The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates hosted an ‘Iftar’ for the community on 08 April 2023 at the Embassy premises marking the holy month of Ramadan. As the first time, the initiative was taken by the Embassy to host Iftar for the community every weekend at the Embassy premises and will continue the same practice in the future to enhance the cultural harmonization among all ethnic groups.
The event commenced with the Muslim Religious observances conducted by Maulavi Sarfaraz Mahroof Deen, a young Sri Lankan scholar residing in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Following the religious observances, delivering a special Ramadan message, he explained the importance of conducting Iftar events in the holy month of Ramadan and quoting passages from the Holy Book of Islam, “the Quran”, he also accentuated the need of performing benevolent acts of charity and good-will towards others during this holy period. On behalf of the Sri Lankan Muslim community in UAE, he extended appreciation to the Ambassador and staff of the Embassy for taking the initiative to host consecutive Iftar events every weekend throughout the holy month of Ramadan.
Delivering the welcome speech, Ambassador Udaya Indrarathna, extended best wishes to all Muslims living across the world, and reiterated the Mission’s commitment to enhance diversity and inclusivity among all Sri Lankans in the UAE. Further he emphasized the importance of cultivating love among humanity as well as enhancing the bond of friendship among all ethnic groups, which would help to derive the country’s prosperity.
The programme concluded with the breaking of fast and all participants were served dinner which included Sri Lankan and Arabic cuisine.
The event was attended by around two hundred community members including representatives from Buddhists, Hindu and Catholic faiths demonstrating the harmony among all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.
Colombo (LNW): The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has decided in a special Board of Representatives meeting to temporarily suspend the continuous strike from April 17, 2023, and resume work. The decision was made after the Minister of Education promised to address FUTA’s concerns. FUTA also emphasises that the government’s progress will be continuously monitored and the strike will resume if the promises are not fulfilled within a reasonable time frame.
At the meeting, the BOR discussed recent correspondence with the chairman of the University Grants Commission and the Minister of Education and decided that according to these documents, sufficient action has not been taken to address FUTA’s primary concerns. It was determined that until a satisfactory conclusion is reached, the decision on the participation of university academics in the GCE Advanced Level evaluation will be deferred. FUTA recognizes the Minister of Education’s initial dedication but believes that the support of other government officials is needed to successfully implement the proposed changes.
Without a concrete plan outlining when the government intends to fulfill its promises, FUTA is hesitant to place its faith in the words of the government. The failure of the government to meet the demands of FUTA has had far-reaching effects on the quality of education, and FUTA holds the government solely responsible. The government’s response to the demands of FUTA and PTUA, as well as the government’s treatment of unions, are both undemocratic. To find a better solution, FUTA wants the government to speak to both FUTA and PTUA. Workers should be allowed to organise into unions and bargain collectively, and the government should honour these rights. The government should address the concerns of FUTA and PTUA and find a solution that benefits society as a whole.
As FUTA, we have informed the government that we will no longer tolerate the government’s failure to address the legitimate demands of the university’s academics, which has led to concerns including life threats for the FUTA leaders. We, at FUTA, strongly disapprove of such conduct and pledge to take any and all measures necessary to stop it in the future. We condemn the threatening behaviour. We advocate for a space where all people can feel comfortable sharing their ideas without fear of retaliation. We call on every Sri Lankan to stand with us in defending these ideals and fostering an atmosphere of mutual regard and tolerance.
Colombo (LNW): The Parliament Select Committee (PSC) to make suitable recommendations for the expansion of higher education opportunities in Sri Lanka chaired by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe emphasised that it is important to expand higher education to match the labour market.
Many Members of Parliament expressed their views regarding the expansion of higher education opportunities in the country at the Committee meeting held. The chairman of the committee, Rajapakshe said that appropriate methods should be prepared to increase higher education opportunities for the students who drop out of education after the Advanced Level examination.
Many MPs pointed out that Sri Lanka lose a large amount of foreign exchange due to Sri Lankan students going abroad for higher education, and to prevent this, higher education opportunities should be expanded in Sri Lanka together with international universities. They further pointed out that this will attract foreign students and thus there is an opportunity to make Sri Lanka a center of higher education.
It was also discussed that there is a great demand for nursing professionals of Sri Lanka in foreign countries and the possibility of taking advantage of this opportunity to send more nurses from Sri Lanka to foreign countries.
The Members of Parliament also emphasised that the basic structure of providing proper education and training to nurses in accordance with international standards should be established. For this, they also pointed out the need to provide English language knowledge to the nursing professionals during their training.
Committee Members State Minister Dr. Seetha Arambepola, MPs Rauff Hakeem, Eran Wickramaratne and (Prof.) Charitha Herath and Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, State Minister Diana Gamage, MPs Dr. Rajitha Senarathne, Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Gamini Waleboda were present at the Committee meeting held.
Colombo (LNW): Health officials have urged the public to be cautious against the spread of Influenza during the festive season.
In the contagious nature of Influenza, people display symptoms such as cough, fever and cold, and pregnant women, people suffering from chronic medical conditions and infants are advised to take necessary precautions as an infection could lead to the loss of life, officials instructed.
The public is urged to take adequate health measures if they are visiting crowded places during the festive seasons. The doctors also advised those sustaining the symptoms of Influenza to refrain from visiting crowded places during this period.
Colombo (LNW): There is a significant improvement of fuel sales and sales through the National Fuel Pass QR system, said Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara.
In a tweet, the Minister noted that overall percentages which was below 60 per cent last week has improved to above 80 per cent with the temporary suspension of 66 fuel stations which failed to adhere to the NFP QR guidelines.
Arrangements have also been made to increase the quantity of fuel distributed during the festive season to 4,650 metric tonnes of Petrol 92 and 5,500 metric tonnes of Auto Diesel per day, he added.
Colombo (LNW): The Anti-Terrorism Act will be tabled in Parliament on April 25, 2023, announced Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa, following weeks of speculation on the controversial bill on and off the media.
The tabling of the bill was delayed due to multiple requests amidst its controversial nature, whilst meeting a severe backlash both locally and internationally.
Rajapaksa added that a request was made that the tabling of the bill be included in the Parliament agenda for April 25, 2023.
The Anti-Corruption Bill will be tabled in Parliament during the first week of May, he noted.
The controversial Anti-Terrorism Act will be a direct blow in the head against the country’s democracy and will be vesting in an unimaginable power, according to many critics.
Colombo (LNW): Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts during the afternoon or night, the Department of Meteorology said in a statement today (13).
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damages caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
The statement added: On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 15th of April in this year. The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (13th) are Mannar, Periyamadu, Puliyankulam and Kokkilai at about 12:11 noon.
Marine Weather:
Condition of Rain:
Showers or thunder showers may occur at a few places in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Matara via Colombo and Galle during the night.
Winds:
Winds will be easterly to south-easterly or variable in direction and wind speed will be (20-30) kmph.
State of Sea:
Sea areas around the island will be slight. Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.
Colombo (LNW): Police have arrested a pastor accused of sexually abusing four minors in an orphanage in Irupalai, Kopai area.
The suspect, 82, is reportedly the pastor in charge of the orphanage and is a resident of Mount Lavinia.
Three runaways from the orphanage was taken into Police custody recently, and a probe into the children’s home in question via the girls’ testimonies revealed the pastors actions.
The Mount Lavinia Police seized the suspect in Mount Lavinia area after obtaining a court order to make an arrest, and the pastor was produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate Court, later to be released on two sureties of Rs. 01 million each, with an overseas travel ban.
Many analysts express shock about the Central Bank misleading the Sri Lankan public with blatantly false statements regarding local debt restructuring: CB Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe now confirms that the local debt of the Govt will also be re-structured, after consistently insisting for nearly one year that the local debt would not be re-structured.
All liquor & wine shops islandwide to be closed on 13 & 14 April on account of the New Year.
University lecturers call off their strike temporarily and rejoin academic activities from 17th April: nevertheless they assert that they will not participate in the GCE AL Exam evaluation.
Sri Lanka Malay Assn expresses gratitude to PM Dinesh Gunawardena for re-naming “Slave Island” as “Kompanna Veediya” in English.
IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva says the IMF will “support” Sri Lanka at this difficult time: also says it’s important for everyone to “come together to do their part to overcome the crisis”: analysts point out that although the IMF gave similar assurances to Argentina, after 1 year in an IMF programme, Argentina’s inflation is now over 100%, and it’s Central Bank’s policy interest rate is at a staggering 78%.
Police initiate investigation into the “disappearance” of Rs.50 lakhs from the Central Bank vaults where bundles of cash placed inside a safe with high-security systems have gone missing.
Welfare Benefits Board Chairman B Wijayaratne says the welfare benefit payments will be made to eligible individuals starting from June ’23: asserts applications from nearly 3.2 million households are now being verified.
Several media reports emerge quoting SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara that SJB MP Rajitha Senaratne “has changed his mind” on crossing over to the Govt: MP Senaratne says his statements have been “misunderstood”.
Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe’s Technical Committee headed by top Cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya to probe the reasons behind SL’s failure to win automatic qualification for the ODI World Cup to be held in India later this year.
FIFA informs that the Football Federation of Sri Lanka’s Men’s team is not eligible to participate in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament 2024, Asian qualifiers & AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 qualifiers, due to it’s suspension.
DailyFT: IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer for Sri Lanka in a statement said recently the IMF Executive Board approved a 48-month extended arrangement under the extended Fund facility of 2.286 billion SDR, Special Drawing Rights, and that corresponds to about $ 3 billion to support Sri Lanka’s economic policies and reforms.
IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer
He went on to say, Sri Lanka, as you know, has been facing a severe crisis as a result of past policy missteps and economic shocks. One of the biggest policy missteps was the haphazard borrowings. To add to our list of debt restructuring challenges a court in the US denied a motion by the Government of Sri Lanka to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Hamilton Reserve Bank following the default by the GOSL on a sum of more than $ 257 million of bonds and interest that Hamilton had invested in.
Lending to Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2022 was often marked by an absence of due diligence, opaque conditions and aggressive lobbying with politicians and bureaucrats. Interest rates charged which were in the range of 6.3% were “exorbitant” given that the effective LIBOR (London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) was much lower (just 2% in 2009 and even lower in 2018) and could be construed as predatory lending. This is when commercial banks were borrowing at much less.
Generally, Predatory lending is lending with “severe conditions” and can be some or all of the following.
Aggressive sales/lobbying tactics by lenders
Very high- interest rates,
Overcharging for administrative costs, to mask introducer commissions, third-party facilitation fees and many such opaque elements
Non-disclosure of risk factors and associated risk premiums by the lender and the absence of Integrity Due Diligence on the borrower.
Failure to carry out due diligence with regard to the technical feasibility and/or financial viability of a particular project,
High collateral requirements, spurious events of default, stringent penalties in the event of default, or a combination of the foregoing.
Critically, Sri Lanka’s capacity to repay was also not factored in. Herein lies our problem. These borrowings must be investigated to prevent a future catastrophe. The findings must be discussed at the highest levels of Government to prevent repetition. Accountability is easy to pin with such disastrous results more than evident now.
Criticism
The high-pitched soundbites, particularly in the western press and that too in relation to the debt owed to China masks the true nature of the rest of the debt, both Foreign and Local. Of the former, the multilateral debt is not labelled as predatory as it does not meet the definition above. Governance structures are also very high.
The bilateral debt restructuring has largely come onboard with haircuts and moratoriums, particularly the Paris Club and India. China is in the political dimension at present and will hopefully be negotiated to a satisfactory conclusion to all parties concerned, given their willingness according to the newspapers.
Commercial Borrowings
The commercial foreign debt, aka ISBs, have signalled their willingness to come on-board with haircuts and moratoriums. Most holders for the time being have acquired them in the secondary markets at deep discounts and have room for negotiating such concessions.
Sri Lanka’s Domestic debt also has almost all the characteristics of “predatory” lending to the GOSL over the years, principal among which are:
Aggressive lobbying tactics, via private placement of Treasuries in the 2007 to 2015 period
High-interest rates vis-à-vis policy rates and the backdrop of policy rate volatility by fiat
Lender risk factors being downplayed or ignored by the borrowers like the twin macroeconomic deficits, the managed exchange rates, burgeoning state expenditure and shrinking fiscal revenues, money printing and expanding M2, sovereign rating downgrades and many more.
Sovereign guarantees taken to mask the failure to carry out due diligence with regard to the technical feasibility and/or financial viability of a particular project related lending
Here again, GOSL’s capacity to repay nor service the debt was notably not factored in.
Sustainable Future
Experts say Sri Lanka has been the target or victim if you may, of predatory lending over the years, both foreign and domestic and sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Our domestic public debt too must therefore be subject to significant restructuring, haircuts and interest discounts. Here too, most holders for the time being have either acquired them in the secondary markets at deep discounts and have room for negotiating such concessions and/or have recognised significant capital gains and even realised such gains.
The earlier the holders for the time being abandon holding out, the less pain for them and the smoother the overall debt restructuring, unlocking Sri Lanka’s trajectory to the next level of recovery and normalcy.
Moreover, given that in today’s extraordinary conditions of a sovereign debt default and sovereign rating downgrades most or all of the lender risks of predatory lending have either crystallised or will soon. The banking regulator should proactively stop the distribution of such unrealised gains and manage these elevated expectations for the greater good of the nation.
The banks and holders of treasuries for the time being will most likely cry foul and lean on the lobbyists to negate this and we can expect an increase in the protestations, threats and whining of their apologists among the ranks of their tax and financial advisors and their shareholder lobbies.
Some licensed deposit-holding financial institutions have, in the recent past in relation to this measure, audaciously even hinted at enforced haircuts on the FDs they hold, in the expectation that this uncorroborated notion that it will derail the entire debt restructuring and the consequent recovery to a semblance of normalcy. The nation’s savers are not to blame for the recklessness of the financial institutions in their mission to increase shareholder distributions.
Here again, the regulatory authorities should not countenance such moves on savers, let alone approve them (as only they can) and manage all expectations firmly, for the greater good of the nation. Offering a few sellable options to our lenders may go a long way in closing the debt restructure.
