The Judicial Service Union, a judicial collective in which all magistrates and district judges of Sri Lanka hold membership, has lodge a petition at the Court of Appeal demanding a probe and penalisation against State Minister and Ruling Party MP Sanath Nishantha on the allegation of committing contempt of court based on one of his comments during a recent press conference.

The petitioner pointed out that State Minister Nishantha’s comments during a briefing on August 23, 2022 on anti-government protesters being granted bail has undermined the power of the magistrates and the dignity of the Judiciary, thereby violating Clause 105 (3) of the Constitution which leads to contempt of court.

A separate petition against Nishantha’s comments has already been lodged with the Appeal Court and the Ruling Party MP has also been issued summons.

MIAP

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to a deliver a special statement in Parliament this Thursday (06), Ruling Party MPs confirmed.

The President expects to present facts regarding the country’s economic situation and the support expected by the international community, and a parliamentary debate may be held on the said statement, if necessary, according to Ruling Party MP Jagath Kumara.

MIAP

Despite the government earning a profit of about Rs. 01 from each litre of diesel, there is no possibility to drop the price of diesel at the moment, said Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, responding to a query by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Kings Nelson in Parliament yesterday (03).

“The Singapore Flat Average in the global market and the imported price is considered. Now, there is a profit of about Rs. 01 per litre, but we cannot drop the price by Rs. 10 – 15 at the moment. Because, had we done that, we may lose money to purchase the diesel stocks required for next necessities,” the Minister said.

Wijesekara went on: “And, we were able to drop the price of petrol because we earned a profit of about Rs. 70 during the last imports. But we cannot predict the price of fuel on the sole basis of crude oil price. Because we do not fulfill our total requirement by the refinery alone.”

MIAP

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued an extraordinary gazette declaring several services required to maintain the life of the general public as essential services.

Accordingly, the following services have been declared as essential services;

1. All services related to power supply
2. Supply or distribution of petroleum products and fuels
3. All services, work or labour of any description required or to be performed in affiliation with the maintenance and reception, care, feeding and treatment of patients in hospitals, nursing homes, dispensaries and other similar establishments

MIAP

The price of wheat flour will drop next week, revealed Trade Minister Nalin Fernando, responding to an oral query in Parliament yesterday (03).

Accordingly, the price of one kilogram of wheat flour will be dropped to Rs. 250, he added.

Adding that wheat flour is imported from Dubai and Turkey, Minister Fernando pointed out that the unloading of about 100 containers carrying wheat flour has already commenced.

MIAP

The promotion of business cooperation between the Nordics and Sri Lanka remains an important and relevant priority, Ambassador of Norway to Sri Lanka Trine Joranli Eskedal emphasized, at the recent Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka NORDIC Business Council (SLNBC) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Strategic partnerships and investments in areas such as clean and sustainable energy, ICT and shipping will also help Sri Lanka to emerge from the current economic crisis and more forward, she said, adding that SLNBC continues to act as a vital link facilitating opportunities for cooperation in terms of trade, investment and private sector led growth between Sri Lanka and NORDIC partner countries.

Referring to recent positive developments related to addressing the economic crisis, Outgoing President of the Council Mr. Prasath Mahalingam said the Council would continue to work to create opportunities for trade and investment between Sri Lanka and the Nordics.

It included organizing more events such as a recent knowledge sharing session between SLNBC Member organisations and Sri Lankan ICT companies on overcoming entry barriers to the Norwegian market.

Mr. Jehan Perinpanayagam of Infomate (Pvt) Ltd was elected as President of Sri Lanka–NORDIC Business Council (SLNBC) at the 21st Annual General Meeting.

SLNBC was inaugurated in 2001 to promote trade, tourism, investment and services between Sri Lanka and the partnering countries and the council continues to act as the vital link between the countries, to develop new initiatives and areas or corporations in terms of trade, tourism and investment.

The SLNBC membership comprises a wide spectrum of companies engaged in infrastructure, logistics and services, financial services, tourism and leisure, import and export trading, manufacturing, ICT and telecommunication.

Executive Council Members elected for the year 2022/2023 are as follows:

Mr. Anthony Ousman- John Keells IT – Vice President, Mr. Kapila Abeywardane – Aitken Spence Travels, Ms. Bobby Jordan Hansen – Columbus Tours (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Andre Fernando – MAC Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Ms. Maleena Awn – Meridian Maritime Services Ltd, Mr. Shaameel Mohideen – Spillburg Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, and Mr. Kavinda Rajapaksa – Samson Rubber Industries (Pvt) Ltd. Mr. Prasath Mahalingam of 99X Technology joined the council in his capacity as the Immediate Past President

Sri Lanka’s official unemployment rate increased in the second quarter ended in June as the unprecedented economic crisis pushed many out of work amid sky-high interest rates, import restrictions, soaring inflation and other demand destruction policies implemented to arrest the situation.

The data released last week showed that the official unemployment rate had risen to 4.6 percent by the end of the second quarter from the 4.3 percent recorded in the first quarter.

However, this may not paint the full grim outlook of the local unemployment condition as the official jobless rate does not capture those who are unemployed but had given up looking for work during the survey period.

Many people who made a living out of imports, construction, consumer discretionary and durables items and the likes remain on the sidelines since the collapse of the economy.

Businesses were forced to either retrench staff to stay afloat to confront squeeze in demand coming from galloping inflation or completely close shop leaving all their staff redundant.

There were evidence of widespread layoffs, pull-backs in recruitment and hiring freezes across all sectors. The Sri Lankan economy is now officially in a recession as the country’s GDP recorded back-to-back contractions in the first and the second quarters

The GDP shrank 8.4 percent in the second quarter, sharpest for any quarter after a mild 1.6 percent decline in the first quarter, making the island nation’s economy 4.8 percent smaller than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, what makes the matter even worrying is the shrinking labour force participation in Sri Lanka, which now appears to have become an entrenched problem.

For instance, the so-called labour force participation rate, which measures those who are both employed and unemployed but looking for work as a percentage of the working age population, fell to 50.1 percent in the second quarter from 51.2 percent in the first quarter.

While Sri Lanka’s working age population may be falling due to record number of people going overseas, it appears that employed people have also come down quite sharply, weighing on the ratio.

Meanwhile, others who are unemployed may have also given up looking for work here in Sri Lanka as employment opportunities have dried up.

Sri Lanka risks losing its key talent and people in their prime working age due to the ongoing economic crisis, potentially prolonging the misery the people are going through in their daily lives as a weaker workforce could only do very little to help the economy’s sustained recovery.