According to the foreign exchange rate notes issued by the commercial banks today (22), the price of the American dollar is further down compared to yesterday.

In the Bank of Ceylon yesterday (21), the buying rate of an American dollar was Rs. 315 and the selling rate is Rs. 333.54 and today those values ​​are decreased to Rs. 311 and Rs. 329.54.

Yesterday (21) in Commercial Bank, the buying rate of an American dollar was Rs. 314.76 and the selling rate was Rs. 336 and today the values ​​are Rs. 311.69 and Rs. 330.

The rate of an American dollar in several other commercial banks today is as follows.

Today, 2,222 days have passed since the struggle started by the relatives of those who were forced to disappear in the North East.

The mothers, fathers and relatives of the disappeared people have been continuing this struggle for 2222 consecutive days by protesting, satyagraha, agitations, demonstrations etc., demanding to find their missing loved ones, to reveal the truth about these disappearances and to do justice to them.

This is considered to be the longest ongoing struggle in Sri Lanka.

1. IMF to release the first tranche of the 4-year loan of USD 2.9 bn amounting to about USD 332 mn in the next couple of days.
2. IMF reveals Sri Lanka will search for options to “restructure” domestic debt: says the authorities and their financial advisors will weigh options and associated legal procedures to optimise the design of a local debt treatment: authorities expected to announce parameters of such external & domestic debt operations before end-April: previously, CB Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe asserted there would not be any local debt restructure.
3. IMF to start “in-depth governance diagnostic exercise” on Sri Lanka, a first in Asia: wealth transfer tax & inheritance tax also to be introduced in Sri Lanka from 2025: Ceylon Chamber of Commerce congratulates Govt on securing IMF Programme.
4. Mission Chief for Sri Lanka and Asia Pacific, IMF Masahiro Nozaki says the Central Bank must purchase USD 1.4 bn from the market in 2023 to rebuild the reserve: says a period of 4-10 years granted to repay the new loan from the IMF.
5. Moody’s Analytics says Sri Lanka has a difficult road ahead irrespective of how much funding it receives from multilateral and global financial agencies: asserts “the IMF support is definitely not like the silver bullet they think”: also says the exuberance will fade unless there are some significant improvements from the Govt.
6. SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara files a contempt of court charge before Supreme Court against Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene for not complying with a court order not to withhold allocated funds through the Budget to hold LG polls.
7. NCPI rate of Inflation almost flat at 53.6% in Feb’23 from 53.2% in Jan’23: food inflation decreases to 49% from 53.6% in Jan’23: non-food Inflation increases to 57.4% in Feb’23 from 52.9% in Jan’23.
8. Justice Minister Dr Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry to visit South Africa to further study on establishing a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” in Sri Lanka.
9. Colombo University Economics Professor Sirimal Abeyrratne says he has not seen the IMF conditions for the loan as yet: asserts however that the programme will improve Sri Lanka’s credit worthiness enabling it to borrow from other financial institutions: also says there will be multi-lateral and bi-lateral lenders willing to provide funds to Sri Lanka, while the Govt could also access commercial borrowings.
10. Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara says fuel prices would be reduced by a considerable margin at the routine fuel price revision according to the fuel price formula next month: also says the Govt would be able to procure fuel shipments at a lower and competitive bidding after the IMF bailout.

A special meeting was held yesterday (21) between the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India Milinda Moragoda and the Indian Finance Minister S. Nirmala Sitharaman.

It is in New Delhi, India.

Since November 2021, several rounds of discussions were held between Milinda Moragoda and the Indian Finance Minister regarding India’s support to Sri Lanka and assistance to Sri Lanka.

The meeting was held yesterday as another step in the series of discussions and the High Commissioner expressed the gratitude of the Sri Lankan people to India for the crucial support given by the Indian government to Sri Lanka in obtaining the extended credit facility of the International Monetary Fund.

Also, in view of the current situation, High Commissioner Milind Moragoda has expressed special thanks for Sitharaman’s personal intervention to solve the problem in Sri Lanka with bilateral development partners and multilateral financial institutions including the International Monetary Fund.

Also, in this meeting, special attention has been paid to the issues of bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries, attracting Indian investors for investment opportunities in Sri Lanka and increasing the number of Indian tourists coming to Sri Lanka.

In a special statement following the approval of the extended credit facility by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized that Sri Lanka is no longer deemed bankrupt by the world.

The President further stated that the loan facility serves as an assurance from the international community that Sri Lanka has the capacity to restructure its debt and resume normal transactions.

Additionally, the President noted that the government is working to gradually lift import restrictions on essential goods, medicines, and tourism-related goods, as the foreign exchange situation improves. He expressed gratitude to all countries that supported the International Monetary Fund agreement, as well as the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The President plans to present a full statement on the matter in Parliament tomorrow (22), and the agreement with the International Monetary Fund will also be tabled in Parliament.

President’s Media Division (PMD)

By: Isuru Parakrama

Colombo (LNW): A Final decision on whether the Local Government Election will be held on April 25, 2023 will be made on Thursday (23), the Election Commission said.

Accordingly, secretaries of all political parties will be called in to the Commission in making this decision, Commission Chief Nimal Punchihewa said.

By: Staff writer

Colombo (LNW): Taking a cue from President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidential announcement of according Great importance to the African continent in doing business, International Consultants UK has stepped into promote trade and investment ties between Sri Lanka and South Africa.   

This initiative was taken in collaboration with the EDB, Sri Lanka High Commission in South Africa, and the Investment and Export Promotion Agency (APIEX) of Mozambique.

At a meeting organised by the Foreign Affairs Ministry on 3rd February 2023 at the Presidential Secretariat to coincide with the momentous occasion of Sri Lanka’s 75 independence ceremony International Consultants Chairman Ranjiv Goonawardena has taken up the task of sponsoring a major export-orientated webinar conference.

 The webinar conference titled “Gateway to Africa” organized in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and the Sri Lanka High Commission in Pretoria will be a series of events and the inaugural session will be deliberating on “Doing Business in Mozambique” starting on the 28th March 2023 at 1.30 p.m. Colombo time. 

The inaugural webinar conference to focus on the key sectors from Sri Lanka comprising the Power and Energy, Civil Construction, Engineering services and Telecommunication sectors.

At the pre-launch event on the 10th March Goonawardena stated Sri Lanka has a competitive edge compared to its rivals from the Western Hemisphere. Due to the cost of labour being far less in comparison to its counterparties. The quality of work is of international standing or even better than their competitors.

African countries have signed the African Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA). African free trade agreement comprising three protocols which pertain to Trade in Goods, Trade in Services; Rules, and Procedures on the Settlement of Disputes.

The deal creates a continent-wide market embracing 54 countries with 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $ 3.4 trillion. In time to come, which will create a single market similar to the internal market of the European Union where goods and services can be imported and exported without any tariffs plus duty-free.

Under the African Union Free Trade Agreement manufactured goods and services will not incur duties and tariffs. When goods are transported from one African country to another for instance, if goods are transported from Cairo, Egypt to Johannesburg, South Africa may that be by air, sea or overland there are no customs duties to be paid.

This is a great opportunity for some of the companies in Sri Lanka to take full advantage of exporting the goods and services.

Another crucial component is that the majority of the African countries are deemed as least developed economies under the UN description; thereby being eligible for trade preferences, development financing, including official development assistance, debt relief, technical assistance and other forms of support.

Which means that they have free access to the European and the American market duty free indicating Sri Lankan companies could even manufacture goods in the African continent creating three accessible markets. The African free trade agreement areas can be a tremendous opportunity.