- State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe says no decision taken yet to restructure domestic debt: claims negotiations with external bilateral and commercial creditors is still going on: also says a working team of the China Development Bank have met him on debt related issues: markets not convinced.
- SLPP dissident MP Professor Charitha Herath says Budget 2023 contains proposals to place state lands under the purview of District and Divisional Secretaries on the pretext of promoting cultivation: warns it would enable cronies of the ruling party to grab government lands.
- SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne says Budget 2023 is fraught with lofty ideas without practical solutions: claims it has made Parliament and people of the country to “walk in a dream among the stars”: warns the country would be destroyed, when they wake up.
- SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara says the Budget 2023 is no different to what the people in Sri Lanka have heard over the last couple of decades: laments there is no relief at all to the people or to the economy.
- SJB MP Mujibur Rahman says the Rupee has been “fixed” for the past many months under CB Governor Dr. Weerasinghe: asserts the policy followed is identical to that followed by previous CB Governors: prior to becoming Governor, Dr Weerasinghe has strongly proposed “more flexibility in managing the exchange rate”.
- SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka says his Parliamentary Sub Committee has determined that 12% of Samurdhi beneficiaries are the ones who are among the richest 20% of the population.
- CB Governor Dr. Weerasinghe states customers “inconvenienced” due to increase in interest rates on loans: asks them to obtain relief by negotiating with the banks.
- Civil Appellate High Court of Mount Lavinia orders National Sports Council Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga to pay compensation of Rs.25 mn to former President of the Cricket Board Thilanga Sumathipala, in relation to a defamation case filed by Sumathipala.
- Attorney at Law Ruchira Gunasekera elected as the first woman President of the Organisation of Professional Associations: she was previously the first woman General Secretary of the OPA in 2019.
- Finance Ministry Tax Policy Advisor Thanuja Perera says there are just over 300,000 tax payers in Sri Lanka (1.33% of the population): wants the tax net to be widened further.
SRI LANKA ORIGINAL NARRATIVE SUMMARY: 18/11
A discussion with WB representatives on Sri Lanka’s future development plans
A discussion with the representatives of the World Bank on the future development plans and policies of Sri Lanka was chaired by Sagala Ratnayake, Senior Adviser to the President on National Security and Chief of Staff to the President, and Minister of State for Finance Shehan Semasinghe and Minister of State for Investment Promotion Dilum Amunugama was held at the Ministry of Finance yesterday (17).
In this discussion held with the delegation including Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Director for Sri Lanka, the country’s future development plans and policies were discussed at length.
Improving public financial supervision and debt management, improving tax administration policy, reducing sovereign financial sector involvement and systemic risks, improving energy sector performance and reducing carbon emissions, reducing policy uncertainty and increasing the competitiveness of the economy, Restructuring of public enterprises, implementing private capital and thereby creating competition in the broadband market, strengthening social security institutions and targeting distribution systems were also discussed and related proposals were also presented.
President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, President’s Senior Economic Adviser Dr. RHS Samaratunga, Finance Ministry Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and government officials of line institutions attended the event.
After that, the delegation including Faris Hadad-Zervos, Director of the World Bank for Sri Lanka, met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and briefed the President on these matters.
Sri Lanka’s president pushes economic stability over political reform
Addressing parliament on November 14th on the subject of next year’s budget, Ranil Wickremesinghe strived to offer an uplifting vision for his crisis-ridden country. “Let us create a new economy tailored to the expectations of the youth,” said Sri Lanka’s president and finance minister. Attempting this, he pointedly added, need not involve the “traditional protests, struggles and strikes”.
Mr Wickremesinghe has been treading a fine line since he became president in July. The protesters who hounded his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, from office and from the country demanded deep reforms, including a clear-out of the political elite and a reduction in the powers of the presidency. Mr Wickremesinghe, a six-time former prime minister, has largely ignored them. Although he is working hard to restore economic stability, he has chosen to work with Mr Rajapaksa’s supporters, paid little heed to the protesters’ demand for political reform and, when some bitterly objected, persecuted them.
On the surface, his focus on economic stability is paying off. Colombo has returned to a sort of normal. The fuel queues that were a symbol of Sri Lanka’s failing economy are now uncommon; power cuts are shorter. A suspension of foreign-debt repayments and a steep fall in imports over the past few months have freed up foreign exchange for fuel purchases. A new rationing system has reduced demand and the import of discounted Russian oil (which European countries and America shun) has improved supply. Last month Sri Lanka’s parliament passed a law ending the government’s control of fuel imports. That should allow private companies to bring in additional fuel supplies in short order.
But this is delicate progress. Inflation, at 66% in October, has left millions of people unable to afford enough food. A bail-out from the International Monetary Fund that would allow Sri Lanka to resume servicing its debts and restore regular access to international credit markets appears to be months away. Still, the progress made on power cuts and fuel shortages has at least mollified middle-class city-dwellers—an important component of the street protests that did for Mr Rajapaksa. This has created space for Mr Wickremesinghe, whose cabinet is mostly composed of former Rajapaksa loyalists, to quietly shelve the reform agenda.
The political alliance led by the disgraced former president’s party will probably have a parliamentary majority at least until February. At that point Mr Wickremesinghe could dissolve parliament and call fresh elections, another popular demand of pro-reform activists. But he has given no indication that he will do so. Instead, he has used anti-terror laws to arrest and intimidate the most persistent activist leaders. Human-rights groups complain of a shrinking space for dissent. A promised constitutional amendment to limit the overweening powers of the presidency passed parliament in such a watered-down form that one opposition lawmaker claimed it amounted to “fraud”.
Mr Rajapaksa, whom the protesters want to be prosecuted for his contribution to ruining the economy, has returned to Sri Lanka and is living in a heavily guarded residence in Colombo at public expense. His almost equally reviled brother and former prime minister, Mahinda, and Mahinda’s son Namal are meanwhile back on the trail in the country’s south, rallying their Sinhala Buddhist supporters. Namal Rajapaksa has been put in charge of a parliamentary committee that is developing policy recommendations on everything from health care to fisheries.
Having seemingly gambled all on his economic management, Mr Wickremesinghe had better hope it comes good. And it may not. The imf bail-out has been delayed by Sri Lanka’s struggle to come to a debt-restructuring agreement with its bilateral creditors, including China and India. Liberalisation, particularly of vast state enterprises, is progressing slowly if at all. So long as inflation remains devastatingly high and Mr Wickremesinghe is unable to point to more convincing signs of a turnaround, he has reason to fear that the streets around his office will throng with angry citizens once again
THE ECONOMIST
Malaysian elections and the role of the next generation
By Krishantha Prasad Cooray
There is something about Malaysia, something special that you cannot describe unless you have lived there. The people in Malaysia are kind, friendly and always willing to lend a helping hand. There is more natural beauty in every nook and cranny of Malaysia than anyone will ever get to see in a single lifetime, from lush forests and pristine mountains to spectacular beaches and magnificent coral reefs. The ‘tiger cub’ economy not only survived Covid but is bouncing back strong.
And yet, the country feels like it is at a crossroads, and GE15 may well determine the destiny of the country. In many ways, this election will determine whether Malaysia will stay on the path to becoming a first world developed nation, or whether it will fall into stagnation or worse.
The future of any country rests with the best and the brightest of its youth. Unlike at any other election since independence, the youth – those aged 18 to 30 – will make up nearly a third of the electorate. In today’s globally connected world, the things that matter to these young Malaysians are very similar to the priorities of their peers who are beginning to decide the fates of governments everywhere.
This may be the first generation that doesn’t naturally inherit the political allegiances of their parents. They know more than their parents or grandparents about what they are entitled to expect, based not on historical standards, but on what rights and opportunities are available to their peers abroad. They value equality of opportunity, freedom from corruption and persecution and the efficiency and transparency of government service. By and large, they have little interest in nationalist or ethnic group identities or preserving patriarchies and patronage networks.
The post-independence baby boomer generation of Malaysians shaped the country into a prosperous tiger cub economy, with resilience guaranteed through the rest of the 20th century by vibrant export industries from agriculture to electronics. Had the best and brightest of this generation instead decided to leave Malaysia for greener pastures, Malaysia may not have become the country it is today.
To repeat this feat in the 21st century, the future of Malaysia will largely be up to the nearly five million youth who are registered to vote for the first time in their lives this week, in GE15. If their aspirations are not met, the most talented of these youth, with the most advanced education from here and abroad, have the option of voting with their passports, and emigrating from Malaysia to any one of several liberal democracies who will recognize them for their skills and qualifications and not judge them by their ethnicity, gender or personal lives.
One need only take nearby Sri Lanka to see an example of the gravity of these risks. Once upon a time, none other than Lee Quan Yew saw Sri Lanka as a country for Singapore to emulate. But through successive generations of nationalist and exclusionary policies coupled with economic mismanagement of increasing orders of magnitude, one generation of Sri Lankans after another began to give up on their country. Many of the most hardworking, talented and ambitious Sri Lankans decided to go and succeed elsewhere.
What often surprises people is that this brain drain in Sri Lanka was not limited to the Tamils, Muslims and Christians who felt like second-class citizens at best, or at risk of being hunted down and persecuted for their ancestry. Many from the majority Sinhala Buddhist community or the societal elite, who benefited the most from majoritarian privilege policies, also decided to flee, not because they could not live like kings, but because they were ashamed to do so to the detriment of others.
Anywhere in the world, the vast majority of talented, successful and hardworking people have come to learn from experience that a system that gives people preferential treatment due to their ancestry, their family name or their family friends, will never create a culture that allows the best ideas and best initiatives to flourish. Such places will always remain at least two steps behind egalitarian countries that have risen above such pettiness.
Between independence and today, Sri Lanka suffered several youth-led rebellions. Until this year, they were marked by bloodshed. In 2022, the internet, social media and sheer desperation united Sri Lankan youth to take to the streets and throw out their president in a largely peaceful movement. Never until this year had Sri Lanka’s youth had the knowhow, wherewithal and support they needed to exact serious political change. Never had an economic crisis in Sri Lanka led youth to unite across ethnic, religious and gender lines.
Malaysia is at no risk of the sort of economic calamity that has stricken Sri Lanka, but it won’t take a calamity to disenchant Malaysian youth. At this crossroads, they will want to see their country evolve into a society that can compete shoulder to shoulder with developed nations, by building out the societal features that make such nations so successful.
So, it should surprise no one if the majority Malaysian youth, who are about to vote for the first time, will not be swayed by nationalist promises of preferential treatment for them over their ethnic Chinese or Indian peers in the same way that their parents were. Virtually every one of them has access to the internet and can see for themselves what features developed countries have in common.
We should expect them to take for granted the privilege they have all been born with, as citizens of the first country in the world to have issued a biometric passport, a passport that today can be used to visit most of the world without having to apply for a visa. It will be lost on them how incredible it is that Malaysians can get a passport issued in a matter of hours when the same process takes days, weeks or months in countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
They will instead demand efficiency where it currently does not exist across government service. They will want to see a level playing field across all state-driven activity in education, and public services for those of all ethnicities, genders and religious persuasions. And most of all, as a generation that grew up roiled by the $7.5 billion 1MDB scandal, they will want to see a form of governance that will credibly combat corruption at every level. In short, they will want to see politicians push to make Malaysia closer resemble Singapore than Sri Lanka. They won’t be divided and conquered.
In many ways, the policy vision of PK’s prime ministerial candidate Anwar Ibrahim may most resonate with this view. Anwar has long championed intellectually driven and egalitarian policymaking, perhaps long before his time. GE15 may be Anwar’s last chance to bring his vision of modern government to reality, but many youth may see it as the last chance for them to feel like they belong in Malaysia and not elsewhere.
But there are options for those who may find voting for PK unpalatable, especially those who voted for them in GE14 and hold them responsible for the last two years of political turmoil. Even the quintessentially Malay-centric UMNO has highly educated, young, open-minded and forward-thinking candidates within its ranks, such as the Oxford and London educated Khairy Jamaluddin, or KJ, who rose to national prominence from his role leading the PICK national immunization program for Covid-19.
For all its faults and the bumpy rollout that have been fairly criticized, the fact remains that to-date, the team that KJ assembled has led one of the most successful national immunization programs of the pandemic, surpassing even several advanced countries in Europe and the Americas in having fully vaccinated over 80% of Malaysian residents to-date. To put this in context, the USA and Indonesia have both fully vaccinated under 70% of their residents to-date, a milestone that Malaysia surpassed over a year ago. Young Malaysians cannot be faulted for wondering what could be achieved if such capable teams were deployed to increase the efficiency, equality and professionalism of government services in every aspect of public life.
They will also respect KJ’s transparency, as a politician who does not fear going before the press and answering hard questions even during the tumultuous rollout of PICK. Younger voters will also be drawn to the kind of honesty and vulnerability he brings to the national stage. Malaysians are unlikely to forget how authentically he talked about his growth as a father as he grew closer to one of his differently abled children who has been diagnosed with a condition on the autism spectrum.
KJ has been criticized by senior leaders in his party for openly voicing his future leadership ambitions, but this sort of criticism is unlikely to sit well with young Malaysians who would like to see more fresh faces in the upper echelons of political leadership. There will be other KJs in every party, some contesting for the first time this week.
In the likely event that no single party or coalition is able to assemble a majority, it will be up to rational and relatively liberal minded politicians from all sides to overcome their differences. The only way for them, and thus Malaysia, to succeed may be if they can assemble a grand coalition of ideas rather than ideologies, transcending party politics and ethnic divisions.
Malaysia can continue to advance and stun the world if the generation that can make that happen remains proud to call Malaysia their home. Many of them are jubilant about their new right or entitlement to vote. But they must remember that casting a ballot is not merely a privilege, it is a responsibility.
To all those who were automatically registered to vote and will do so for the first time this Saturday, spend these last few days learning more about the candidates you have to choose from, and to cast your ballot for whoever among them you feel is most likely to help build the Malaysia in which you would one day be proud to raise your children.
High Time to Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Release All Prisoners Held Under It.
Lionel Bopage
Voices for democracy are reverberating in many countries, where people’s rights and freedoms are being usurped by fundamentalist and autocratic regimes around the world. They are openly and covertly resorting to desperate attempts at repressing and destroying democratic movements. In some countries people have succeeded in thwarting them. In others the autocrats have prospered. In a few instances, people themselves have brought autocrats to power. Some recent examples were in the United States and Brazil. Sri Lanka and Iran are currently engaged in increasingly repressive measures against the democratic wishes of their respective populaces in order to prop up their increasingly untenable regimes.
Repressing dissent is not new in the history of Sri Lanka. The repressive dragnet has not only entrapped innocent peaceful protestors on the flimsiest of judicial excuses, but also those who have nothing to do with protests. Currently, protest leaders like the convenor of the Inter University Students’ Federation, Comrade Wasantha Mudalige; the convenor of the Inter University Bhikkhus’ Federation, Venerable Galwewa Siridhamma Thero are still being held under the all-encompassing undemocratic and opaque Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). They have been held for close to three months so far.
Human Rights Organizations both local and overseas, Trade Unions and Civil Society Organisations have been asking for their release, but so far to no avail. Already many in the international community including the United Nations have condemned such attacks. When the European Union raised concerns about the regime’s use of the PTA, Sri Lanka assured them that only in extremely necessary cases that the PTA had been evoked, though many cases have shown that it is not true. In Australia, the Victorian Trades Hall Council has expressed its solidarity with the victims of repression. Even the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has said so. The arrest, detention and continued incarceration of both the convenors from August 18 onwards under the PTA is described by the Commissioners as: “unreasonable and without justification.”
The draconian PTA in its embryonic stage came into the scene in 1972[1] under the coalition regime led by Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike, with the enactment of the Criminal Justice Commissions Act, which reversed the important tenets of the principles of natural justice – the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. With it commenced the degradation of the country’s criminal justice system. Following this, the UNP regime led by President J R Jayawardene first adopted the PTA in 1979 as a ‘temporary’ measure and included various provisions that contravened international legal standards.
It was made a permanent legal tool in 1982 and was used in 1988/89 period against the JVP and the LTTE, in 2019 following the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and now against the “Aragalaya” protest movement. This enabled arbitrary detention and torture repeatedly targeting political opponents of the regime, personal opponents of some of their leaders. and specifically, against the many in the non-majoritarian communities.
Due mainly to the international pressure, amending or repealing the PTA has been in political agenda for several years. In March 2022 it was amended via the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) Amendment Bill, but without touching the provisions that led to its arbitrary use of psychological and physical torture. The regime declared a de facto moratorium of using the PTA in March. This moratorium came to a griding stop in August this year with President Ranil Wickremesinghe using it to detain three student leaders of the protest movement.
People are demanding the government acts with transparency, accountability, and respects their rights. They also demand opportunities to define their identities, set precedents for inclusive political processes, and create a constitution that represent their aspirations. After Mr Wickremesinghe was selected and installed as President by a discredited parliamentary majority, the regime launched an all-out terror campaign to root out the protest movement. The sites that were used for peacefully assemble, express and protest were destroyed using political thugs and special forces. Almost every protest was attacked with tear gas, batons and clubs. In doing so, the regime also used the PTA and the Police Ordinance to hold those who have not committed any violence.
The recent protest wave, unlike earlier ones, was able to force the resignations of the Prime Minister, several Ministers and ultimately the President. The protestors like much of the country were demanding the government of Sri Lanka address the issues that gave rise to the current economic and political crisis, a crisis created by the political and business elite. This elite does not want to change their corrupt and incompetent behaviour and institutions; hence they need to find scapegoats to hide their lack of accountability and transparency. While holding protest leaders behind bars unjustifiably and under inhumane conditions, the ruling elite carries on with their authoritarian and corrupt practices. They are trying to force the burden of alleviating the debt (without reform) on those who can least afford to carry the burden, the people. This needs to be vigorously exposed and resisted.
Mr Wickremasinghe has wantonly and wilfully used the dictatorial powers vested in the executive presidency, buttressed by the emergency powers and the PTA, to supress dissent and arrest peaceful protestors in an attempt to root out their leaderships. In doing so, he is erroneously and cynically branding them, terrorists. These tactics have been used many times in the past, so as to direct people’s attention away from their incompetence and misdeeds. The regime is now trying to employ new tools of repression such as the Rehabilitation Bill, which can be arbitrarily used to arrest and hold any individual who has the potential to become a political adversary.
Individuals are imprisoned without judicial orders, under the ruthless PTA. They have been held sometimes for years. many without any legal basis to do so. So far, the regime has arrested and detained about 4000 people. Most of them were released on bail, but there are no justifiable reasons for their arrests in the first place as they have not violated any law of the country. Under the current unaccountable system that is in place, they are unable to challenge the use the PTA to prevent legitimate opposition to current discredited government’s arbitrary and corrupt rule. They have done so, for the last 44 years and will continue to do so, unless these repressive legislative mechanisms and institutions are repealed and abolished.
The universally accepted basis for anti-terror legislation is to prevent terrorism. Terrorism is said to be about using threat, force and/or violence targeting civilians or a community of people for the purpose of spreading fear in pursuing political, ideological or religious causes. An apt description of what the current regime and the regimes in the past have done to their critics and some sections of the population. Like repressive regimes the world over they have illustrated that when the legitimacy of a regime is questioned on their unlawful, corrupt and unaccountable behaviour, they resort to scapegoating and repressive actions to prop up their increasingly illegal regimes. Sadly, Sri Lanka is not an exception.
Those held under such legislation like the current protestors, undergo huge losses in terms of family and resources for obtaining assistance including legal advice and advocacy. The PTA legalises torture, and judicial recognition of admissions made under torture. Any protections said to be available do not prevent torture or violation of an individual’s right for due processes.
Contrary to the expectations of the rulers and the bureaucracy such incarcerations could make some prisoners more popular. If these cruel and unaccountable processes and conditions help create a Sri Lankan Nelson Mandela, people will come to know that the regime who tried to demean, degrade and denigrate are genuine individuals who are fighting on behalf of the people; that they are trying to protect the fundamental right to express their views on how they are governed and hold their rulers accountable for their actions.
How can the actions, that led to pardoning individuals like those who abducted school children in Trincomalee for ransom and murder, particularly, doing so after being charged in a court of law? If there is no evidence to charge them in a court of law, the only assumption one could make is that they are been held as ransom for legitimising and maintaining or extending duration of the regime and power of the ruling elite.
Use of such legislation has misguided and brutalised society. It has not helped to heal divisions, ensuring dignity of and respect for people, or restoring a humane society. Some of those recently “pardoned” prisoners had been behind bars longer than the sentences they had been convicted for. For example, two prisoners sentenced to five years by the courts had served 14 years, and they were given “presidential pardons”! Rather they should have been set free, at the end of their periods of conviction.
How can the regime justify its so-called pardoning, after holding them illegally for a period more than they had been convicted for? This is nothing but abuse of power and a violation of human rights. A government that can appoint committees and commissions whenever and whatever happens in the country, has so far done nothing to look into what happened or why this happened. Are there any more to be given the so-called presidential pardon?
For example, A graduate engineer Sivalingam Arooran was pursuing his postgraduate studies at University of Peradeniya, when he was kidnapped in 2008. After subjecting to beatings, he was indicted five years later. He was recently bestowed the award for best Tamil literary novel “Athura-salai” (Hospital) and has been held for 16 years under the PTA. How he has been detained should be an open and wide discussion in society, as no human being deserves such treatment. How can any regime justify such illegal and undemocratic behaviour? About 120 Tamils are still being held in detention under the PTA. After the 2019 serial bombings, more than 200 Muslims were detained. What has happened to them?
We cannot say that pardoning and releasing those who have been held under the ignominious PTA will help Reconciliation. Such measures have caused irreversible harm to society. Releasing those who are being held under the PTA without any evidence or being charged in a court of law, is essential. It should not be done in a piecemeal and unaccountable way like Presidential pardons or amnesties, but with apologies and compensation. If they were held for questioning the legitimacy of a system, that has bought the country to economic ruin as amply evident today. It is ruling elites who should be brought under the ambit of scrutiny for their actions in causing this social and economic collapse.
In reality, the president and government are presiding over a powder keg of economic deprivation and sense of injustice experienced by the masses. Those in the protest movement are well aware that many of their fellow protestors have been arrested and are in prison. Their sense of injustice rankles when they see government-affiliated hoodlums who instigated and took part in attacks against peaceful protestors continue to enjoy their freedom and engage in their corrupt practices. The double standards being practiced continues to erode the credibility of the government and its leadership and can act as a lightning rod to mobilise future protests.
It is high time that the government take urgent measures to release all those held under the PTA, against whom there are no evidence found and no charges laid. Also, not to use the unaccountable power of the presidency and an increasing suite of repressive measures and legalisation to further their increasingly illegitimate, corrupt and incompetent rule. All those held in detention under the PTA without being charged at a court of law should be released unconditionally, at least now!
[1] This was drafted using the South African Apartheid legislation and the British anti- Irish laws at the time, and repealed under the Criminal Justice Commissions (Repeal) Law, No. 12 of 1977.
South Africa’s President Ramaphosa arrives in Sri Lanka!
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Sri Lanka and left the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport a short while ago.
The South African President’s arrival comes in following his attendance to the G20 Summit in Indonesia.
He met his Sri Lankan Counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Air Force Base in Katunayake and held discussions on bilateral matters.
Reports also emerge that Ramaphosa celebrated his birthday in the island nation as Sri Lanka hosted a surprise birthday party for him.
MIAP
Overseas travel ban on State Minister Diana Gamage extended!
The overseas travel ban imposed to State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage has been extended till December 15 as ordered by the Colombo Magistrate Court today (17).
The order comes in following a hearing based on a lawsuit filed demanding a probe into the Minister’s Passport, the National Identity Card and the Birth Certificate, and was made by Colombo Chief Magistrate Nandana Amarasinghe.
MIAP
Vehicle registration fees soared via extraordinary gazette!
An extraordinary gazette declaration soaring the fees charged for registration of motor vehicles has been issued, effective from November 18, 2022.
Accordingly, the fees will be revised from tomorrow in compliance with the gazette, said Minister of Transport and Highways Bandula Gunawardena.
Click here to see gazette paper on vehicle registration fees.
MIAP
Sri Lankan Cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka granted bail!
Sri Lankan Cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka, who was arrested by Sydney Police, Australia over four charges of sexual assault, has been granted bail by the Central Court of Downing, Sydney, reports say.
MIAP
Sri Lanka’s manufacturing and services contract in October
Sri Lanka’s manufacturing sector contracted significantly in October with the decline of people’s purchasing power meanwhile services sector has also declined, according to a Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled by the central bank.
Manufacturing PMI declined in October 2022, indicating a contraction in manufacturing activities on a month-on-month basis. Accordingly, Manufacturing PMI recorded an index value of 38.4 in October 2022, with a decline of 4.2 index points from the previous month, driven by decreases recorded in all the sub-indices.
New Orders and Production declined significantly, particularly in the manufacture of food & beverages and textiles & wearing apparel sectors, mainly due to demand-side impediments. Many respondents representing the food & beverages sector mentioned they experienced a notable decline in demand amidst the deteriorating purchasing power of the consumers.
Further, export-oriented manufacturers, especially in the apparel sector catering to the North American and European markets, highlighted that the decline in demand observed was mainly attributable to the fear of an economic slowdown in respective destinations. Moreover, manufacturers are still struggling to acquire the required raw materials amidst high input costs.
Furthermore,Employment recorded a decrease in October 2022 while Stock of Purchases also decreased in line with the decline in New Orders and Production.
Meanwhile, Suppliers’ Delivery Time was shortened in October 2022 compared to the previous month.
Services PMI dropped below the neutral threshold to an index value of 47.9 in October 2022 due to the declines observed in New Businesses, Employment and Backlogs of Work. Nevertheless,Business Activities and Expectations for Activity continued its increasing momentum during the month.
New Businesses declined slightly in October 2022 compared to September 2022, particularly with the decreases observed in real estate, insurance, and postal and courier activities sub-sectors.
Business Activities in the services sector increased for the fourth straight month in October 2022 in line with the improvements in economic conditions.
Accordingly, business activities related to other personal activities, financial services, education, professional services, and programming and broadcasting sub-sectors showed improvements compared to the previous month.
However, business activities specifically in wholesale and retail trade, and real estate sub-sectors declined mainly due to diminishing purchasing power of consumers, increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) and imposition of Social Security Contribution Levy (SSCL).
Employment continued to fall in October due to increasing resignations, migrations and retirements in addition to halt in new recruitments. Meanwhile, Backlogs of Work continued to drop during the month amid reduction in new businesses.