The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has approved power cuts of 2 hours and 20 minutes this week.
The PUCSL said the power cuts will be enforced from Wednesday, 27th December to Friday, 30th December.
The power cuts will be implemented for groups A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W during this period.
Several spells of showers will occur in Northern, North-Central and Eastern provinces.
Showers or thundershowers will occur in few places in Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-Western provinces during the afternoon or night.
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
The world finds priority in economic diplomacy rather than traditional diplomacy, said Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, speaking at a meeting held between him and the newly appointed Sri Lankan Ambassadors and High Commissioners to other states at Temple Trees today (26).
The Prime Ministers instructed the Ambassadors and High Commissioners to uplift the image of Sri Lanka, which is a friendly, unbound and neutral state, by resorting to attracting investment opportunities and promoting exports and the tourism industry, and urged them to extend their maximum support to the committees appointed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe for investment and export promotion.
Commenting on the economic crisis befallen the island nation and the move of restructuring debts, Gunawardena emphasised that all Ambassadors and High Commissioners should work towards investments, joint ventures and bilateral partnerships to enable production, export and rapid development rather than relying on aid and credit.
The expatriates and their associations should be closely cooperated with for receiving more investments, career opportunities and development aid, he went on, stressing that friendly states can work together with Sri Lanka towards its efforts to develop the fields of Agriculture, Industries, Information Technology and Tourism for making the Island Nation self-sufficient with food.
The event was attended by 16 newly appointed Sri Lankan Ambassadors and High Commissioners, including Chithrangani Wageeswara (Australia), Admiral Prof. Jayanath Kolambage (Indonesia), Maneesha Gunasekara (France), H.M.G.R.R.K. Mendi (Bahrein), Dr. A.S.U. Mendis (Viet Nam), Waruni Muthukumarana (Germany), Kapila Jayaweera (Lebanon), M.H.M.N. Bandara (Israel), K.K. Theshantha Kumarasiri (Ethiopia), Dr. Chanaka H. Thalpahewa (Philippines), Priyangika Wijegunasekara (Jordan), B. Kandeepan (Kuwait), Himali Arunathilaka (Geneva), Udaya Indraratna (United Arab Emirates) and Sandy Emirates Samarasinghe (Consular General – Melbourne).
The Government is set to extend the Small Tea and Rubber Estate Restoration Project designed to assist the targeted smallholders to improve their food security with the assistance of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting on Monday approved extending the period of the ‘Rural Financing Program’ till 30 June 2023.
The Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development entered into an agreement in 2016 for implementing this project.
The ‘Rural Financing Program’ is implemented under that project and is scheduled to be wound up from 31 December and Rs. 172.35 million from the allocated sum for the said program is to be released to the beneficiaries as loans.
The total project cost over six years is estimated at Rs 8,502 million (US$ 65.4 million) including contingencies (USD 3.8 million).
The Project costs are organized into: (i) tea smallholder’s development (69% of total base costs); (ii) rubber smallholder’s development (22%); (iii) inclusive rural financing (6%); and (iv) project management (4%).
The Project area was in seven neighbouring districts in central and southern Sri Lanka, including Galle (tea), Matara (tea), Ratnapura (tea and rubber processing), Badulla (tea),Kandy (tea), Monaragala (rubber) and Ampara (rubber).
These districts have been selected based on their poverty incidence, production of tea and potential for rubber. A total of 144,000 people, or 32,000 households, would benefit from the Project
The Ministry of Plantation Industry Is the lead project agency with the private sector playing an active role in the project through business models to strengthen technical assistance and capacity building efforts that the public agencies are providing.
The Bank of Ceylon and the People’ Bank are also partnered with the project to provide smallholder access to their existing financial products for tea and rubber.
A project management unit was established at MPI, the existing structures within the Tea Small Holding Authority (TSHDA) and the Rubber Development Department (RDD) are being used to implement the Project.
Where required, the extension staff were supported by use of technical assistance, implementation support and recruitment of Animators. Services of an experienced service provider would be competitively recruited to assist in mobilizing smallholders.
The Liberal Democratic Party says it will take legal action against social media activist Rasika Jayakodi.
This is due to a recent announcement that the Liberal Democratic Party has been withdrawn from the Liberal Democratic Movement. Rasika Jayakodi was the convener of the Liberal Democratic Movement.
But the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) says that the Liberal Democratic Movement (LDM) is only an affiliated organization of its party and that Rasika Jayakodi acted only as its social media manager.
Accordingly, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) says that Rasika Jayakodi and his group have misused the Liberal Democratic Movement (LDM) for their personal interests and legal action has been taken against him.
Sources in the party further said that Rasika Jayakodi has also received a monthly salary of 250,000 rupees from the party for the post of social media manager.
Sri Lanka’s state-run Airport and Aviation Services Limited says the company’s Rs 1.6 billion loss up to June 2022 came from foreign exchange denominated loans and cost on borrowings for Mattala airport and the company is usually profitable.
Repayment on two loans by the company taken to expand at the airport at the main Katunayake Airport in Colombo and loan from China to build an airport in Mattala in the South was also suspended, official sources revealed.
The government was paying a sum of Rs. 2.61 billion as the annual instalment and interest for the US$190 million loan obtained to build the Mattala International Airport.
The Auditor General has reported that the operational expenditure of the Mattala International Airport in 2021 was twenty-one times higher than its income for the same period.
According to the report the operational cost of the mattala airport was over Rs. 2 billion and a massive sum of money amounting Rs. 36.56 billion cost to build the airport has not been utilized productively
The net loss after tax in 2021 was Rs 4 billion while the total loss after tax during the period of 2017-2021 was over Rs, 20 billion.
Although the expected annual passenger capacity was 1 million, only 91,747 passenger arrivals were reported during the past five years, an audit report observed.
Only 2396 flight movements were recorded during this period and the passenger handling at the airport has become near stand still, the report divulged.
These comments were made by the Auditor General while reporting on the 2021 financial statements of the Airports and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Private Limited on Dec. 24.
Furthermore, the Auditor General has highlighted the operational performances of the international airports in Rathmalana, Jaffna and Batticaloa.
Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Private Limited company recently released its Annual report for the year 2021.
Commenting on the report the Auditor General made several key observations including the performance of the airports within the country.
Accordingly, the Company had entered into two agreements with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for funding worth 74,397 million Japanese Yen on the 28th of March 2012 and 24th of March 2016.
The funds were to be utilized for Phase II Stage 02 of Bandaranaike International Airport Development Project, however, 82 per cent of the funding value was awarded with a huge delay on the 4th of March 2020.
Further, a sum of Rs.359.5 million was paid by the Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Limited from April 20, 2013 to April 20, 2022 to the JICA as commitment fees due to under-utilization of funds.
The Auditor General further highlighted that the Colombo International Airport, Ratmalana had incurred a cumulative loss of Rs. 1.693 billion from 2017 to 2021, including a loss of Rs. 461.08 million for 2021.
The Sri Lankan Authorities relay the announcement by Sri Lankan Airlines Limited that it has launched consent solicitation to its holders of US$175 million sovereign guaranteed bond of the national carrier with 7 percent interest due in 2024.
The Airline has requested a 12 month suspension of debt service payments amongst other things covering the upcoming two coupon payments due on December 25 2022 and June 25 2023.on the bond and temporary waiver on events of default that are currently undergoing, finance ministry confirmed.
The bond was sold to fund losses after then President Mahinda Rajapaksa terminated a management contract with Emirates and re-nationalized the airline.
The request for the suspension of interest payment after the consent of creditors will give sufficient time for the government authorities to devise a reorganization plan and a long strategy for the Sri Lankan Airlines Limited and to hold discussions with the company stakeholders, the finance ministry claimed. .
SriLankan Airlines Limited’s (SLA) payment of $6.13 million interest on its government-guaranteed $175 million unsecured notes within the 30-day grace period in July 2022 has no impact on the notes, a senior official said.
The notes, which are due in 2024, remain in breach of two specific events of default tied to the guarantor – the government of Sri Lanka – as governed by the notes’ trust deed.
They are (i) the government’s 12 April 2022 announcement of a moratorium on the payment of principal and interest on its external debt, and (ii) the government’s default on the payment of interest on an external debt amount exceeding $ 25 million in April 2022, and the expiry of the associated grace period in May 2022.
In addition, the debt moratorium overhang affecting external debt of the government and that of public sector borrowers such as SLA is still in place, he said , adding that it was a continuation of a default-like process for affected creditors.
The payment relates to a $175 million bond with a 7 percent coupon listed in Singapore, according to a filing with the Singapore stock exchange.
There was no comment from the central bank and finance ministry on why the government decided to repay SriLankan Airlines’ sovereign guaranteed interest payment while defaulting May 19 sovereign debt repayment payment of $.78 million of a sovereign bond after one month grace period.
The $84 billion economy is unable to borrow from the global capital market and other countries as its ratings have been downgraded to near default ratings by all three global rating agencies.
The price of crude oil in the world market has increased significantly.
It is special that Russia is hinting that it will cut its oil production.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Western countries of the G-7 group imposed a maximum price limit of $60 on Russian crude oil, and in response, Russia has indicated that it may have to cut its daily crude oil production by between 500,000 and 700,000 barrels.
Accordingly, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil has increased by 2.94 dollars or 3.63% in a day, and the price of a barrel of that oil is recorded as 83.72 dollars.
The price of a barrel of American WTI oil has also increased by 2.07 dollars or 2.67%. The price of a barrel of oil is $79.56.
France is ready to accelerate Sri Lanka’s s dairy development projects with the active involvement of the private sector.
New French Ambassador to Sri Lanka Jean Francois Pactet said France is keen to expedite proposed dairy projects to enhance milk production in Sri Lanka, when he called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Temple Trees in Colombo recently.
Prime Minister’s Office said the Ambassador also stressed the need for Sri Lanka to increase exports to France to further balance bilateral trade. Key exports from Sri Lanka to France are apparel, fisheries products, pneumatic rubber tires, liquid coconut milk and tea.
The Prime Minister said more French investors should enter into new areas of investment such as fisheries, agriculture, information technology, renewable energy, electronics and tourism.
He thanked the Ambassador for the support extended to Sri Lanka to overcome current economic crisis, especially for the support and goodwill of the French Government in its capacity as the Chair of the Paris Club.
They also discussed strengthening cooperation in maritime security, education, information technology and agriculture.
Prime Minister Gunawardena thanked the French government for assistance provided to universities for French language studies.
Meanwhile Pelwatte Dairy, the leading local dairy brand in Sri Lanka that produces a range of dairy goods and saves valuable foreign exchange, is also assisting farmer welfare.
In its efforts to give back to its farmer community base and uplift it, especially given the economic hardships they presently face, Pelwatte is embarking on an innovative project of collaboration to fulfill a diverse array of farmer family needs.
Pelwatte Managing Director Akmal Wickramanayake said: “In our latest initiative to serve our 10,000 strong dairy farmer community, we have obtained the membership of the Smallholder Agribusiness Partnership Program (SAPP), a small scale agribusiness partnership program implemented with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Agriculture.
SAPP aims to help 10,000 dairy farmers from eight districts – Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Ampara, and Puttalam – to improve their commercial partnerships, access to finance, technical know-how, agriculture mechanization and sustainable practices.
“The current economic situation in the country has impacted the dairy farming community strongly. Still, we at Pelwatte ensure production of dairy at the best quality.
Pelwatte inaugurated the SAPP Grants Ceremony at the Kekirawa milk collection centre auditorium with the participation of the Smallholder Agribusiness Partnership Program (SAPP) and the Market Oriented Dairy (MOD) program.
