Colombo (Sri Lanka) has been ranked amongst the 10 cheapest cities in the world in this year’s Worldwide Cost of Living survey (WCOL), run by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The city was ranked at 161, tying with Bangalore (India) and Algiers (Algeria), while Damascus (Syria), Tripoli (Libya) and Tehran (Iran) were ranked the lowest at 172, 171 and 170, respectively, reflecting their weak economies and currencies.

The EIU noted, however, that this year’s WCOL survey was severely affected by the soaring inflation rates, with Caracas, Venezuela having recorded the highest inflation rates.

Evidently, the product most affected is petrol, prices, the survey indicated, attributing the 22% increase to currency weakness, as oil is seen priced in US dollars.

While the citizens of not only Colombo but across Sri Lanka, staged several protests demanding that fuel prices be reduced, the WCOL survey stated that such protests were seen from Sri Lanka to Spain owing to this dramatic rise in local petrol prices.

They noted, however, that in Istanbul (Turkey) and Colombo, where currency crashes have made imported oil very expensive, petrol prices have soared by an eye-watering 148% and 189%, respectively, in local-currency terms.

Every year, EIU prepares a list of the world’s most affordable and most expensive cities to live in. To compile the ranking, it compares over 400 individual prices of over 200 essential commodities.

The essential commodities include food, drinks, clothing, household supplies, personal care items, and home rent, along with transport, utility bills, education, and recreational costs.

The US city, New York, acts as the survey’s base city, with an index of 100, and the other cities are ranked comparatively for the Worldwide Cost of Living report.

Furthermore, the study helps HR and finance managers assess cost-of-living allowances and develop compensation packages for expatriates and business travelers. It is carried out in supermarkets, mid-range retailers, and specialized stores.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters Next on Friday (2) that changes to the G20 Common Framework on debt restructuring were needed to speed up debt treatments, freeze debt service payments once a country requested help, and open the process to middle-income countries like Sri Lanka.

“We are concerned that there is a risk for confidence in debt resolution to be eroded at a time when the level of debt is very high,” Georgieva said.

“We don’t see at this point … a risk of a systemic debt crisis,” she said, adding that countries in debt distress were not large enough to trigger a crisis that would threaten financial stability.

Rashika Hennayake
02nd December 2022

PRESS RELEASE

01st December, Thursday, 2022: President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena have applauded the role the Malays have played and continue to perform in the country as part of their congratulatory messages in the ‘Malays of Sri Lanka’.

The ‘Malays of Sri Lanka’ coffee table book, which was launched on November 29, 2022 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo, contained laudatory messages from the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, acclaiming the role of the small Malay community.

“The Sri Lankan Malays are an important segment of this country’s social fabric and have played a vital role in both the history and culture of Sri Lanka,” wrote President Wickremesinghe in his message.

“Despite being one of the smallest communities in Sri Lanka, the Malays have contributed towards the nation building of Sri Lanka as an equal partner in the multi-ethnic mosaic of the country,” President Wickremesinghe noted.

Prime Minister Gunawardena recalled: “Sri Lankan Malays have from pre-colonial to post-colonial times made a colossal impact on the fabric of Sri Lankan society through their invaluable services and sacrifices in the Armed Forces and Police.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged the role statesman and visionary Dr. T.B. Jayah – one of the many prominent Malays highlighted in the 224-page book – had played in the Independence of the island nation from British colonialism.

“Dr. T.B. Jayah is acknowledged as a leader who put his country before community, and I urge the leaders of the Malay community to continue to enrich the noble traditions of Malays through enduring harmony as Sri Lankans,” Prime Minister Gunawardena added.

The book which marked the 150th Anniversary of the Colombo Malay Cricket Club and the 100th Anniversary of the Sri Lanka Malay Association, both in 2022, was written with the aim to tell the story of the Malays to the wider community as well as to serve as an inspiration to the younger generation of Malays.

The first copy was handed over to Chief Guest, Her Excellency Dewi Gustina Tobing. The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Sri Lanka by Deshabandu M.R. Latiff, Senior DIG (retired), Chair of the Book Committee of the Colombo Malay Cricket Club.

In her address, the Indonesian Ambassador said: “When I first heard of this project, soon after I arrived to take up my post in December, last year, my first thought was how appropriate that a book of this nature should be written on the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, in 2022.”

“The Malays, though a small community, continue to play a key role in all facets of life in this beautiful island-nation of Sri Lanka. Over the centuries they have integrated into the dynamic fabric of this nation and underlined their status as respected members of the public,” she added.

Invited guests at the launch were treated to a colourful and warm traditional ceremony comprising Malay dances and songs from a number of leading Malay artistes including Umara Sinhawansa, Naushad Rassool of Flame, and international disc jockey DJ Mass of the famous hit Pem Kekula. This event was supported by a number of sponsors with Cargills Ceylon PLC being the Platinum Sponsor.

The book is priced at Rs. 10,000 and can be ordered via email to: [email protected] or WhatsApp +94 77 737 9995.

All proceeds from this sale will be utilized for the maintenance of the Colombo Malay Cricket Club (CMCC) clubhouse and grounds.

ENDS

Images

Caption:

First copy of the book presented to Her Excellency Dewi Gustina Tobing, The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Sri Lanka by Deshabandu M.R. Latiff, Senior DIG (retired), Chair of the Book Committee of the Colombo Malay Cricket Club.

Caption:

Her Excellency Dewi Gustina Tobing, The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Sri Lanka addressing the gathering

Caption :

Popular Malay songstress Umara Sinhawansa

Caption 4 :

A special recognition to author Alvin Sallay

1. Fitch downgrades Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-currency debt rating by two notches to “CC” from “CCC”: cites probable local-currency debt default in the face of high interest costs and tight domestic financing conditions: foreign currency debt rating is already at ‘RD’ or in default territory.
2. President Ranil Wickremesinghe says Sri Lanka can be made a “regional hub” for education.
3. State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe says the deadline for filing income tax returns has been extended by another week from 30th November: no penalty to be charged during that period.
4. Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando says Sri Lanka aims to attract 1.5mn tourists in 2023: expects several airlines to fly into the island: also says the real objective is to achieve around 3 mn tourists in 2024.
5. PUC Chairman Janaka Ratnayake says crisis brewing re. procurement of coal for the Norochcholai Coal Power-Plant: says 38 coal shipments are needed before 30th April 2023: warns of extended power cuts if procurement is not done in time: risk exists that state-run Lanka Coal Company may not have sufficient rupee or forex funds to pay for those purchases.
6. Sri Jayewardenepura University Professor Meththika Vithanage contradicts Foreign Minister Ali Sabry’s claim that the burial of Covid-19 victims could have been allowed, but not done due to opinions expressed by experts: queries as to why the Govt listened to expert opinions only in this case and not in others.
7. PUC Chairman Janaka Ratnayake says the Electricity Board has not requested an electricity tariff revision and there is also no requirement for a tariff revision at this time.
8. Members of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus promote activism to end violence against women and girls: call upon government and all other stakeholders to unite to fight against such violence.
9. State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon says the tri-forces will not be downsized, but right-sized.
10. CB Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe asks banks not to compete with each other for deposits: laments some banks are offering 30% for deposits, while 3-month T-Bills at CBSL auctions are today at over 33%.

Interviews for the appointment of United National Party seat organizers started yesterday (01) at the Sirikota party headquarters.

A number of doctors, lawyers, scholars and representatives of provincial councils and local government bodies who submitted applications for the posts of seat organizers appeared before the interview panels.

These interviews were conducted by the interview panels headed by Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijayawardena, Vice Leader Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, President Vajira Abeywardena, General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara, National Organizer Sagala Ratnayake, Navin Dissanayake, Lakshman Wijemanna and Karunasena Kodithuvakku.

Talking to Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes” in 2000, wagging his finger—and with his ever-mobile face fixed, briefly, in a stare—Jiang Zemin quoted from the Gettysburg address. He had committed it to memory as a student activist, before the Communist Party came to power in 1949. “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” he said. His English was not great, but it brimmed with the confidence of a man who was delivering “for the people” all right: material progress on a scale and at a speed that history had not seen before. And it had started on his watch.Listen to this story.

His own rise had been remarkable, too. In 1949 he was just an engineer in a food factory in Shanghai that had once produced one of China’s most popular brands of ice-cream, “Beautiful Woman”. (Appropriate, that, for a man who seldom missed a chance to eye up a pretty girl.) Had his skills not caught the attention of a visiting senior official that year, he might have stayed there. Instead he was groomed for leadership, at first in state-owned firms and then in politics. He seemed destined to be one of the “flower-vases”—all decoration, no action, just a low-key technocrat.

So it surprised him as much as anyone when he was appointed party leader in 1989, after the crushing of the Tiananmen Square protests. He was then an ordinary Politburo member, not a member of the innermost core. His selection looked like a compromise between the then-warring hardliners and reformists. He had shut down a liberal journal in Shanghai well before martial law was imposed in Beijing, so he was no soft touch on dissent. But as mayor and party chief of the city from 1985 to 1989, he also oversaw its awakening from the dark days of central planning.

Few expected this rumpled, unpredictable figure to last long in the hurly-burly of Beijing politics. In any case, it was clear after Tiananmen that Deng Xiaoping was the man who really called the shots. But Mr Jiang listened to Deng’s critics too, which proved a mistake. In 1992 Deng publicly rebuked him, and he caved in, unleashing a wave of change.

For a while it became a free-for-all, with even government departments and the armed forces going into business. By 1994, with inflation soaring, Mr Jiang began hitting the brakes to stop the economy running out of control. But reform surged on. Tens of thousands of state-owned enterprises were closed down or sold, and millions of workers lost their jobs. In the late 1990s sweeping housing privatisation led to a huge transfer of wealth to urban households and the birth of a middle class.

In 2002, in a huge u-turn, he rewrote the rules to allow private entrepreneurs to be members of the party. When conservatives said it would mean the party’s end, he closed down the journals they controlled. The press annoyed him in general; harassed once by reporters, he exploded that they were good at only one thing: “You always run faster than Western journalists.“

A pink swimhat

His power was hidden behind comedy. Uniquely in China’s ruling circle, he did and said whatever he thought. He would spice up diplomatic events by bursting into song: “Love Me Tender” with Fidel Ramos of the Philippines, or “O Sole Mio” at banquets. He once asked Condoleezza Rice to dance, and played the piano and the ukulele. His best-known affair, with a military singer, began when he passed her a slip of paper after a show: “Come and see your big brother when you’re in need.” Most famous was his public swim in Hawaii, in a pinkish-purple swimhat, which was unfavourably compared with Mao’s Great Swim across the Yangzi. Netizens often portrayed him as a toad, mocking his portly physique, square spectacles and improbably high-waisted trousers. It was water off a toad’s back.

Like Deng, he never really retired and remained far more influential behind the scenes than people realised. In theory he was succeeded in 2002 by Hu Jintao, a grey party apparatchik who lacked Mr Jiang’s eccentric self-confidence. In practice, it was still Mr Jiang who really called the shots. He remained commander-in-chief of the armed forces for two more years after handing over his positions as party general secretary and state president to Mr Hu. Even after giving up his military title, too, his power eclipsed Mr Hu’s. He would never let Mr Hu enjoy the most precious title accorded to him: that of being the “core” of the leadership.

He was still a strongman when Xi Jinping took over as China’s leader in 2012. He would boast of the political battles he had won, the Western countries he had visited, the foreign languages he spoke and how he had “seen it all”. His men still filled the Politburo. Under the pretext of waging war on corruption, Mr Xi attacked some of his closest allies, and in 2016 was declared the new core. At the age of 90, “the elder” became a political has-been.

The interview with Mike Wallace, “a comfortable laugh and a chat”, remained a high point for him. He had told Mr Wallace that China had government “by the people”, too—it was just “different” from America’s. Many intellectuals in China privately scorned that notion: they wanted more than mere material progress. Workers laid off from state-owned enterprises could never forgive him for closing so many down. Even those who admired the reforms he oversaw usually (and with some justification) thanked others for them.

Above all, Mr Xi is unlikely to shed tears. To him, Mr Jiang’s rule was a time of drift towards ruin, with the party eaten away by corruption and undermined by ideological laxity. Mr Jiang and Mr Hu had allowed it to disappear from most ordinary people’s lives; Mr Xi has made it his mission to restore the party’s centrality, and his own. His political world has had no room for elders such as Mr Jiang, carping from the wings. Staging his funeral will be politically complicated, in the midst of a surge in covid-19 and public discontent with lockdowns. But with Mr Jiang gone, Mr Xi will feel even more that this world is his. 

THE ECONOMIST