By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW):The Government has begun preparation work on a master plan for developing Nuwara Eliya to preserve the scenic beauty and ban the construction of buildings above four storeys in the major tourist city.

The move aims to put an end to the unplanned spreading out of buildings in Nuwara Eliya which is included in the Government’s New Town Development Plan and Nuwara Eliya Tourism Plan.

“President Wickremesinghe in his recent visit to Nuwara Eliya emphasized the importance of developing the district as a striking city that can attract tourists throughout the year.

He also insisted on plans prioritizing to create a pleasant environment for tourists to relax rather than focusing on constructing large and tall buildings,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena said at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday.

He said the Cabinet of Ministers approved the appointment of a task force to come up with the Master Plan for Nuwara Eliya and to limit the construction of new buildings above four storeys in the Nuwara Eliya district from 1 May.

The task force will be headed by the Governor of the Central Provinces under the coordination of the President’s Office with the contribution of all relevant parties.

The Urban Development Authority has been given authority to issue required regulations stipulated by its Act.

The Cabinet has noted that the beauty of the city of Nuwara Eliya is gradually decreasing due to the improper development that is being carried out in the Nuwara Eliya area and it has greatly affected the tourism industry.

Therefore, the need to prepare a detailed tourism development master plan has arisen in order to create the necessary environment for the growth of tourism in the area, a statement on the cabinet decisions said.

Accordingly the cabinet of ministers has approved the proposals tabled by the President to prepare the Nuwara Eliya Tourism Development Master Plan under the coordination of the Presidential Secretariat with the involvement of all relevant parties.

Furthermore, the cabinet approval has been granted to appoint a task force headed by the Governor of the Central Provinces to regulate the construction of new buildings and to impose regulations in accordance with the provisions of the Urban Development Authority Act.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka has improved its position to 73 out of 139 countries in the latest global Logistics Performance Index (LPI) compiled by the World Bank, up from 92nd place in the previous assessment made in 2018.

Sri Lanka has an LPI score of 2.8 in the 2023 index released last week whilst in the list the score was 2.65. Sri Lanka has been ranked at number 73 along with Argentina, Montenegro, Rwanda, Serbia, and Solomon Islands.

In terms of infrastructure, Sri Lanka’s ranking improved to 89th place from 104; as per logistics competence and quality the country was ranked at number 81st up from 85th; 59th in terms of timeliness up from 113th and in tracking and tracing .

Sri Lanka was 65th up from 81st and in international shipments Sri Lanka rose to 75th as against 108th in 2018 ranking. In terms of customs, Sri Lanka has slipped to 84th position from 77th place reinforcing the need to reform and overhaul archaic procedures and regulations.

Singapore tops the ranking up from 5th place from the previous report compiled in 2018 and displaced Germany from the top slot. Finland was ranked second whilst Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland are group as third rank.

UAE (up from 14th place), Hong Kong figure as 7th ranked along with Austria, Belgium, Canada and Sweden.

The World Bank’s LPI is a measure of countries’ ability to move goods across borders with speed and reliability.

The seventh edition of Connecting to Compete, the LPI Report comes after three years of unprecedented supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, when delivery times soared.

The LPI measures the ease of establishing reliable supply chain connections and the structural factors that make it possible, such as the quality of logistics services, trade and transport-related infrastructure, and border controls.

“Logistics are the lifeblood of international trade, and trade in turn is a powerful force for economic growth and poverty reduction,” said World Bank Trade, Investment and Competitiveness Global Director Mona Haddad.

“The Logistics Performance Index helps developing countries identify where improvements can be made to boost competitiveness,” Haddad added.

The LPI 2023 Report said on average across all potential trade routes, 44 days elapse from the time a container enters the port of the exporting country until it leaves the destination port, with a standard deviation of 10.5 days. That span represents 60% of the time it takes to trade goods internationally.

According to LPI 2023, end-to-end supply chain digitalization, especially in emerging economies, is allowing countries to shorten port delays by up to 70% compared to those in developed countries. Moreover, demand for green logistics is rising, with 75% of shippers looking for environmentally friendly options when exporting to high income countries.

“While most time is spent in shipping, the biggest delays occur at seaports, airports and multimodal facilities. Policies targeting these facilities can help improve reliability,” said World Bank

r. Such policies include improving clearance processes and investing in infrastructure, adopting digital technologies, and incentivising environmentally sustainable logistics by shifting to less carbon-intensive freight modes and more energy-efficient warehousing.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): Making Sri Lanka’s long delayed ambitious forex raising endeavour a reality, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has introduced the initiative of listing and trading of Green Bonds for the first time in the Sri Lankan stock market, with effect from 25th April 2023.

Under the Green Bonds concept, proceeds are invested exclusively in green projects that generate climate or other environmental benefits.

Among these projects are renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable waste management, sustainable land use (forestry and agriculture), biodiversity, clean transportation, and clean water.

The Government was planning to issue green bonds in July 2022 in order to raise US $ 2 billion under forex raising initiative of former CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal prior to the declaration of preemptive debt default by present Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe on 12 April 2022, official and media reports revealed.

This plan to issue $ 2 billion in green bonds around July 2022 had been in the pipeline, but was postponed following the sudden decalation of preemptive debt default but its still on the cards

Green bonds are fixed-income Government securities issued under the promise of using the capital raised to wholly or partly finance projects and activities promoting a broad range of environmental objective

During Mr Cabraal’s tenure as CB Governor Sri Lanka had been seeking to issue $ 1 billion worth of green bonds in July 2022 and another $ 1 billion in September 2022.

This was part of over $ 10 billion in inflows targeted during 2022, not inclusive of the inflows targeted under the previous six-month plan, which largely failed to materialize following debt default.

According to the CSE statement, the objective of enabling regulations for the issue of green bonds in the Sri Lankan stock market is to facilitate Sri Lankan corporates to raise capital.

It will be used for green projects and to foster greater transparency and accountability in the use of proceeds from the Green Bond, and to ensure reporting of the impact of the green projects for which the proceeds of the bond was used.

The Green Bonds will have the same features of a Corporate Debenture and will be listed on the Debt Market segment of the CSE.

The main difference between a Corporate Debenture and a Green Bond is the usage of the proceeds.

In a Green Bond, the proceeds have to be exclusively used for financing or refinancing in part or in full, new or existing eligible green projects which are aligned with at least one international Green Bond standard set out above.

The Green Bonds will be traded on the Automated Trading System (ATS), similar to Corporate Debentures. The trading parameters currently applicable to Corporate Debentures will also apply to Green Bonds as well, CSE officials said.

The potential issuers of Green Bonds are any public company incorporated under the Companies Act and any statutory body established/incorporated under a statute.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW):The World Bank (WB) has pledged support to Sri Lanka under its Development Policy Financing Program while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide a special loan and grant pouring millions of dollars into treasury coffers.

These two financial mobilizations amounting to US$501 million strengthen the country’s foreign reserves are to be received by the treasury as an immediate response of international financial agencies following the unlocking of $ 3 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility recently, two Finance Ministry top officials confirmed.

The World Bank will extend a $ 150 million grant to strengthen the financial sector of Sri Lanka.

The Government said in line with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Funding Facility (EFF) Program, the country has implemented a comprehensive economic stabilization and recovery program with necessary reforms to address macroeconomic challenges.

Discussions have been held with the World Bank in regard to obtaining loan facilities of the bank for Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance and Liquidity Support Scheme under Sri Lanka Financial Sector Security Network Project, finance ministry official said.

The proposed loan amount of $150 million is expected to be used to strengthen the financial and institutional capacity of the Financial Safety Network targeting the Deposit Insurance Scheme with the aim of increasing the strength and efficiency of the financial sector.

This can preserve stability and lead to the resumption of a good financial intermediary system,”he added.

The Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting on Monday approved the proposal tabled by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies, to proceed with further activities to obtain the World Bank grant

Sri Lanka will get support from the World Bank Development Policy Financing Program, to support the on-going economic stabilization and recovery process.

The Government said in line with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Funding Facility (EFF) Program, the country has implemented a comprehensive economic stabilization and recovery program with necessary reforms to address macroeconomic challenges.

“The World Bank has agreed to support the program through its Development Policy Financing Program and will provide its support based on the 3 key areas of economic governance transformation, growth and competitiveness improvement, and protection of the poor and vulnerable,” another senior official said.

The President has already directed the treasury officials to carry out the entire coordination process of the proposed World Bank program by the Presidential Secretariat and to authorize the Department of Foreign Resources to conduct negotiations with the World Bank in relation to obtaining the relevant funds.

In the meantime the ADB will provide a special loan facility of $ 350 million based on policies and another loan grant of $ 1.5 million as technical assistance in order to strengthen the stability and administration.

The Cabinet of Ministers on Monday at its meeting approved plans to obtain new financial and technical support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to aid the on-going recovery from the economic crisis.

The Government said parallel to the comprehensive funding facility approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide a special loan facility.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal furnished by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Finance, to entrust the responsibility to the Ministry Secretary for processing the further activities on obtaining the relevant loan.