Colombo (LNW): The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) provided a grant worth 6 million USD to the Ministry of Education and Tertiary and the Vocational Education Commission to implement the Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Career Platform, KOICA said in a statement.
The objective of this project is to establish an ICT-based career platform for TVET trainees for their development and to improve their employment status.
In addition to the development of the Career Platform, the project has also invested significantly in strengthening the capacities of the service providers attached to the platform.
Addressing the gathering, Muditha Malkanthi, the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Education appreciated KOICA and the Korean Government for the provision of numerous grant arrangements for the development of the TVET sector in Sri Lanka.
She also mentioned that the TVET Career Platform is the latest initiative of the Korean Government with 6 million USD financial assistance and expected to see that this career platform will give clear career paths for the vocational students of Sri Lanka.
For the implementation of the project, KOICA engaged a Project Management Consultancy (PMC) team from UBION which has been working in the TVET and Edtech Fields in Korea for more than 20 years. The PMC facilitated the resources for the workshop as well.
KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) contributes to the advancement of international cooperation through various projects that build friendly and collaborative relationships and mutual exchanges between Korea and developing countries.
It supports the economic and social development in developing countries, under the mission of ‘Leave no one behind with People- centered Peace and Prosperity.’
KOICA has been present in Sri Lanka for over two decades, with programmes that support a variety of sectors including education, health, rural development, water management and transportation.
One such intervention is the “R5n” programme, a joint project conducted with WFP since 2019. “R5n” aims to improve the lives and livelihoods of rural smallholder farmers by strengthening their resilience to recurring climate shocks, especially drought.
KOICA’s support for the procurement of maize to produce Thriposha complements its on-going assistance to the Government of Sri Lanka.
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s second tranche of a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund is likely to be delayed as the island nation has failed to meet the programme objective and a global lender’s official said there is no fixed timeline on the disbursement of second tranche.
“Discussions are on-going, and the authorities are continuing to make progress on their plans for revenue mobilization targets, anti-corruption efforts, and other important structural reforms.
“Growth momentum remains subdued, with Q2 real GDP contracting by 3.1 percent on a year-on-year basis and high-frequency economic indicators continuing to provide mixed signals. Reserve accumulation has slowed in recent months,” Peter Breuer senior mission chief told a media conference in Colombo in Wednesday 27.
Sri Lanka has made commendable progress in implementing difficult but much-needed reforms.
These efforts are bearing fruit as the economy is showing tentative signs of stabilization. Inflation is down from a peak of 70 percent in September 2022 to below 2 percent in September 2023, gross international reserves increased by $1.5 billion during March-June this year, and shortages of essentials have eased. Despite early signs of stabilization months.
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund will decide on the adequacy of the ‘progress’ that is required in restructuring Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, in order to complete the first review of the island’s program with the agency,
The IMF Governance Diagnostic report would inform future reform measures to strengthen governance when published, the IMF mission announced.
The International Monetary Fund mission that visited Sri Lanka for the first review of the IMF-supported Extended Fund Facility program for Sri Lanka noted that despite early signs of stabilization, full economic recovery is not yet assured.
A new welfare benefit payment scheme was enacted with new eligibility criteria that aims to improve targeting, adequacy, and coverage of social safety nets.
To ensure financial stability, steps were taken on conducting bank diagnostics, developing a roadmap for addressing banking system capital and liquidity shortfalls, and improving the bank resolution framework, he pointed out.
The authorities have also made headway on regaining debt sustainability through the execution of the domestic debt restructuring and advancing discussions with external creditors.
As Sri Lanka is restructuring its public debt which is in arrears, Executive Board approval of the first program review requires the completion of financing assurance reviews.
These financing assurance reviews will focus on whether adequate progress has been made with debt restructuring to give confidence that it will be concluded in a timely manner and in line with the program’s debt targets.
However, revenue mobilization gains–while improved relative to last year–are expected to fall short of initial projections by nearly 15 percent by year end.
While partially due to economic factors, the onus of fiscal adjustment would fall on public expenditure if there were no efforts to recoup this shortfall.
Colombo (LNW): 13 individuals were sentenced to death in two separate cases yesterday (27), despite no such executions being carried out since 1976.
Yesterday, the Colombo High Court sentenced five people to death for heroin trafficking, and the Kalutara High Court eight persons over a murder reported twenty years ago.
In the Colombo High Court case, the defendants were found guilty of transporting over 152 kilograms of heroin in a fishing vessel, which was intercepted by the Sri Lanka Navy off the coast of Ratmalana in 2019.
The verdict was produced by Justice Namal Ballale, stating that the charges filed by the Attorney General against the defendants had been proven beyond any reasonable doubt.
In the Kalutara High Court case, the suspects were found guilty of murdering a resident of Kalali Place in Kalutara by stabbing him with sharp weapons in 2003, and following a twenty year long trial, the suspects were found guilty and sentenced to death by Kalutara High Court Judge Pradeep Abeyratne.
Sri Lankan international cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been found not guilty of sexual assault by a Sydney judge who said the evidence established there was “no opportunity” for him to have removed a condom during sex, and that he was truthful in his police interview, a report by The Sunday Morning Herald disclosed.
The 32-year-old batsman was accused of “stealthing” during sex with a 29-year-old woman without her knowledge in her eastern suburbs home on November 2, 2022. He pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and faced a four-day trial before Judge Sarah Huggett in Downing Centre District Court.
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka (left) arrives at Downing Centre District Court for a judge’s verdict after he faced trial accused of sexual assault.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Delivering a verdict of not guilty on Thursday, the judge said: “The evidence establishes that there was no opportunity for the accused to remove the condom … because that intercourse was continuous.”
The trial heard Gunathilaka, also known as Danny, and the woman matched on Tinder on October 29 and talked over Instagram and WhatsApp, including via video calls.
They met for drinks at the Opera Bar followed by dinner at Frankie’s Pizza and then caught a ferry to the complainant’s home, where Gunathilaka recorded her playing guitar and singing.
“The mood as captured by those videos seemed relaxed, happy and playful,” the judge said.
She said the complainant came across as intelligent and not as a witness “motivated by a desire to give deliberately false evidence”, but there were occasions when she formed the impression the woman appeared “motivated to paint the accused in an unfavourable light”.
The woman, who testified over two days, alleged Gunathilaka kissed her forcefully and slapped her buttocks on the ferry to her house, and “ambushed” her by pushing her back on the lounge. She accepted under cross-examination she had said “let’s go to my room” and lit candles “to create a mood”.
The woman claimed Gunathilaka choked her at least three times and slapped her buttocks during forceful intercourse in her bedroom for 10 to 15 minutes.
She said she noticed a condom on her bedroom floor within three to five seconds of the sex ending. The woman alleged Gunathilaka threw it there, but did not see him do it.
CCTV shows the pair leaving the Opera Bar arm-in-arm.
Crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman submitted the sexual episode “turned out very differently to what she [the woman] expected or wanted” and his behaviour was “entirely consistent with someone who would, in that state of mind, remove his condom, despite her clear wishes to the contrary”.
Gunathilaka’s barrister Murugan Thangaraj, SC, said there was “no window” for Gunathilaka to have removed the condom during sex, and the woman had described it as “continuous sexual activity”.
“That ends it. The Crown cannot prove its case at all, let alone to the requisite standard, with that evidence,” Thangaraj said.
Gunathilaka was arrested in the early hours of November 6 in the Hyatt Regency Hotel as the Sri Lanka team left for the airport. He let police search his hotel room, where they found a Burberry satchel bag containing two wrapped condoms.
“That he would wear a condom on occasion is supported by the fact that two unused condoms were located in his property,” the judge said.
Gunathilaka participated in a two-and-a-half hour recorded interview. Asked by police “At any point, did you put your penis into her without a condom on?” Gunathilaka replied, “No, no, no.”
He admitted he had told the woman he did not like to have sex with a condom, and she was the one who got a packet out.
“I never said ‘I want to do it without condoms’, and we did it with condoms,” Gunathilaka said.
The judge said Gunathilaka “answered every question asked of him in the interview, and I formed the distinct impression he was doing his best to be truthful and assist the police”.
“There is no reason at all to reject or disbelieve what he said in that interview,” Huggett said.
The court heard the woman had cried while telling friends Gunathilaka “turned into an animal” and “something really terrible happened”. Regarding the condom, she told them “I don’t know if he took it off” and “I’m not sure, I just have a feeling”.
The judge said: “In my view, the complaint evidence undermines rather than supports the complainant.”
Thangaraj said the woman was “demonstrably unreliable” and CCTV from the ferry and wharf showed the pair kissing and hugging, which did not match her narrative that his client was forceful and aggressive.
Gunathilaka was suspended from cricket following his arrest. He made his international debut in 2015 and has represented Sri Lanka in more than 100 matches including eight Tests. He travelled to Australia for the T20 World Cup but was ruled out with a hamstring tear after playing one match.
He was granted a judge-alone trial due in part to pre-trial media interest. The proceedings were expedited by consent after the court heard he financially supported his parents with his earnings.
Colombo (LNW): Due to active Southwest Monsoon conditions over the island, prevailing showery condition in south-western part of the island is likely to continue further, announced the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology in an advisory statement today (28).
The Dept in its daily weather forecast said showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and North-western provinces and in Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts.
Heavy showers about 100mm can be expected at some places in Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts, the Dept added.
Fairly strong winds about (40-45) kmph can be expected at times in western slopes of the central hills, Northern, North-central, and North-western provinces and in Trincomalee and Hambantota districts.
Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in Uva and Eastern provinces during the evening or night.
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damages caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Marine Weather:
Condition of Rain:
Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Hambantota via Colombo, Galle and Matara.
Winds:
Winds will be south-westerly and speed will be (30-40) kmph. Wind speed can increase up to (50-60) kmph at times in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Kankasanthurai via Mannar and from Hambantota to Pottuvil. Wind speed can increase up to 50 kmph at times in the sea areas off the coast extending fromPuttalam to Hambantota via Colombo, Galle and Matara.
State of Sea:
The sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Kankasanthurai via Mannar and from Hambantota to Pottuvil can be rough at times. The sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Hambantota via Colombo, Galle and Matara will be fairly rough at times. Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.
IMF Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer dashes the Govt’s hopes: says “there’s no fixed timeline for the 2nd tranche to be disbursed”: also says the next disbursement will depend on sustaining reforms and progress in the debt front: analysts say this is a huge setback to the Govt which was solely dependent on this IMF programme for its continuity.
Several analysts who strongly advocated an IMF programme last year as being the “only solution” to the crisis, offer reasons for the present debacle; Advocata’s Dhananath Fernando says SL has to improve its tax system by following “international standards of transparency”: Economist Talal Rafi says the main issue is the external debt restructuring and that he hopes President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to China can make progress on this matter: also says this setback will force the Govt to work harder on structural reforms.
Export Development Board says earnings from merchandise exports increased by 6.8% (month-on-month) in August’23 to USD 1.09 bn, compared to July’23, but down by 10.91% YoY, compared to August’22.
Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekara says legislation to restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will be presented to Cabinet within the next 2 weeks.
Professionals’ Trade Unions Collective led by the Govt Doctors meet the IMF delegation: discuss their demands including tax relief: state they have been informed by the IMF delegation that it’s the Govt that must take measures to address the demands of professionals since the IMF has granted authority to the Govt to make suitable changes to its tax policy.
Hatton National Bank MD/CEO Jonathan Alles says SL’s banking sector may have lost about 10,000 employees during 2023, out of which a significant number have migrated: also says banks now have to resort to massive recruitment drives to fill the vacancies.
Well-known Human Rights Activist Jehan Perera says the country’s economy which shrank by over 7% last year and by 11% in the 1Q23, is continuing its downward plunge: also says the much touted absence of shortages & queues is not due to the economic performance picking up, but because people have less money to spend.
SLPP MP Mahindanada Aluthgamage says doctors are leaving the country not because of higher taxes, but due to the education of their children: analysts however point out that SL experienced the exodus of qualified doctors & consultants mainly after the Govt raised taxes early this year.
A representative of the Abhimani Women’s Collective says SL’s sex workers are facing fundamental rights violations including unlawful detention and cruel, inhumane & degrading treatment.
SLPP rebel group spokesman Professor G L Peiris says the enactment of the Online Safety Law is to suppress political dissent: asserts that investors would be wary of having any dealings with the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa Govt as a result of the new Online Safety Law and the new Anti-Terrorism Law.
Colombo (LNW): In a move to address the issues faced by their constituency subject to marginalisation and harassment for decades, the Sri Lankan LGBTQIA+ community took yet another step in forming a trade union with a membership of about 6,000 members.
This was disclosed by members of the LGBTQIA+ community during a recent meeting with Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, where the significance of such a trade union being formed in upholding their constitutional rights as citizens was emphasised.
The government has approved the establishment of a trade union for the LGBTQIA+ community, which has been endorsed and facilitated by the National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka (NUSS).
Joining the discussion, Minister Nanayakkara directed the NUSS to seek a slot for the new LGBTQIA+ trade union in the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC), thereby enabling their concerns to be addressed at the highest echelons. The LGBTQIA+ community, who, despite being lawful citizens, often find themselves marginalised and subject to violence, and the most severe problems facing them is continuous harassment by the Police, noted NUSS Chief Palitha Atukorale.
He revealed that the rising employment rate of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the country’s industrial sectors and free trade zones (FTZ) would allow them to address their issues on a trade union level, adding that trade unions of both state and private sectors have offered to back the newly formed LGBTQIA+ union.
ECONOMYNEXT (Colombo/September 27/2023) – Sri Lanka’s second tranche of a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund is likely to be delayed as the island nation has failed to meet the programme objective and a global lender’s official said there is no fixed timeline on the disbursement of second tranche.
Sri Lanka’s government revenue is likely to face a 15 percent fall from the target agreed with the IMF, the global lender said, amid poor tax administration and lower collection.
An IMF delegation was in Colombo over a week for the first review of the loan before the global lender’s Executive Board approval for the second tranche.
“There is no fixed timeline,” Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka at the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, told reporters at a media briefing on Wednesday after concluding the first review of the loan.
“We are confident that it will be able to do with a little bit more time,” he said referring to Sri Lanka’s effort to raise revenue.
The IMF in March this year approved a 48-month, $3 billion extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support Sri Lanka’s economic policies and reforms with the main emphasis on increasing the government revenue, boosting the international reserves, and reducing inflation.
Soon after the approval, the island nation which is going through an unprecedented economic crisis received the first tranche of $330 million. The first review is to assess the country’s performance against the IMF programme objective.
Breuer said Sri Lanka is yet to satisfy two key objectives.
“We need two important things to be satisfied. We need to reach agreement on set targets, policies, and reforms that will allow us to go forward… with the understanding that the objective of the programme can be reached,” Breuer said.
“So, now we have discovered there was a little bit of shortfall on one area during this year. So, we are looking to try and find ways to address that shortfall and compensate.
He said working in a direction of having agreement on these policies is an “important prerequisite.”
“Then the other one is in the area of debt,” Breuer said adding that reaching agreement with creditors will help store debt sustainability in Sri Lanka.
“When these two conditions are met, we can go forward. Of course, there is a little bit of administrative process also. It will take some time to write the reports that actually assesses the performance of the first review before steps to be considered by our executive board which will make the final decision on this.”
Colombo (LNW): The International Monetary Fund is concerned about a shortfall in revenue collection by Sri Lanka’s government this year, though that is unlikely to derail a $2.9 billion loan programme for the crisis-hit country, two Sri Lankan sources said.
Sri Lanka has met International Monetary Fund quantitative targets for June 2023 except state revenues, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe claimed sometimes back.
The IMF program has a set of quantitative targets listed as ‘performance criteria’ which has to be mandatorily or seek a waiver and also indicative targets.
The central government tax revenue floor of Rs 1,300 billion rupees is an indicative target he added.
All the targets have been met, except the revenue target is below,” Governor Weerasinghe disclosed.
Sri Lanka’s tax revenues grew 50 percent to Rs. 1,198 billion rupees up to June 2023, and non-interest spending was kept in check, helping record a primary surplus, official data show.
Non-tax revenues grew 43 percent to Rs. 116.0 billion rupees, according to data released by the central bank.Total revenues grew 43 percent to Rs. 1,317 billion.
However current spending also grew 48 percent to Rs.2, 325.5 billion A large part of the current spending or rs. 1,211.8 billion was interest costs.
A delegation from the IMF met with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, and its central bank governor, earlier on Tuesday as part of the first review of the four-year loan deal agreed in March.
Such reviews are necessary to continue the programme, which is critical for the country that is slowly recovering from its worst economic crisis in at least seven decades.
“Sri Lanka has met most of the requirements needed to fulfil the first review. This includes progress on domestic debt restructuring,” said one of the sources, who are both government officials and declined to be named.
Sri Lanka’s junior finance minister, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, told reporters last week that the shortfall could be about 100 billion rupees (about $312 million). The target for the government was to increase revenue to 11.3% of gross domestic product in 2023 from 8.3% last year.
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s Revenue Administration and Management Information System (RAMIS) being operated at the Inland Revenue Department has become a white elephant eating taxpayers money without much contribution to revenue collection, parliamentary sectoral committee report revealed.
The Committee observed that: when renewing the agreement with Singaporean company which developed and maintains RAMIS 2.0, attention should be focused to upgrade it in compliance with the proposed new taxes (Inheritance tax and Wealth tax etc.)
It has to be integrated with other state institutions connected with IRD.and use National Identity Card Number as the unique identification number
The system has to be upgraded with the technical capacity to prevent the delays in registration of tax files.
The development of all modules of RAMIS will be finalized by September 2023 Rs. 1258 million of default taxes has been accumulated due to a system error of RAMIS in the total amount of held over tax as at31.12.2022 and also the IRD has informed that there are lot of data entry errors in the RAMIS
The tax department’s RAMIS, currently doesn’t function properly. The proposals suggest that RAMIS would need to be updated properly in order to improve the IRD’s efficiency.
Back in 2014, the IRD under the Ministry of Finance, invested Rs 10 billion towards building RAMIS.
The idea was to modernize and improve the tax collection process. However, it’s now revealed that the system doesn’t operate as intended, despite the fact that “more money has already been spent to strengthen this system,”
The RAMIS should be fully automated without any manual process and it should be capable of preventing the accumulation of default taxes, the committee suggested. .
It has been initially proposed to interlink 6 public institutions with RAMIS and now it is expected to interlink 29 public institutions.
The agreement with the Singaporean Company to develop and maintain the RAMIS 2.0 will be expired by 31st January 2024, and the internal capacity including the human resources of the Department has not been developed to take over the full responsibility of the RAMIS 2.0 by the end of January 2024.
Business entities related to Betting and Gaming Levy Act, No.40 of 1988 such as Casinos are not included and operated by the RAMIS.
There is a lack of trained and technically competent officials to operate the RAMIS: Help Desk / Support Team (Front-line support for endusers and customers. They handle incoming inquiries, troubleshootcommon issues, and provide basic technical assistance)
System Administrators / Network Engineers responsible for managing and maintaining the IT infrastructure will have to be recruited, the committee observed.
