lanka following the assurances provided by India.
Sri Lanka continues to engage with official bilateral creditors to obtain financing assurances and also continues to advance domestic reforms.
As soon as adequate assurances are obtained and remaining requirements are met, including by the Sri Lankan authorities, the EFF arrangement for Sri Lanka can be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for approval that would unlock much needed external financing,” the IMF Spokesperson said.
The Paris Club Creditors provided financing assurances to support the International Monetary Fund’s approval of an Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka.
The Paris Club Creditors announced their decision to provide financing assurances to support the approval by the IMF Executive Board of the envisaged IMF program for Sri Lanka, which would restore the country’s macroeconomic stability.
The assurance was given following a meeting by Paris Club members held on January 25, 2023, in the presence of representatives from Hungary, Saudi Arabia, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and India, as well as from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
India has already given the IMF written assurances on Sri Lanka.The Paris Club members as well as Hungary and Saudi Arabia have now urged other official bilateral creditors
An IMF Spokesperson said that Sri Lanka continues to engage with official bilateral creditors to obtain financing assurances and also continues to advance domestic reforms.
“We welcome the recent statement by the Paris Club to provide financing assurances to Sri Lanka following the assurances provided by India.
Sri Lanka continues to engage with official bilateral creditors to obtain financing assurances and also continues to advance domestic reforms.
As soon as adequate assurances are obtained and remaining requirements are met, including by the Sri Lankan authorities, the EFF arrangement for Sri Lanka can be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for approval that would unlock much needed external financing,” the IMF Spokesperson said.
The delegation led by the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the Assembly and the Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) H.E Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Sri Lanka recently (06), met with Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Speaker of Parliament, Feb (07).
He was received by Deputy Speaker Hon. Ajith Rajapakse and Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake.
As President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), H. E Ban Ki-moon focused on green growth, sustainable development and advocate the need for innovative partnerships to transition into low-carbon, sustainable, and inclusive economies. During the cordial discussions held, H.E Ban Ki-moon emphasized the need to develop political ambition pertaining to adopting the green growth model of development and was of the view that the voice for such initiative should arise from within Parliament.
Whilst mentioning the requirement and need of broader awareness and capacity building among Members of Parliament, officials on the subject, the Hon. Speaker pledged his full cooperation towards achieving the said goal in fellowship.
Following the cordial discussion held, the delegation led by H.E Ban Ki-moon including H.E. Woonjin Jeong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Sri Lanka, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, GGGI Director General toured the chamber of Parliament.
Hon. Ajith Rajapakse, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Naseer Ahamed, Minister of Environment, Mr. Dinesh Weerakkody, Chief Advisor to the President and the Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake were present at the meeting held with H.E Ban Ki-moon, in Parliament.
Another minor earthquake has been reported in the vicinity of Wellawaya – Buttala town today (11) at around 03.48 am.
The Disaster Management Center stated that it was recorded as a value of 2.3 on the Richter scale.
Two minor earthquakes were reported in Palwatta area yesterday.
Sri Lanka vehicle sales have come down to zero level and the car sale centres are on the verge of closing down as a result of the government ban on vehicle imports , motor traders complained.
The Secretary of the Vehicle Importer’s Association of Sri Lanka Prasad Kulatunge says that even used car sales have been affected by the government’s decision as no one wants to buy vehicles now.
Sri Lanka’s auto sector is grinding to a halt while some types of tyres are also not available in the market, with import controls triggered by money printing through an unstable soft-pegged monetary regime.
While some dealers of reconditioned vehicles still have stocks as sales have also weakened amid an economic crisis , many brand agents of cars, as well as commercial vehicle agents, are already out of stock.
Many agents are struggling and are planning to close dealerships and showrooms or lay off staff.The industry is calling for stable policies to survive.
New vehicles bring large volumes of taxes, petrol sales, in particular, is a key source of tax income. As a communications path, transport is also the main tool to keep economic activity going.
Sri Lanka auto service providers warns of job losses, breakdowns over import controls. Vehicles are also a key driver of insurance, finance as well as an islandwide motor vehicle repair business which is claiming to employ around 500,000 persons.
Sri Lanka slapped severe import controls in April 2020, after unprecedented money printing by the central bank.
Cars are a favourite target of bureaucrats each time money printing triggers a currency crisis.
The latest complete import ban comes on top of restrictions imposed in 2018, after the central bank printed large volumes of money to target the call money rate from April 2020 in pro-cyclical liquidity injections just as the economy recovered from a 2015/2016 currency crisis.
There have been calls to reform the monetary regime, without which critics say the country will not be able to progress and policy frameworks will founder on an unstable foundation of unsound money as they had in the past.
Uncertainty arises from Government tax policies which are unfavourable to the motor trade industry and the more recent import restrictions on passenger and commercial vehicles which have impacted the core of the business model of companies .
Sri Lanka is compelled to settle US$ 3.2 billion worth foreign currency obligations to be settled this year even after announcing a debt standstill (preemptive default) on selective debt last year until creditors agree to restructure them.
The data made available by the Central Bank showed the country is still required to repay external obligations stemming from foreign currency loans, securities and deposits up to US$ 3,185 million in 2023 consisting of US$ 2,738 million in principal payments and US$ 447 million in interest.
This irresponsible and illegal decision of pre-emptive default plunged Sri Lanka into a serious abyss of economic and financial isolation as a “bankrupt” nation, with the consequential severely damaging repercussions due to haunt the nation for many years to come, several economic experts warned.
However, the debt suspension applied only to select debt categories, owed predominantly to bilateral partners and commercial creditors for the debt raised through International Sovereign Bonds.
The Central Bank said this US$ 3.2 billion payable in 2023 consists of, “projected short-term net drains after the announcement of the suspension of selected external debt servicing by the government for an interim period”.
The debt suspension doesn’t seem to apply on swap facilities the Central Bank obtained from its friendly central banks and multilateral funders.
Under normal circumstances, Sri Lanka has about US$ 6.0 billion total debt repayments for a year at least for the next 3-4 years.
A few days ago, Bangladesh expressed confidence that its US$ 200 million swap facility first extended to Sri Lanka in 2021 would be repaid by the Lankan authorities by September this year.
Sri Lanka’s IMF programme grinds on as the country entered the IMF process after defaulting on its foreign currency loans. Hence, this requires debt assurance from all its bilateral creditors before the Executive Board approved the envisaged US$ 2.9 billion programme.
As both the Paris Club creditors and India have provided their assurance by now, Sri Lanka awaits more credible assurances from China whose 2-year moratorium on debt falls short of what the IMF requires.
The ratings agency affirmed its ‘SD’ long-term and ‘SD’ short-term foreign currency sovereign ratings on Sri Lanka, as well as reiterated the outlook for the island nation at ‘negative’.
Without taking action to manage forex debt servicing of $244 million in April 2022 using available forex inflows, the Central bank has suspended repayment of $ 789 million for May and June dragging the country into debt default abyss, an eminent economist said.
He stated that when a sovereign forex loan is not repaid, the credibility of the country will be lost, and investors will avoid that country.
It will be very difficult for the defaulting country to obtain new forex loans thereafter. The access to International Bond Markets may be lost for at least 5 to 10 years after the default.
The country’s banking system will be placed under a lot of pressure and face very serious difficulties when opening letters of credit and carrying out forex transactions, he pointed out
