The fuel stocking terminal at Muthurajawela belonging to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) has been closed due to the running out of fuel stocks.
In the backdrop, there is a risk of not receiving fuel even to some filling stations in Colombo, said fuel shed owners.
As of now, the issuance of fuel is limited to the terminal at Kolonnawa and the distribution is being carried out very slowly, they grieved.
Currently, average size queues have been formed at filling stations across the country and are likely to grow further, should the distribution delay further.
The European Union has provided a US $ 22.83 million and € 18.75 million grant for the sustainable industrial development in Sri Lanka the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Representative in Sri Lanka Dr. Rane Van Berkel said
This was revealed at a steering committee meeting to formulate Sri Lanka’s National Industrial Policy in Colombo recently.
The committee provides coordination and recommendations for the projects implemented by the UNIDO in Sri Lanka.
The formulation of Sri Lanka’s National Industrial Policy include; development of infrastructure in export-oriented industries, promotion of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), management of chemical use, ensuring food safety and quality,
It also contains improvement of production value chains, minimization of environmental impacts caused by industries, and pollution and energy management.
Those were some of the key areas that the EU and UNIDO are supporting Sri Lanka on.
The amount of $ 22.83 million provided by the EU has been allocated for eight-year industrial development projects from 2015 to 2023, covering sectors such as climate change, energy management, and conversion to renewable energies affecting Sri Lanka’s industrial sector.
In addition, the EU and UNIDO have extended € 11 million for the development of agri-food production, enhancing food safety and quality, improving facilities, training, and laboratories for food quality control in Sri Lanka.
It was noted that many of these projects are being implemented to improve facilities to ensure food chain development.
Another € 7.75 million has been allocated for industrial waste management activities in Sri Lanka and these projects have been implemented together with the Ministries of Industry, Environment as well as Power and Energy. Already, an Energy Management System has been developed with the support of 75 energy experts.
The solution to the debt-ridden crisis suffered by Sri Lanka is not the obtainment of another debt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the event that their due disbursement is but a smaller amount compared to the national requirement, said Chief Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tilvin Silva, addressing a rally organised by the National People’s Power (NPP) yesterday (19).
“The government led by Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Rajapaksas has now kept its faith on the International Monetary Fund. They are going to save us from this crisis by obtaining a debt from the International Monetary Fund. The crisis of our country is the debt. So, can a debt-borne crisis be solved by another debt? I ask only one question. If the crisis is the debt, can the answer be also a debt? The answer cannot be another debt,” Silva said.
The JVP Chief Secretary went on: “Now, a debt is being sought from the International Monetary Fund. They suggested a debt for Sri Lanka, but not yet approved; only suggested a debt of US $ 2.9 billion. It should be approved by the General Assembly, for a period of four years, with eight instalments. So, for a year, an allocation of US $ 725 million. Six months, it would be about US $ 360 million. We require about US $ 400 million for the monthly importation of fuel alone. Will the country be saved? Such an amount cannot save it. This is a very small amount. Nor will you receive cash at hand. Therefore, this cannot be saved by reaching the IMF. This is a matter of about US $ 10 – 15 billion.”
Government tax revenue raised via taxes rose by 24.6 percent to Rs.798.8 billion in the six months this year compared to the same period in 2021 as most of the tax reforms proposed in May came into effect from June 1 2022 onwards, Finance Ministry data showed. .
The government raised the VAT to 12 percent from 8 percent, corporate tax rate to 30 percent from 24 percent, the highest personal income tax rate to 34 percent from 18 percent, the telecom levy to 15 percent from 11.25 percent and the betting and gaming levy to 15 percent from 10 percent, effective from June 1, 2022, while some of the other tax increases are due from October 1 onwards.
Later in August, the VAT was raised again to 15 percent in an interim budget and the legislation to bring in the Social Security Contribution levy of 2.5 percent affecting a broader segment of businesses was also passed.
Both taxes are coming into effect from September as part of broader revenue sector reforms in a 180 degree reversal from the more generous tax policy adopted in December 2019, which left the government coffers dry, partly contributing to the present day economic crisis.
More revenue enhancing proposals in the likes of capital gains tax could be included in the 2023 budget slated to be presented in November as part of the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The low tax regime was estimated to have cost the government of between Rs.600 to 800 billion in annual revenues losses causing the Treasury to lean excessively on Central Bank liquidity to finance its deficit, which continuously expanded to 11.1 percent of GDP in 2020 and to 12.2 percent of GDP in 2021, from 9.6 percent of GDP in 2019.
It also bloated the public debt to GDP to 100.6 percent and 104.6 percent in the two years respectively from 86.9 percent in 2019, plunging the country into a deeper debt crisis.
The interim budget for 2022 aims to trim the budget deficit to 9.8 percent of GDP with a medium term aim to bring it down towards 3.5 percent of GDP in 2025 with a primary surplus of 2.3 percent of GDP, an extremely ambitious target to be achieved.
Meanwhile, on the expenditure side, Sri Lanka managed to keep the increase in total expenditure below the rise in revenue at 21.8 percent.
The recurrent expenditure rose even below at 19.9 percent to Rs.1,571.6 billion compared to the same period last year while the capital and lending minus repayments rose by 35.8 percent to Rs.250.5 billion.
The interim budget re-allocated Rs.300 billion worth of capital expenditure identified as less priority ones into providing relief to those affected by the economic crisis.
In the six months, the overall budget deficit expanded to Rs.902.7 billion from Rs.780.2 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
The United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) session, which is currently being held in Geneva, Switzerland, has prioritised the economic rights of the people of Sri Lanka for the first time in history, reminded Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, speaking to the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Authority Board Meeting in the Kolonnawa Electorate, Colombo organised by Party Spokesperson MP S.M. Marikkar.
The people of this country drove out the Rajapaksas through a people’s struggle, but what has happened today is that a gatekeeper who protects them has come to power, he noted, alleging that the United National Party (UNP), a political force that once served the people of this country big time, has completely been sold out to the Rajapaksas now.
The intelligent people of this country should think carefully whether the relevance of the famous slogan “Hondata Thibba Ratak, Api Wetichcha Thenak” (The Country That Once Was Glorious Has Fallen) shouted out by certain parties on political stages in 2019 resorts to the present or the past, Premadasa emphasised.
He revealed that during the Good Governance regime, he was invited on multiple occasions to accept the premiership, but denied in the stronghold of being loyal to his then leader, who was Ranil Wickremesinghe the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
Premadasa claimed that his policies have never changed since then, adding that today, he holds no expectations of accepting the presidency or the premiership by betraying the genuine struggle of the people of this country on the same ground.
Sri Lanka’s privately owned hydro power sector risks an imminent shutdown with virtually all cash-flows drying up as a result of Ceylon Electricity Board’s failure to honour payments to the tune of Rs.20 billion to hydro power developers over the past 11-month period.
“The total outstanding for the mini hydro sector since October 2021 is over Rs.20 billion and already one plant with 0.9 MW capacity has been forced to shut down due to cash-flow issues,” Sri Lanka’s Small Hydro Power Developers Association (SHPDA) President Thusitha Peiris said.
He was addressing the association’s 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Friday.
Sri Lanka’s power sector regulator, Public Utilities Commission, had imposed a condition to CEB to settle the payment arrears to renewable energy developers within a 03-month period when granting approval to increase electricity tariffs.
Although, CEB had reached an agreement with mini hydro developers to settle Rs.100 million on a daily basis, Peiris noted that CEB is yet to honour this arrangement.
In this backdrop, hydro power developers are faced with a severe financial strain in sustaining their operation as they are struggling to settle their project loans to banks while meeting operational costs.
Around Rs.30 billion worth loans by the sector have been classified as non-performing by banks due to non-payment over the past few months. As a result of this, Peiris pointed out that much of the developers have lost access to working capital through the banking sector.
“Our industry has never gone through such a crisis before. The main problem is sourcing working capital,” he said.
The association highlighted that CEB’s failure to honour its payments on time to renewable energy developers has created a dark cloud on future investments in the renewable energy sector.In addition, the developers are also impacted by the current high interest rate regime.
While welcoming the government’s decision to revise the feed-in-tariff (FIT) for renewable energy projects through a committee, the association requested the government to increase the current tariff rate for over 15 mini hydro plants in operation in line with the existing financial parameters.
With an installed capacity of 440MW, private-sector owned small and medium hydro power plants play a crucial role as one of the most reliable and cheapest power suppliers to the CEB.
More than a year since the sinking of the cargo ship the X-Press Pearl , Sri Lanka still continues to clean its beaches of the plastic pellets that the vessel was carrying, and is still trying to claim compensation for the environmental damage.
Auditor General Chulantha Wickramaratne has called for a full investigation into the process of obtaining compensation for environmental damage caused by the sinking of the X-Press Pearl ship last year, according to official sources.
A Maritime law expert said Sri Lankan authorities have taken a long time to file for compensation and are reluctant to go through years of strenuous legal battles in international courts.
Sri Lanka has obtained an interim payment of $3.7 million in damages, but the country could claim as much as $5 billion to $7 billion.
With Sri Lanka currently mired in the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, those higher numbers would prove a much-needed injection of foreign currency.
But further delays would diminish the cash-strapped island’s chance of getting sufficient compensation for the environmental damage
Meanwhile, Environmental Scientist Hemantha Withanage said Sri Lanka could claim as much as US$ 10 billion as compensation.
Laboratory tests conducted on samples of plastic pellets collected from the beach had revealed a high concentration of harmful chemical compounds such as Bisphenol and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Withanage said.
“Both these chemical compounds remain in the environment for a long time, resulting in bioaccumulation.
The scope of our tests was limited due to financial constraints, but there can be more such toxic chemical compounds in the debris. People are not aware of the danger,” he added.
Withanage had also spent time and resources to rescue the crew on board the distressed vessel, douse the fire, and mitigate environment
“The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) and the AG’s Department have not taken legal action and we may ultimately lose the opportunity to do so,” he alleged, calling for a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate the matter.
He said two petitions had been filed in the Appeal Court and another petition in the Supreme Court over the X-Press Pearl disaster.
The ill-fated ship was carrying 81 containers of dangerous goods and contained 25 tons of nitric acid.The affected area encompasses 746 km from Mannar to Kirinda Hambantota.
An expert committee investigating the extent of damage to the country’s marine and coastal environment has now concluded the disaster to be the worst in terms of chemical and plastic pollution of the sea.
That’s according to Ajith de Alwis, co-chair of the X-Press Pearl damage assessment committee and a professor of chemical and process engineering at the University of Moratuwa.
The committee has submitted its assessment report to the Attorney General’s Office for use in claiming compensation from the Singapore-based operators of the ship.
“However, the report is only the first edition of the damage assessment, and further assessments would continue based on the monitoring,” De Alwis said
Eng. Vijitha Herath, a former Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) and the LITRO Gas Company, has joined the ‘Nidahasa Janatha Sabha,’ a political faction separated from the Ruling Party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and rechristened led by MP Dullas Alahapperuma.
Herath also served as the Chairman of the Podujana Engineers’ Front affiliated with the Ruling Party, and accordingly has left his duties in order to join Alahapperuma’s new political movement.
His coming has been welcomed by Alahapperuma, Prof. G.L. Peiris, Charitha Herath and other MPs separated from the SLPP and joined the new party, at the Party Office in Nawala yesterday (19).
Transport Minister Dr Bandula Gunawardene says Sri Lanka is the “safest tourist destination” at present: asserts that a “mistake” was made when arresting the Aeroflot aircraft, and that it will not happen again.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa says the UNP has been “sold out” to the “Rajapaksa clan”.
Global Tamil Forum says Tamil people who have suffered enormously during the war, have been consistently provided much needed hope by the UNHCR: calls for a strong resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva.
Cement usage plunges 19% in 6 months to June 2022 YOY: reflects massive contraction in construction activities which accounts for about 10% of GDP.
UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer appeals to Sri Lanka’s friends to show solidarity: urges donations to provide food security and medical supplies: says gains in health care, education and poverty alleviation are threatened by the current crisis.
Teachers’ Union Leader Mahinda Jayasinghe demands a special monthly allowance for government employees: says normal monthly expenditure of a person has increased from Rs.63,000 to Rs.110,000 this year.
World Bank says Sri Lanka is among the top 10 countries with the highest food inflation.
Government revenue in the 1H22 reaches Rs.918 bn, up from Rs.714 bn last year: expenditure and net lending in 1H22 also rises to Rs.1,820 bn, compared to Rs.1,500 bn, an year ago: bulk of the increase in expenditure due to very high interest cost consequent to the massive increase in Central Bank’s policy rates on 8th April 2022.
Small hydro power developers warn of increased duration of power cuts and a further 100% increase in electricity tariffs, if the country loses the contribution of its non-conventional renewable energy sector.
Group of Buddhist priests urge Buddhist temples to turn off lights and leave temples in darkness on the upcoming Vap Full Moon Poya Day, in protest against the increase in electricity tariffs.
