By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) has revised the prices of fuel, effective from midnight yesterday (30).
Accordingly, the price of 92 Octane Petrol has surged by Rs. 10 per litre to Rs. 328.
The price of 95 Octane Petrol has slashed by Rs. 20 per litre to Rs. 365.
The price of Auto Diesel has slashed by Rs. 02 per litre to Rs. 308.
The price of Super Diesel has surged by Rs. 06 to Rs. 346.
The price of Kerosene has slashed by Rs. 09 to Rs. 236.
At the height of the economic crisis in Sri Lanka last year, winding queues for fuel and cooking gas were matched only by lines at the immigration and emigration department. The nearly 875,000 passports it issued in 2022 was an all-time high. Most of those outside the nondescript building in Colombo were not looking for a post-pandemic getaway but workers aching to flee shortages, inflation and uncertainty.
Official records suggest that 300,000 of Sri Lanka’s 22m people left for jobs abroad in 2022, most of them low- and semi-skilled workers. From January to March this year, another 73,000 left. And there is evidence that middle-class professionals have now joined the exodus.
Business leaders in many industries say they are bleeding staff, including managers they need to train replacements. Companies are used to churn among those aged 20 to 35—especially in it and other in-demand professions—but now seasoned employees in their 40s and 50s are taking off.
Sri Lanka’s prolonged crisis gives them many reasons to go. Annual inflation was 50.6% in February. Wages are not remotely keeping up, even as taxes climb. In January, President Ranil Wickremesinghe imposed more hikes to fix what the imf—which last week approved a long-awaited $2.9bn package for Sri Lanka—called “one of the lowest revenue levels in the world”. At 36%, the highest income-tax rate is still modest. The opposition National People’s Power party may nonetheless be right to predict the tax rises will cause “the biggest brain drain” in Sri Lankan history.
Foreign recruitment agents are hiring young professionals on social media, says Rajitha Seneviratne, a 37-year-old air-traffic controller mulling an offer from the Middle East. Last month, his union warned that if “four or five more” of its members left, air-traffic control could break down.
Thousands of young it workers have also decamped, potentially cramping one of Sri Lanka’s fastest-growing industries. Hundreds of doctors have gone, including 477 from January to August last year. A continuing outflow could cripple rural hospitals. There soon “won’t be anyone left to serve up a glass of wine in a hotel”, Mr Wickremesinghe is said to have quipped.
Yet the government is actively encouraging the drain, both to lighten the public-sector wage bill and in the hope of increasing remittances, Sri Lanka’s biggest source of foreign currency. The fugitive doctors are availing themselves of a facility for public-sector workers that the government introduced last June: up to five years of unpaid leave provided they remit $100-500 a month if they find work abroad.
The foreign employment minister, Manusha Nanayakkara, is trialling various schemes to push Sri Lankan workers overseas. His office advertises job openings with foreign governments on social media. A WhatsApp group and YouTube channel called “Rata Yamu”, or “Let’s Go Abroad”, publicises jobs Sri Lankans can secure through a state-run employment agency.
The government is also ramping up training in nursing, care-giving and other professions where Sri Lankans are in demand overseas, especially in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where over 40% of registered émigrés went last year. New vocational training centres are being opened, some with private-sector support.
These policies seemed to be having their desired effect. Remittances, which slumped last year, have increased over the past four months. Yet there is an obvious danger that, by pushing out its brightest talent, Sri Lanka is depriving itself of the people it needs to rebuild at home.
Mr Nanayakkara admits that skill shortages are already emerging in manufacturing and hospitality. Some private firms have launched modest countermeasures. Several it companies have introduced, in effect, loyalty bonuses for their employees. A big tea company, Dilmah Ceylon Tea, is covering the recent tax rise for its workers. Even so, says its ceo, Dilhan Fernando, the “uncertainty of not knowing what tomorrow might bring” remains a powerful reason for them to emigrate.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Goodbye Colombo”
THE ECONOMIST
The High Commission of Sri Lanka in London in collaboration with Sri Lanka – UK Chamber of Commerce (SL-UKCC) and Infomate (Pvt) Ltd, the BPM arm of John Keells Group, organised a promotional event titled ‘Island of Ingenuity’ to promote Sri Lanka as a unique destination for Business Process Management (BPM). The event was held on 22 June 2023 at the High Commission followed by a networking reception. Around 50 UK industry professionals and BPM companies participated at the event.
In her remarks, High Commissioner Saroja Sirisena, stated that since decades, the Government has provided free education from primary through to tertiary level. The current focus being English language and IT skills, which are needed to compete in the global market, Sri Lanka has a rapidly growing – highly trainable workforce for the IT/BPM sector. High Commissioner Sirisena added that the Government has prioritized the IT/BPM industry as one of the key contributors of foreign exchange essential to Sri Lanka’s economic recovery.
Addressing the attendees Shehan Silva, President of the SL-UKCC gave an overview of the key promotional activities of the Chamber which have been organised jointly with the Mission and request made on the membership expansion of the chamber.
Eranga Pathirage, Director of the SL-UKCC and the Vice President of Virtusa gave an overview of Sri Lanka’s ITC sector. He highlighted that Sri Lanka is well positioned to surpass its $5 billion growth ambition by 2025 by following the key industry trends, transforming the IT-BPM landscape, such as digital market places, Metaverses, Artificial Intelligence apps, sustainability and tech democratization.
Jehan Perinpanayagam, the CEO of Infomate (Pvt) Ltd, in his presentation, explained Sri Lanka’s strategic advantage as an emerging global supplier of choice for BPO which is its talent pool. He elaborated that Sri Lanka has also been ranked highly in multiple international accolades including ‘Outsourcing Destination of the Year in 2013, 2014 & 2019’ by GSA-UK, ‘Top 15 Global Outsourcing Destinations’ by AT Kearney in 2019 and Top 20 Emerging Cities by Global Services Magazine. Infomate (Pvt) Ltd, as the first Shared Services Centre in Sri Lanka has pioneered in setting up BPOs in rural areas of Jaffna, Mahawillachchiya and Seenigama with the aim of creating ‘Impact Sourcing’ opportunities for the underprivileged women and youth. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session where an interactive discussion took place on the trends and success stories of Sri Lanka in the BPM sector and opportunities to penetrate new market segments.
Sri Lanka has been a longstanding BPO partner for the UK with many successful projects including the London Stock Exchange, HSBC. With over 80,000 employees engaged in the BPO sector in general, the total sector revenue is currently estimated to be USD 1.2 billion exports.
High Commission of Sri Lanka
London
28 June 2023
The 2nd Round of Bilateral Political Consultations between Sri Lanka and Georgia was convened in Tbilisi on 19th June 2023. State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tharaka Balasuriya headed the Sri Lanka delegation while the Georgian Delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Khvtisiashvili.
Discussions centred on the multifaceted nature of the relations between the two countries including opportunities for collaboration in tourism, education, construction, renewable energy and IT sector.
Training for Georgians in Sri Lankan hotel schools, possible foreign employment opportunities for Sri Lankans in Georgia, and education for Sri Lankan students in Georgia, particularly in the field of medical studies were looked at during the consultations.
In view of the potential for further enhancing economic relations and people-to-people links between the two countries, State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya invited Georgia to consider opening up a diplomatic mission in Sri Lanka.
On the sidelines of the main meeting, State Minister also had discussions with Georgia’s Innovation Technology Agency (GITA) and the National Tourism Administration and visited a state-of-the-art coffee manufacturing plant. He also met with the Head of Georgian American University and entrepreneurs from the Georgian business community. During State Minister’s meeting with Gela Geladze, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, both discussed avenues of cooperation in the education and skills development sectors.
The Sri Lanka delegation was comprised of the Ambassador of Sri Lanka resident in Türkiye and accredited to Georgia, Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake and Director, Europe and North America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka Madusanka Jayasinghe. Meanwhile from the Georgian Foreign Office, Director and Head for Department for Asia-Pacific, Ambassador Alexander Nalbandov, Counsellor at the International Law Department, Christina Tamoeva and Counsellor at the Department of Asia-Pacific, Merab Chachuawere associated with the meeting.
Nino Makhviladze,Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in Georgia too was associated with severalside-line meetings.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo
30 June 2023
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finances (CoPF) has approved the government’s proposed domestic debt restructuring (DDR) programme.
This was when the CoPF was convened under its Chairman MP Harsha De Silva’s patronage at the Parliamentary complex this (30) afternoon.
Accordingly, the government’s DDR proposal will be tabled in Parliament tomorrow (01) for approval.
Previous report:
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The official Facebook Page of the Department of Government Information has been under hackers’ attack since this (30) afternoon, announced the Director General of Information.
As of now, technical and legal actions are being taken in this regard, and the updating of the Info Dept’s official Facebook Page has been temporarily suspended.
The Director General of Information expresses his apologies for the inconvenience occurred to the users upon accessing the Page.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): Electricity tariffs will be slashed by 14.2 per cent as concluded by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL).
Accordingly, the tariff of Rs. 30 charged from the group consuming 0 – 30 units has been slashed to Rs. 10, with the fixed monthly tariff slashed to Rs. 150 from Rs. 400.
The tariff charged per unit from the group consuming below 60 units has been slashed to Rs. 32 from Rs. 42, with the fixed monthly tariff slashed to Rs. 300 from Rs. 650.
The tariff charged per unit from the group consuming 91 – 120 units has been slashed to Rs. 35 from Rs. 42, with the fixed monthly tariff slashed to Rs. 1,000 from Rs. 1,500.
By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Committee on Public Finances (CoPF) is meeting today (30) for the third consecutive day to build a constructive dialogue on the government’s proposed domestic debt optimisation (DDO) plan and to reach a consensus, Committee Chief and SJB MP (Dr.) Harhsa De Silva said.
The CoPF Chief yesterday (29) made a public statement regarding the progress of the discussions on the government’s proposed DDO plan following the wrapping up of the second consecutive day of discussions.
In his statement, MP Silva revealed that concerns have been raised on the impact of the government’s proposed DDO plan on the superannuation funds such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
Below is the full statement by MP Silva regarding the DDO process.
Update on DDO Discussions: Progress, Equity & Economic recovery in Sri Lanka
Today’s (29) CoPF meeting discussed the Domestic Debt Optimisation (DDO) plan but concerns were raised about burden falling on superannuation funds especially the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) without considering the consent of depositors. Let’s explore this issue.
While banks were excluded due to existing stress & non-performing loans, the EPF/ETF, which carries most of the burden, faces potential opportunity loss and lacks a say in decisions impacting peoples’ life savings. This raises questions about equity and transparency.
Meeting acknowledged the urgency of passing DDO swiftly for success of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and economic growth. However, there is no contingency plan if foreign debt relief and primary surplus targets are not met, leaving the EPF/ETF exposed to add. burden without alternative solutions.
Productive discussions were held with creditors including banks and insurance funds, who expressed relief over the proposed DDO plan. The exclusion of banks allows them to aggressively participate in the market, supporting businesses, especially the hard-hit Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprise sector.
We appreciate the tireless efforts of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Treasury officials in stabilising and reviving the Sri Lanka economy. However, it’s crucial to address the concerns of superannuation funds EPF/ETF depositors, ensure consent and explore a more balanced burden-sharing approach.
Tomorrow (30), we meet again to reach a consensus & proceed to Parliament debate. We’ll also brief non-CoPF members for better understanding and fruitful debates this weekend. Stay tuned for updates on this critical step towards our economic recovery!
Colombo (LNW): All children under the age of 12 will be given the opportunity to visit the Dehiwala Zoo free of charge subsequent to a number of special programmes organised for a period of one week starting from July 03, 2023, in celebration of the 87th Anniversary of the Department of National Zoological Gardens.
On this special occasion, programmes to develop knowledge about protecting animals and other living environments, as well as many fun activities for children to gain knowledge will be implemented, Deputy Director of the National Zoological Department, Dinushika Manawadu said.
