By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW):The Government is compelled to go for domestic debt restructuring if the authorities fail in reaching the annual revenue target of Rs. 2 trillion in the remaining three quarters.What this means is that to realize the annual revenue target of about Rs. 2 trillion, in the remaining three quarters.

The department should work hard to increase its revenue realization to Rs. 561 billion. If the second quarter also yields a low revenue realization of, say 70% of the budgetary target of Rs. 500 billion, during the second half of 2023, the department should strive for a revenue realization of Rs. 661 billion in each of the remaining two quarters.

This is a challenging task for the Inland Revenue Department to realize the full target for the year.

If the revenue falls below the budgeted target of Rs. 3.2 trillion and unless the Government cuts its current and capital expenditure drastically, the need for restructuring the domestic debt, even when one considers only the central government debt, will be a ground certainty and not just a possibility, veteran economic expert and former Central Bank Deputy Governor Dr.W.A Wijewardena said.

Sri Lanka Government is planning to resolve its fragile budgetary issue, including the issues relating to meeting the domestic debt obligations, through the increase in the tax revenue known as fiscal consolidation by increased revenues of the state, he claimed.

As it is, this strategy has a limitation because there is an upper limit of increasing the tax revenue of the Government given the gloomy economic recovery and the drastic curtailment of the aggregate demand of both the private individuals and the Government under the macroeconomic stabilization program currently being pursued, finance ministry sources said. .

This curtailment of the aggregate demand is necessary to return to price stability which has gone haywire due to the irresponsible money supply increases in the past. But it has stunted the growth prospects and, according to the projections by IMF, growth will return steadily but slowly to 3% by 2028.

In this scenario, the prospect of raising a bigger volume of tax revenue sufficient to repay the domestic debt of the central government and to meet the debt repayment obligations of the wider public sector seems to be remote ,Dr Wijewardena pointed out.

Hence, it is necessary to adopt a combination of fiscal consolidation through the increase of revenue on one side and curtailment of public expenditure, on the other. The Ministry of Finance has postponed the capital expenditure programs which are also anti-growth.

There is not any observable plan by the Government to curtail its current expenditure which is ballooning year after year.

Without such curtailment, the government’s gross expenditure and consequently the gross financing requirements will remain high. Since it compounds the government’s ability to service the domestic debt of the central government, domestic debt restructuring will become necessary, he warned.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW): The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka is working closely with several Ministries and relevant authorities to develop a project to mainstream e-mobility through the conversion of 500,000 Tuk-Tuks to electric vehicles (EVs) or e-Tuk- Tuks over a 5-year period.

In a statement issued in this regard, the UNDP stated that the project aims to support the conversion of petrol three-wheelers to electric three-wheelers as a means for enhancing mobility as a driver of low-carbon, inclusive, equitable development pathways within Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka, like many other global nations, is working towards adopting greener and cleaner approaches for a more sustainable and resilient future.

With the prevailing socio-economic crisis in the island, a shift towards adopting sustainable mobility approaches has been identified as a necessity for a green recovery process”, the statement read.

The proposed three-phased project consists of an incubation phase, a demonstration phase and an acceleration phase.

The incubation phase will test the conversion process, the demonstration phase will support conversions and the acceleration phase will use market forces for conversion through concessional financing and infrastructure development.

Speaking at a project launch briefing held today (11 May), Minister of Transport and Highways Bandula Gunawardena stated, “This pilot project will serve as a platform to launch electric three wheelers in the country.

Electric three wheelers will not only benefit individual operators but also contribute to spring boarding the country’s economic recovery process.’’

Highlighting the UNDP’s role in the pilot project, Azusa Kubota, Resident Representative, UNDP in Sri Lanka stated, “This pilot project is a part of UNDP’s Green Development Portfolio which is currently being developed.

This portfolio aims to build solutions and support Sri Lanka’s development in catalyzing low-carbon, green, and inclusive development within which sustainable transportation and e-mobility play a key role.

Through this pilot project UNDP will support the Government to establish a viable system which can be scaled up and will prioritize marginalised groups, including women and persons with disabilities while keeping equality and equity at the core of our work.”

The incubation phase will support the conversion of 200 petrol three-wheelers to electric three- wheelers.

Accordingly, tuk-tuks not older than 10 years from the date of manufacture, and those with a petrol 4-stroke three-wheeler will be eligible, while parties from Makumbura and Pettah will also be eligible,

Priority will be given to applicants whose livelihood is dependent on a single three-wheeler, and preferential selections are given to women owners/ operators and persons with disabilities.

Nishantha Anurudda Weerasinghe, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic noted the importance of the project and the role of DMT in promoting e- Mobility in Sri Lanka, stating ‘‘DMT has established a system for the registration of electric three wheelers in Sri Lanka.

DMT has also developed specifications for electric three wheelers with the support of UNDP and this intervention will encourage petrol three-wheel owners to come forward and convert their three wheelers to electric three wheelers’’

Taking into consideration the above aspects, Pettah and Makumbura have been identified as viable locations for the initial conversion pilot in the Western Province. Thus, it has been decided that 100 petrol three-wheelers will be converted to electric three-wheelers from each location.

By: Staff Writer

Colombo (LNW):Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is working tirelessly to maintain its dominance in India’s highly competitive soft drinks market in a strategic move and publicity stunt of linking with renowned Sri Lankan ace spinne Muttiah Muralitharan’s Ceylon Beverage International.

Reliance has tied up with veteran Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan’s Beverage company to make maximum use of the popular record breaking spin bowler who was a leading weapon of the world cup winning Sri Lanka team of 1996.

As part of the deal, Muralitharan’s company will pack and distribute Campa Cola in aluminum cans adding the Sri Lankan skills and quality in soft drinks industry.

Bringing a new brand and succeeding in the Indian market dominated by leading companies like Pepsi and Coca Cola is not an easy task, an Indian analyst said.

Mukesh Ambani, who is desperate to somehow win this giant competition, launched the decades-old brand Campa Cola in a new avatar blending with Sri Lankan asscence to capture the hearts of the masses and succeed commercially, he claimed. .

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, which made a big impact with the introduction of Campa Cola at a lower price in large volumes, is now embarking on a major mission to capture the maximum share of the Indian soft drinks market.

Campa Cola needs to be available in all states and villages across India to increase production rapidly and at the same time put the soft drink in the hands of people in all its forms.

To make this possible, Reliance Industries signed a manufacturing and distribution agreement with Tamil Nadu’s Kalimark brand a few days ago. Following this, Reliance Industries has signed an agreement with the Sri Lankan company.

Ceylon Beverages is expected to set up a packaging plant in India for packaging operations in the near future. Until the plant becomes operational, Ceylon Beverages will manufacture canned Kampa Cola from the Sri Lankan plant and export it to India.

Reliance Consumer Protects acquired Campa Cola from Pure Drinks Group in 2022. After that Reliance Consumer relaunched the brand with a new look. In the first phase it was introduced in Andhra and Telangana market and now it is being introduced in many parts of the country.