By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): Wasantha Mudalige, Convener of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF), whose charges based on the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) were dropped by the Colombo Magistrate Court earlier today (31), has been taken back to prison, correspondents claim.
The charges against Mudalige based on ‘unsubstantial’ evidence were dropped by Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis.
Previous Report:
Dhaka: The International Monetary Fund has signed off on a $4.7 billion support loan package for Bangladesh to help it cope with soaring energy and food costs that have sparked huge protests.
Bangladesh and other South Asian countries dependent on fossil fuel imports were hit hard by sharp cost-of-living increases following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nationwide blackouts of up to 13 hours a day hit the electricity grid last year and the government extended food relief for households unable to afford rice and other staples.
The IMF package makes $476 million immediately available to the government but commits it to tax hikes and bringing down the number of bad loans in the banking sector.
“Multiple shocks have made macroeconomic management challenging in Bangladesh,” the lender’s active chair Antoinette Sayeh said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Authorities need to accelerate their ambitious reform agenda to achieve a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable growth,” she said.
Bangladesh plans to use the IMF loan to prop up its foreign exchange reserves, which have nosedived from $46 billion to $34 billion.
The local currency has depreciated around 25 percent against the US dollar since last May, driving up costs for petrol distributors and power utilities that have rippled across the rest of the economy.
Bangladesh’s official inflation rate is around 8.7% but independent economists say the true figure is substantially higher.
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has blamed the government for the crisis, accusing it of squandering cash on multibillion-dollar vanity projects.
It has organised a series of rallies demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and a general election.
Bangladesh is one of several South Asian countries seeking international help in navigating economic shocks over the past year.
Pakistan is in the grips of a major crisis and facing the prospect of looming national bankruptcy, with an IMF delegation visiting Tuesday to discuss a vital cash injection.
Sri Lanka is still waiting to finalise its own bailout with the lender after an unprecedented meltdown last year that saw months of major food and fuel shortages.
Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports in 2022 posted US $ 13.07 billion, up by 5% from 2021 sustaining its resilience, but fell short $ 1.03 billion from the set target of $16 billion.
Export Development Board forecasted a total exports target $ 16.1 billion for 2022, consisting $ 14.94 billion from merchandise exports and $ 2 billion from service exports. The highest performance of total exports was $ 15.91 billion in 2018.
As per provisional data released by EDB yesterday, merchandise exports have sustained the growth momentum in the 12-month haul up by 4.6% from 2021, though the estimated value of services exports of last year decreased by 6% to $ 1.87 billion.
The services exports estimated by EDB consist of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport and logistics.
Expect apparel and textiles, electrical and electronic components and diamonds, gems and jewellery, and all the other key export sectors like tea, rubber, coconut, seafood, and spices underperformed in 2022.
“EDB Chairman Suresh de Mel said that the forecast of $ 16.1 billion in 2022 was challenging, amidst the recovery of global demand post-COVID, which required not only strong efforts from local enterprises amidst long power outages, fuel shortages, political instability, social unrest, and professionals in the service sector leaving for greener pastures.
Although the expected targets for 2022 were not possible to achieve, EDB Chief said as a country everyone should be extremely proud and supportive of the export sector’s immense contribution to the national economy at the worst times.
As per data December export figures also fell by 9.7% to $ 1.04 billion from 2021 mainly due to the decrease in export earnings from apparel and textiles, tea, rubber-based products, coconut-based products, food and beverages, spices and essential oils and fisheries products. However, the month sustained over $ 1 billion in performance.
It added the decline was due to the also the recovery of global demand, ongoing recession in major markets due to the rising cost of production, energy and predictions of a contracting economy going forward.
Apparel and textile export earnings increased by 10% to $ 5.9 billion in 2022 from a year earlier. Although export earnings from apparel increased by 10.74% to $ 5.48 billion year-on-year, earnings from textile exports declined by 3% to $ 450.7 million in 2022 compared to 2021.
Electrical and Electronic Components (EEC) export income increased by 14.68% to $ 483.28 million in the period of January to December 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021.
However, export earnings from seafood decreased by 1.81% to $ 269.02 million in the period from January to December 2022 from a year earlier.
The Ministry of Tourism is taking measures to re-enter the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) market as the country opens for tourism amid an economic crisis in the aftermath of Coronavirus pandemic.
TheSri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) and SriLankan Airlines (SLA), together in partnership, under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism, recently announced the official launch of “MICE – EXPO 2023.
The event, which is a MICE trade show for promoting Sri Lanka as the perfect destination for Meetings, Incentive Travels, Conferences, and Exhibitions/Business Events (MICE), is set to take place from the 13th to the 15th of March 2023, at the Shangri La Colombo.
MICE – EXPO 2023 will host over 100 participants from South East Asia, the Middle East and Europe, attracting some of the largest travel agencies and groups in the industry.
Majority of the buyers are confirmed from India, one of the leading MICE outbound markets, where Sri Lankan Airlines operate more than 75 flights per week.
Most of the hosted buyers will be flown by the National Carrier, Sri Lankan Airline. The Expo aims to promote Sri Lanka as Business event destination, in an effort to grow tourism revenues and increase foreign currency inflows into Sri Lanka.
The aim is to leverage the high-quality MICE traveller segment who, on average, spend up to 3 times more than leisure and other tourist segments.
Commenting on this milestone initiative,Tourism minister Harin Fernando, said that promoting Sri Lanka as a Business event destination, MICE – EXPO 2023 also aims to provide a platform for local partners as sponsor exhibitors, and we invite all interested parties.
The organizers also intend to use MICE – EXPO 2023 as a platform to create awareness, in general, about the value that Sri Lanka has to offer the world, for MICE, tourism, investment and other purposes.
Sri Lanka is a destination that offers the perfect blend of natural beauty, culture, and history, making it an ideal location for events and conferences, leisure and growth investments.
The island is home to world-class infrastructure and facilities, including state-of-the-art convention centres, hotels, and resorts, with much planned for the future, including mega developments such as Port City Colombo, which will be a global MICE, financial services, commercial, entertainment, leisure and investment hub for the entire South Asian Region.
SLCB also announced their future plans for MICE – EXPO which include taking the event regional around Sri Lanka, specifically to Jaffna, and making it an annual event, to create further ongoing positive impacts for the country.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Colombo Magistrate has concluded that there are no substantive evidence to further detain Wasantha Mudalige, Convener of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Accordingly, Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis today (31) ordered that the charges against Mudalige under the PTA be dropped.
The IUSF Convener was arrested under the PTA in connection with a series of events involving the ‘Aragalaya’ people’s struggle on August 18, 2022.
Sri Lanka has embarked on on a project of strengthening plastic management capacity with the assistance of the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA) for a sound material cycle society and circular economy in the island.
JICA has successfully completed three weeks survey to start this new Technical Cooperation Project. The JICA Colombo mission had extensive discussion on future collaboration with over 20 organizations working on plastic issues of Sri Lanka and agreed on the basic structure and activities of the Project with Central Environmental Authority (CEA).
The Project is scheduled to commence in July 2023. JICA will work on plastic issues aspiring for a sound material cycle society and circular economy in Sri Lanka in collaboration with various partners further
As plastic management is one of the global burning issues, Sri Lanka developed the National Plastic Waste Management Action Plan (2021–2030) with assistance from UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), IGES-CCET (IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies), and the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ).
To support implementation of the Action Plan, a project namely “Marine litter and microplastics: promoting the environmentally sound management of plastic waste and achieving the prevention and minimization of the generation of plastic waste’ (BRS-Norad-1) has been implemented.
It was financed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the project has been attempting to make inventory data available for plastic import and export to the country and estimate national plastic waste generation.
Also, a center for plastic management was established under the purview of CEA to properly handle multi-stakeholder tasks upon the recommendation of the Government Audit Department in 2022.
The Project will closely cooperate with the center, utilize the above-mentioned assets developed by development partners and seek further collaboration with UNEP, IGES-CCET, etc.
Ms. Sarojinie Jayasekara, Director – Solid Waste Management, CEA explained the expectations to JICA that”Plastic Management is a multi-stakeholder task and CEA expects to develop database and strengthen the capacity of priority arease.
Single Use Plastic, Packaging management with some applications through pilot projects will be implemented under this JICA Technical Assistance.
Also, the CEA would like to thank JICA for this timely intervention which would be very Dr. Yoshida, the Mission Leader, highlights the importance of the Project that “Over the 20 years since 2002, JICA has implemented five cooperation projects with Sri Lankan authorities in the solid waste sector.
It can be said that these projects were mainly aimed at securing public health and protecting the environment, such as improving implementation capacity and developing technology for solid waste management.
However, although present Project focuses on plastic waste and materials, it goes one step beyond previous approaches for improving waste treatments and management.
Rootcode, one of Sri Lanka’s fastest-growing tech scale-ups, recently unveiled its impact initiative, Rootcode Foundation with the aim of empowering underprivileged students in Sri Lanka to enter and thrive in the exciting world of technology. Its purpose is to develop the IT and tech capabilities of lesser privileged schools across the country and empower children to pursue higher education and subsequent careers in the technology industry. Rootcode believes this is a timely initiative, as the crises pertaining to the current economic challenges have paved the way for many students to forgo higher education
and, in the long run, to upskill and bridge the rising divide in the talent market and contribute to Sri Lanka’s drive of becoming a sought-after tech hub both regionally and globally.
The first project was initiated at the Sri Siddhartha Kanishta Vidyalaya in Horana on 14th January in the presence of teachers and students. Zonal Education Director J.D.L.V.K. Jasinghe, during his speech, commended the foundation’s approach, that it is different in
contrast to many others, as it commits to the school and its children for a whole year, training them on technology. providing scholarship opportunities and aiding them in their IT infrastructure, such as building a computer lab and training its teachers.
This will give students of Sri Siddhartha Kanishta Vidyalaya, which has 85 students from grades one to eleven, an ideal opportunity to learn technology. By pursuing this approach, Rootcode is not only helping the short and long-term education of the children but also the nation as a whole. M.H.L. Chathuranga, the principal of the school, also expressed his gratitude to have
industry specialists teach their kids the IT curriculum.
“By learning tech, I managed to change my life. Not only my life, my family’s life and possibly a generation as well. But not everyone in the country gets the same opportunities, resources, or exposure. Through Rootcode Foundation, all of us at Rootcode are going to help underprivileged students in Sri Lanka learn technology and change the course of their lives for a better tomorrow.” said the Founder and CEO of Rootcode, Alagan Mahalingam.
Rootcode Foundation aims to select one underprivileged school per year and focus on furthering the technological capabilities of its students through workshops and hands-on tech education activities. Rootcoders, who are Software Engineers, Data Scientists, Artificial Intelligence Engineers, Business Analysts, and User Experience Designers, will be a part of the program throughout the year and help the students learn everything about technology.
We are hoping that this initiative will allow the children to be more interested in the tech world and stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies, which will essentially provide them with insights into what goes on beyond the country and what opportunities lay ahead for them,
which is precisely what Rootcode tries to achieve.
“Rootcode, as a company, has been especially fortunate to reach the heights that we have today. We are here because of our talented team. We believe that it is important to give back to the community, and we are grateful to be supporting the children, the industry, and the country to reach greater heights,” said Mangala Perera, COO of Rootcode.
Rootcode can potentially make Sri Lanka a leader in cutting-edge technological innovation. It invests heavily in the training and knowledge of its employees and makes use of its abilities to offer cutting-edge solutions to its clients. The victories at the recent SAARC Awards also demonstrate Rootcode’s dedication to establishing Sri Lanka as a premier innovation center and indicate that the company is well on its way to achieving even greater things in the future.
Rootcode, a growing household name in the global tech space, offers innovative solutions to businesses in 30+ industries worldwide, assisting them in adapting to the ever-changing realities of business and technology. Its technology has impacted over 79 million people by providing solutions in mobile apps, web apps, data analytics, UI/UX design, machine learning,
AI, and the cloud. Rootcode continues to grow its workforce of 100+ team members to secure its standard of excellence on an international scale.
Thanzyl Thajudeen
30 th January 2023
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and former President Maithripala Sirisena addressing a briefing at the Party headquarters said he will contest the upcoming Presidential Election despite harassment.
The President’s comment came in in response to the allegations levelled against him in connection with the Easter Sunday carnage.
Reminding that prior to the Supreme Court ruling, he was shown by media as if he was Zahran Hahsim himself, Sirisena urged the media bodies to propagate accurate information.
“Even I agree with the SJB on their demand that indictments should be filed pertaining to the Easter attack. Being told that I mass-murdered Zahran, some think that I too am a murderer like Zahran. When the SJB lodges this matter, they should remember that during Ranasinghe Premadasa’s time, Karuna Amman told the Police to surrender. Premadasa did tell them to surrender. Around 700 people were killed. But the SJB demands that I be punished,” Sirisena said.
The former President went on: “Terrorist attacks were launched on the Anuradhapura Airbase because the Air Force was drunk at the time. We ask whether a probe was carried out. Bomb attacks were launched during every President’s tenure.
Even America failed to avert the September 11 attack despite receiving intelligence a week earlier.
The verdict says that I was not aware of this. Hemasiri Fernando did not inform me whatsoever.
Every Tuesday, there is a meeting at the Defence Ministry under the Secretary’s patronage. The matter was not discussed there. Even Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years. I will not be fallen.”
Sri Lanka is to clear another hurdle of massive domestic debt restructuring as external creditors want more details of government debts before formal negotiations, informed sources said.
These external bondholders expressed concern that managing Sri Lanka’s local debt pile will prove costly, which could reduce payments earmarked for foreign bondholders or even trigger another restructuring effort down the road, Bloomberg reported.
Bloomberg quotes the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private, as saying that recommending Sri Lanka follows in Ghana’s footsteps to help its stalled restructuring efforts.
The African country has offered a debt swap plan for local securities in addition to its Eurobond negotiations .The Asian island nation seeks to restructure its Eurobonds while repaying its local-currency obligations in full, the new agency added.
According to available official data total Rupee debt is Rs 12.34 trillion of which are bills of 3.78 trillion and bonds of 8.56 trillion.
These Government’s debts are equal to the size of the national economy that the Central Bank is unable to tackle very high inflation purely through monetary policy tightening.
The high cost of rolling over the government’s domestic debt will aggravate the problem. The fiscal solvency and inflation makes monetary policy less effective, even with high interest rates that have a negative impact on investment and growth, economic experts claimed.
Domestic debt restructuring will provide a groundwork for resetting these negative dynamics and achieving conditions conducive to economic growth, with reduced interest rates and reduced inflation, they pointed out.
The present path of quietly restructuring domestic debt through high inflation disproportionately hurts Sri Lanka’s wage-dependent working population and increases poverty.
Reducing the burden of domestic debt through restructuring allows the costs to be targeted progressively to those sectors of the economy that are most equipped to bear the burden of debt reduction.
It is not unusual for countries that enter into insolvency and debt restructuring to fall back repeatedly into the same set of problems.
Currently Sri Lanka faces high risks in poor governance, over-optimistic fiscal targets, and triviality of the debt restructure.
Intrest rates remain at current levels and the government’s highly ambitious targets for increasing revenue are not fully met, the country faces the prospect of a relapse into another debt sustainability crisis in the medium-term.
An early domestic debt restructure can mitigate that risk – even though it cannot compensate for the continuing risks of poor governance, they said.
Sri Lanka’s domestic debt has already been re-structured de facto due to high inflation and rupee depreciation, Sharmini Cooray, a former International Monetary Fund official who is an advisor to President Ranil Wickremesinghe said.
“The high inflation and rupee depreciation has reduced the real value of domestic debt,” Cooray told an economic policy forum organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce some time back. .
Central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said last week that the country will hold detailed talks on domestic debt treatment only after the IMF loan has been approved.
In the meantime, the monetary authority is talking to local lenders on the debt recast and conducting an asset quality review to gauge any stress in the banking industry, he disclosed.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): 100 acres of military-acquired land recognised to be owned by the Tamil people of the North will be handed over to their original owners as instructed by President’s Chief of Staff and Senior Defence Advisor Sagala Ratnayaka.
Accordingly, the President’s Chief of Staff has instructed the district secretaries to give back these private lands to their original owners, and by doing so, the ownership of these lands will be transferred to the Tamil people through the district secretaries.
Ratnayaka has instructed that these lands be released to their original owners before February 11, 2023.
The move comes in following a tremendous pressure exerted by the Tamil people of the North demanding their properties acquired by the military, and will be proceeded alongside the 75th Independence Day.
Ratnayaka further emphasised that in any event are there more lands owned by the Tamils, their legal statuses will be reviewed in order to hand them over to their owners, in the goal of developing harmony among the Tamil community.
