By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): Trade Unions responding to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) today (27) have decided to go on sick leave as an island-wide trade union action in objection to what they call as unfair tax conditions imposed on their salaries and the recent electricity tariff hike.
Meanwhile, a demonstration will also be held in Colombo as part of their trade union action, said Ceylon Electrical Trade Unions’ Association Chief Malaka Wickramasinghe.
Colombo (LNW): Addressing the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Royal College Lawyers’ Association held at the Blue Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel Colombo two days ago (25) where President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended as the Chief Guest, he suggested the development of the new Port City as a financial centre with an offshore economy law. Hence, he proposed the forming of a committee of lawyers, especially young ones who want to specialise in this area, to learn and get a head-start on the new laws being contemplated.
The President also reflected on his time at Royal College and how it helped shape his character and sense of responsibility.
He also discussed his commitment to making tough decisions for the good of the economy and the country, even if they are unpopular. President Wickremesinghe highlighted the important role that the Royal College has played in shaping the law and legal system in Sri Lanka and suggested new areas of law that may emerge in the future. He encouraged young lawyers to get a head-start on the legal areas in relation to making the Port City into a financial centre and emphasised the importance of taking on responsibility and leadership roles.
In a lighter vein, the President joked that he cannot make all the lawyers President’s Counsels but is happy to make them all Royal Counsels.
Meanwhile, the Welcome Speech was delivered by the President of Royal College Lawyers’ Association Rohan Sahabandu (PC) while outgoing Secretary of the Royal College Lawyers’ Association Harshana Matharaarachchi presented the report.
Rohan Sahabandu (PC) was re-elected as the President of the Royal College Lawyers’ Association. Newly elected secretary Lasitha Kanuwanaarachchi delivered the vote of thanks.
Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, and Principal of the Royal College R. M. Ratnayake were also present at the occasion.
The 7th Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) between India and Sri Lanka was held in New Delhi from 23-25 February 2023. Defence Secretary, Gen (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne and Air Marshal SK Pathirana, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force along with delegation comprising senior officers from the Sri Lanka Army and Navy attended the event. Various ongoing defence cooperation initiatives were jointly reviewed and new avenues for engagement were identified during the ADD.
2. Defence Secretary, Gen (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne delivered a talk at the prestigious National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi. It may be recalled that both Defence Secretary and Air Marshal SK Pathirana are Alumni of the NDC. The visiting delegation from Sri Lanka visited the sacred Tirupati Temple on 24 February 2023. They also called on Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command of Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard at Mumbai.
3. ADD is the yearly apex level Defence engagement between the two countries to discuss regional security situation, common security challenges and avenues for closer defence cooperation towards ensuring ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’(SAGAR).
* * * * *
Colombo
25 February 2023
Acting High Commissioner Chamari Rodrigo paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick at the Federal Parliament recently. While thanking the Australian government for their invaluable assistance to Sri Lanka to meet urgent food and healthcare needs, the Actg. High Commissioner apprised the Speaker on the progress made and the steps being taken by the government to address the economic challenges in the country.
The particular focus of discussion was the proposed re-launching of Australia – Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group (ASPFG). The Speaker who was a member of the previous Australia – Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group (ASPFG) supported this idea which would enhance relations between Sri Lanka and the Australian Parliament and was keen to have the re-launching event in the Federal Parliament.
Following the meeting with the Speaker, the Actg. High Commissioner paid a separate call on the Deputy Speaker of Australian Parliament Sharon Claydon, Labour MP who became the third woman to occupy the role of Deputy Speaker of the Australian Parliament. The proposed re-launching event of the Friendship Group was also discussed in detail with the Deputy Speaker who encouraged for more female representation in the new friendship group.
The new friends of Sri Lanka Group consist of 45 MPs from the Labour and Liberal Party of the Australian Federal Parliament which includes Deputy Speaker Claydon. The new Chairperson of the group is a Sri Lankan origin Labour MP from Victoria Cassandra Fernando and the Vice-Chair is Senator Wendy Askew, Liberal MP from Tasmania.
The re-launching of the Friendship Group is scheduled during the next Parliamentary sittings in Canberra.
Sri Lanka High Commission
Canberra
24 February 2023
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): Nelum Yaya Foundation today (26) organised an event to donate 100 school bags for children of low income families at Mathumagala Roman Catholic School in Wattala area, as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives undertaken amidst the economic crisis facing Sri Lanka.
The project was funded by Mersk Shipping Line and Dinesh Weerakkody Foundation.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Prime Minister’s Office has categorically denied the reports claiming that Dinesh Gunawardena is preparing to resign from his post as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
“There is no truth behind the rumours that being spread claiming that Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena is going to resign,” the PM’s Office said in a statement.
The PM’s Office added that no such requests have been made by any political party to date.
Earlier, SLPP rebel MP Channa Jayasumana claimed that there is an ongoing attempt to restore ex President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister replacing Gunawardena.
As and when a country confronts a crisis, the habit of the bureaucracy across the world is to find scapegoats to coverup their lethargy, negligence and inefficiency in respective public duties. The frequent scapegoat is the lapses in relevant laws.
Everybody knows that the present Sri Lankan economic crisis is the failure of the Central Bank bureaucracy which mismanaged the public debt and foreign currency markets. However, the Central Bank bureaucracy has got the support of the IMF and political leaders to blame the Monetary Law (MLA) for the crisis by not giving the privacy or autonomy to Central Bank officials to run the monetary system and the central bank on the public funds as they wish.
As a result, a new bill to reestablish the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as proposed by the Minister of Finance with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has been published in the gazette on 23 February 2023. This is known as one condition for the approval of the IMF loan of US$ 2.9 bn for four years whereas the Parliament has to approve the bill for the disbursement of the loan.
By going through the provisions of the bill, I felt that nobody who got involved in the bill has any idea of what the monetary system is, what its role is for the economy and the duty of the central bank to administer the monetary system deliver its economic role as required from time to time. Further, none of them appears to have read the full text of the bill at least for checking the consistency and accuracy of contents. I plan to write a series of articles to express my views on the contents of the bill.
This article only focuses on the danger of the bill for disruption of the present monetary system of the country that has run for 72 years under the MLA framework without major problems.
Monetary System created by the MLA
A few highlights of the present monetary system are given below.
How the new bill destroys the monetary system
The new bill has repealed above provisions except the issuance of the currency in Sri Lanka rupee as the legal tender. Therefore, the architects of the bill have not understood the difference between the monetary unit and the legal tender in the country. Accordingly, following observations are made.
Final Remarks
As law makers in the country do not understand such technical elements of the monetary systems, they will approve any bill coming to their hands, especially when it relates to the IMF conditions treated as divine-given for Sri Lanka.
However, as soon as the new bill is approved, the monetary system will legally collapse and, therefore, economy cannot function without a legally prescribed domestic monetary unit.
As there is no prohibition of foreign monetary units or private monetary units in the bill, people can adopt multiple monetary units to serve the functions of money outside the Central Bank purview. As the Central Bank is not established to administer a domestic monetary unit or a monetary system other than the domestic legal tender, it will not have a purview to regulate such private monetary units.
Therefore, a wide spread financial and business panic can be expected as soon as the new bill is approved and implemented. Therefore, the new bill is not a solution to the present economic crisis, but it will definitely aggravate the present economic crisis.
Further, there are so many fundamental lapses and inconsistencies in the new bill in relation to the functions of the macroeconomic management and governance in the country read with the rights given to the public by the Constitution and in relation to conflicts of the autonomy. I will write a series of articles to educate the public on such issues.
Legal provisions relating to monetary matters in the new bill should be crystal clear as conflicts and interpretations can cause banking and financial panics in the present context of the economic and financial bankruptcy.
(This article is released in the interest of participating in the professional dialogue to find out solutions to present economic crisis confronted by the general public consequent to the global Corona pandemic, subsequent economic disruptions and shocks both local and global and policy failures.)
P Samarasiri
Former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka
(Former Director of Bank Supervision, Assistant Governor, Secretary to the Monetary Board and Compliance Officer of the Central Bank, Former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Board and Credit Information Bureau, Former Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, Former Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the Author of 10 Economics and Banking Books and a large number of articles publish.
The author holds BA Hons in Economics from University of Colombo, MA in Economics from University of Kansas, USA, and international training exposures in economic management and financial system regulation)
Economy Forward: https://economyforward.blogspot.com/2023/02/central-bank-of-sri-lanka-bill-to.html
As a testament to SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise’s commitment to providing customers the highest level of technical expertise, reliability, and security and to accelerating Sri Lanka’s digital infrastructure, the company partnered with VMware Inc. to launch the country’s first VCF Cloud Deployment and double VCF Cloud.
VMware Inc. regional team comprising Surendra Kumar, Regional Head, Cloud Solution Architecture, Cloud Providers, South East Asia & Korea, and Barry Ng, Business Development Manager, VMware Cloud Providers graced the occasion.
VMware is a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control.
As a trusted foundation to accelerate innovation, VMware software gives businesses the flexibility and choice they need to build the future. SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise’s VCF deployment was executed directly by the VMware Professional Service team ensuring the highest quality implementation.
In engaging VMware through a strategic partnership, SLT-MOBITEL aims to spur future-forward innovation among local enterprises and drive cloud adoption. VMware will provide the technical expertise and business insights required to support SLT-MOBITEL to drive informed decisions regarding VCF solutions and ensure its successful deployment and adoption.
SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise understands customers’ evolving needs and through the introduction of innovative technologies, deep expertise, and end-to-end capabilities, is able to ensure businesses are competitive, adaptable, and secure.
Deploying VMware’s multi-cloud approach, SLT-MOBITEL sets customers apart, delivering advanced services to help move their business forward.
SLT-MOBITEL is also recognized for its leadership as the national groundbreaker, and true digital enabler, in the forefront as the only service provider in the country offering a range of new differentiated services.
These services include automated infrastructure and application delivery with self-service capabilities to help organizations plan, manage and scale their data center operations especially in dramatically reducing provisioning times and cutting operational costs.
The VCF deployment ensures customers transition to the industry’s most advanced cloud platform with a complete set of software-defined services for compute, storage, networking, security and cloud management to run enterprise apps in private or public environments.
Powered by VMware, SLT-MOBITEL’s Akaza Enterprise Premium Cloud launched in 2019, provides a streamlined digital infrastructure for seamless operations with disaster recovery, and a smooth production environment for enterprises. Importantly,
SLT-MOBITEL is the first local organization to partner with VMware as a Business Continuity Certified Planner (BCCP) and initiate VMware Cloud Foundation in Sri Lanka.
Empowering businesses, SLT-MOBITEL is geared to offer enterprises a Software-defined Data Center (SDDC), a VMware Validated Design.
Additionally, SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise has deployed Sri Lanka’s first VMware Cloud Foundation deployment along with the first double VCF cloud, running in two data centers.
It couples with a range of other support services such as Disaster avoidance and recovery ensuring continuity, backup services, and cloud to cloud disaster recovery, together with a container environment for infrastructure automation.
Taking the next step towards providing seamless cloud solutions, SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise has engaged Sri Lanka’s first VMware Cloud Foundation deployment along with the first double VCF cloud.
The VMware Cloud Foundation enables the implementation of an integrated software-defined data center.
Benefits include automating deployment and lifecycle management in reducing cost, time, and complexity while managing compliances.
The unique VCF deployment also minimizes the complexity of your deployment lifecycle by reducing Building, Provisioning, Scaling, and Upgrading times, providing enterprises an experience no other environment can offer.
Colombo (LNW): Commencing a new chapter in military medicine, a separate unit would be established to send military personnel overseas to help out at the times of health disasters, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday evening (24).
He said further that it is established in addition to the group that is sent at the times of natural disasters. He also said that plans are afoot to send a group of military personnel to Turkey to assist at this time of health disaster.
He made these observation addressing at the inauguration ceremony of the 6th annual academic sessions of the Sri Lanka College of Military Medicine (SLCOMM) under the theme of ‘Resilience of Military Medicine In the Times of Crisis’ held at the Eagles Lagoon in Katunayake.
He also said that the government had sent a group of military personnel to Nepal. They were sent at the times of natural disasters. ‘But I’m looking at the possibility of using our military medical personnel to send abroad when the people are faced with health disasters’ the President said. ‘Health disasters take place more often than natural disasters and I would discuss this matter with the military to establish a unit in this regard. So that’s a new chapter for military medicine.’
The President also said that under the Indian credit line the government is to get more medicine to address the shortage of medicine during this crisis situation. He added by now, the government is working on making more foreign exchange available to the medical sector.
He said further that discussions are in progress with the Ministry of Health to upgrade the Medical Research Institute (MRI) into one of the best medical research laboratories in the region. He said it is discussed to introduce a health insurance scheme where the government can assist those in the lower income category, when they need to get the service of growing private hospitals.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the government is seeking the possibility of introducing paying wards in Government hospitals and to introduce non-paying wards in private hospitals where the government is taking the tab for the treatments made in those non-paying wards.
He said further the medical corps of the Army, Navy and Air Force are really experienced in military medicine in a military crisis situation that is during the war in the North and East. While facing the war they also rendered a service during the Tsunami Catastrophe in 2004, during floods and during COVID 19. Hence they have the experience in both military and civilian fields.
He said further that he appreciate the commendable service that has been rendered in the field of the Military Medicine in the country. He added that the SLCMM which commenced in 2016 is now blossomed to a full medical organisation. He also commended the contribution of the past presidents and the present president of the SLCMM made in recognition of military medicine in the country.
Guest of Honour Prof. Selvanayagam Nirthanan, Sri Lanka College of Military Medicine President Air Commodore Mrs. Niluka Abeysekara, secretary of Sri Lanka College of Military Medicine Wing Commander Ms. Himali Mendis also addressed at the occasion.
Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of the Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage, Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera, Air Vice Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa representing Commander of the Air Force, Vice Chancellor of the General Sir John Kotalawala Defence University Major General Milinda Peiris also graced the occasion.
