Janaka Rathnayake, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, says that a strange payment is being made for the employees of the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Question – Is a lot of money really going to the electricity board for salaries?

“I came to know this the day before yesterday, Not only the salaries EPF and ETF are generally provided for the employees of the Electricity Board. That’s the normal way. But did you know that all employees who work here for 20 years are paid a third of their salary, a pension for as long as they live? In which country do you pay the EPF and ETF and pay another pension with the money given by the public? I think this model should be studied in universities too, because this is a very strange model. This is the biggest company in Sri Lanka, if this continues, it will collapse and there will be a 24-hour power outage in Sri Lanka in the future.”

Janaka Ratnayake said this while participating in a conversation on Derana TV channel.

However, when asked about this, the Chairman of the Electricity Board, Nalinda Ilangakoon, had stated that there is a method of paying pensions that needs to be legally and properly managed in the Electricity Board.

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pledged essential medical supplies worth US$ 4 million to Sri Lanka, President Media Division (PMD) said.

PMD said that the WHO Director had tasked the WHO Health Emergency Programme to take immediate action to meet the most urgent health needs of the people of Sri Lanka.

He said this in a congratulatory message to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on his appointment to the post of president.

He said that the WHO recognises the on-going economic pressure Sri Lanka is facing in addition to Covid-19 related pressure on the health system.

“Rising global food and oil prices have indeed presented a major challenge to many countries, especially their most vulnerable communities,” he said, adding that the World Health Organization stands ready to support the people of Sri Lanka during these challenging times.

Dr. Ghebreyesus noted, “To this end, I am pleased to inform you that I have tasked the WHO Health Emergencies Programme to take immediate action to meet the most urgent health needs of the people of Sri Lanka.

In collaboration with WHO’s Regional and Country Offices, as well as the Sri Lanka Ministry of Health and other relevant ministries, WHO will procure and deliver essential medical supplies valued at US$ 4 million.

Procurement has already been initiated and the list, including delivery times will be shared through the WHO Country Office.”

He also said that the WHO will closely monitor the health risks to the population including the functionality and resilience of the health system and provide the necessary technical assistance to strengthen provincial health services.

The Director General also assured his highest consideration in this regard and said that the WHO looks forward to continuing and strengthening collaboration with Sri Lanka to promote health, make the world safe and serve the vulnerab

The government will go all out to convince China to support Sri Lanka with the aim of finalising the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan although it has to repay more debt to the West as International Sovereign Bond payments, official sources, closely connected to ongoing negotiations, said.

Sri Lanka is set to submit a comprehensive economic reform programme including the policies needed to correct structural imbalances over an extended period along with debt restructuring report prepared by financial and legal advisory firms Lazard and Clifford Chance LLP very soon (this month), a senior official said.

He noted that those negotiations with the IMF were more difficult and complex due to the country’s inability to service debts owing to dwindling reserves and dollar scarcity.

Once a staff-level agreement is reached, the country’s economic reform and debt restructuring plan (structural adjustment) will be submitted to the IMF Board of Directors for approval.

As of 2021, a staggering 81 per cent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt was owed to US and European financial institutions, as well as Japan and India and 10 per cent owed to China, Finance Ministry data shows.

According to ministry statistics as of the end of April 2021, the majority of foreign debt around 47 per cent is owned by Western venture funds and banks.

The top holders of the Sri Lankan government’s debt, in the form of international sovereign bonds (ISBs), are BlackRock (US), Ashmore Group (Britain), Allianz (Germany), BS Switzerland), HSBC (Britain), JP Morgan Chase (US) and Prudential (US), a senior government official said.

The Asian Development Bank and World Bank were the other debtors which own 13 per cent and 9 per cent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, respectively.

Japan, owns 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt with India 2 per cent by the end of last year. According to Sri Lanka’s economic programme (structural adjustment plan), the government has to make at least nine commitments via fiscal policy measures.

According to the plan, major policy decisions are to be taken on increasing income tax rates, reduce income tax thresholds, increase VAT rate and reduce VAT threshold, setting up an independent debt office, continuation of high interest rate, continuation of high interest rate, and no more fixed exchange rates.

The other commitments are the listing of minority stakes of some SOEs in the stock market, making SOEs more transparent, restructure Sri Lankan Airlines, CPC and CEB and consider Samurdhi as more targeted welfare.

The government is also committed to introduce several other policy measures such as to introduce cost-based fuel pricing formula, electricity pricing formula, electricity bill increase, repeal the Monetary Law Act and pass the Central Bank bill to reduce political intervention in the banking regulator as well as relaxing import restrictions.