Officials of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) have reportedly promised President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that the ongoing power outages will be over on March 05. This was during a discussion held in the Presidential Secretariat today (02).
The President has instructed the officials to continue importing fuel, maintaining reserves and supplying fuel and coal for electricity generation without any delay.
Meanwhile, officials of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) are urging the public to refrain from storing fuel unnecessarily as fuel will be distributed to all petrol stations islandwide from tomorrow (03).
A set of alternative proposals formulated with a view to overcoming the multiple crises the country is facing today is scheduled to be launched by the constituent parties of the ruling SLPP alliance.
The proposal dubbed a national declaration will be unveiled at the Monarch Imperial Hotel today (02).
It is reported that the leaders of the constituent parties of the ruling coalition have decided to appoint a ‘Leadership Council’ to implement the proposals.
The set of proposals was prepared jointly by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Jathika Nidahas Peramuna, Pivithuru Hela Urumanya, the Democratic Left Front, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, Ape Jana Bala Party and Yuthukama National Organisation.
Commenting on the proposals, the leaders of the constituent parties said that the government’s inability to address the worsening financial crisis among many other issues have compelled them to present these proposals.
A meeting between His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith the Archbishop of Colombo and United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet was held at 02.30 pm Sri Lankan time in Geneva today (02).
Held for about 45 minutes total, the meeting has discussed on seeking truth of the Easter Sunday bombing, a massacre that killed more than 270 people three years ago, and justice for the victims.
The matter had also been discussed with His Holiness Pope Francis in the Vatican.
The Cardinal stated that although more than three years have passed since the genocide, there is no confidence in the local administration that justice will be served and emphasised that the matter will be taken to the international arena for justice to be served for the victims.
Sri Lanka is steadily moving fast towards a severe shortage in medicines, oil and food items. The much needed Diesel has at the time of writing this article runout at most sheds. A vehicle transporter told LNW his trucks had got stuck at the shed . The Governmentis running round our regional neighborhood to work out a bail out package on an urgent basis to get oil and essentials . The President says he is doing a good job and that the opposition is spreading false stories. He should visit under cover and see for himself. Any Rajapakse at a Petrol station will get jeered and more . The government’s responsibility to provide at least the essentials to a near minimum is a basic responsibility . That is why they were elected. Today’s Daily Mirror says there will be 10 Hour power cuts. How do you expect children to study? Food inflation is over 25% .This government was elected not to party at the tax payers expense. See the vehicles they travel in ?
For a start stop the backup vehicles. Sri Lanka needs focused measures to tide over this unprecedented economic crisis. This is a crisis largely created by the government’s economic team led by P.B. Jayasundara, SR Attygalle and Prof Lakshman. Two have abandoned the ship. The biggest culprit was Jayasundara and his cronies. The must go to the petrol sheds and see for themselves, the level the country has fallen to. Central Bank Ex Deputy Governor Dr Wijewardana has repeatedly said “ the government made serious policy errors when it announced an unsolicited, attractive tax concession to income taxpayers, the estimated revenue loss was around Rs. 650 billion, The consequence of this extraordinary money growth led to the depletion of foreign reserves putting pressure on the rupee to depreciate in the market.” . The funding of Sri Lankan Airlines was also a huge mistake, given our limited forex reserves.
Who authorized the release of the $ 500 million ? Was it PB Jayasundara or the President ? The Sri Lankan Board must must now repay that money back to the treasury to order the oil. It seems they are in it for the status, deals and perks. Why should the common man pay for the poor judgement of people like Jayasundara? The Ukrainian – Russian Conflict has further aggravated our financial plight by pushing the oil prices to $105 a barrel. Where are all those Viathmage professional who sang hosanna about the SLPPs win and took important positions? Some have abandoned the government, others still around are saying Sri Lankans should be pragmatic about the crisis. Sure, we are lucky to live in a country like Sri Lanka, but not with poor political leadership like this? That is why young people are running away, ironically many in the government are not spending hours at the gas stations to fill up their gas tanks nor of short of food or gas? That is the irony of capitalism!
Most of them are only interested in the contracts to increase their wealth. They are all fully responsible for Sri Lanka’s sorry state of affairs. The supermarkets that are inaccessible to the 60% of the daily wage earners will be shocked to see the shelves in the Supermarkets or the luxurious stores in the city . How did they open LCs to import those items? When there is a drop of nearly 60% in Middle East remittances? Who is responsible? Those responsible for the gross mismanagement of the economy must be held accountable at a future date for this reckless mismanagement of public assets and resources. Shame on them for letting down the public. If found guilty they should lose their civic rights or assets. It is totally unfair to put ordinary people through such untold misery, whist they swank around in their Range Rovers and party at Colombo Hotels .
Another seven and a half hour power cut will occur tomorrow (03).
Accordingly, a five hour power cut will occur in the period of 08 am – 06 pm and a two and a half hour power cut will occur in the period of 06 pm – 11 pm tomorrow.
The removal of 13 funds from the controverseial Surcharge Tax Bill is a victory for the working people of Sri Lanka, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) stated, following the Attorney General’s move of informing the Supreme Court that an amendment will be brought to remove the funds from the proposed bill today (02).
“The government arbitrarily planned to levy a surcharge on the funds of hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan workers, including the Employees Provident Fund, and we fought unconditionally on behalf of the people against it.
Without further ado, Samagi Jana Balawegaya filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the relevant tax bill.
Accordingly, the Attorney General stated in court that an amendment would be brought to remove 13 funds from taxes.
It is a victory for millions of working people in this country.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya is the only political party that has gone to court for that victory and we are humbly proud of it in the name of the entire working people of this country.”
The Attorney General has informed the Supreme Court that the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employeees’ Trust Fund (ETF) are not applicable to the proposed Surcharge Tax Bill.
In addition, 11 more funds will be removed from the draft bill, the Attorney General has informed.
The petition filed before the Supreme Court by Secretary General of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara against the controversial Surcharge Tax Bill tabled in Parliament was called before the Bench today (02).
The petition, citing the Attorney General as the respondent, seeks an order being made declaring that the proposed bill shall be passed via a referendum in the event that it violates the Constitution.
Speaking to media, petitioner MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara emphasised that they do not wish to pursue the petition given that the relief sought via the petition has already been received.
The Surcharge Tax Bill proposes to impose a one time 25 per cent tax on companies whose annual taxable income exceeds Rs. 02 billion.
The country is in the midst of one of the worst financial crises in decades, exacerbated by a tourism collapse in the wake of Covid
In recent weeks, Shamla Laxman, 54, has been rising at dawn or staying out late at night. She is on the prowl for an item that has become rarer than gold dust in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital of Colombo in recent weeks: sachets of milk powder.
“These days it’s become impossible to find, and when you do find it in a shop, the prices are so expensive, double or triple what it was before, that I can’t afford it for my family,” said Laxman, who feeds a family of seven in her small house.
Chicken, which used to be a staple, is now a luxury item after it more than doubled in price. “All our basic items have become almost unaffordable now,” said Laxman. “Every day I am fearful of not being able to feed my family tomorrow.”
Sri Lanka, an island off the southern tip of India, is in the midst of one of the worst financial crises to hit the country since it became independent in 1948. In recent month, food prices have skyrocketed, there has been a continued dearth of essential goods, fruit and vegetables, and long queues have formed outside petrol stations due to a shortage of fuel. This week, daily power cuts of over five hours began to be imposed across the island and warnings were issued that water supplies might also soon be disrupted.
Last week two ships carrying diesel and a tanker of fuel oil sat in the port but their essential cargo could not be brought in as the government didn’t have the dollars to pay for it. Over the weekend, Gemunu Wijeratne, President of the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association, warned that buses were not being given enough petrol to continue functioning and that journeys were already being shortened.
People queue to buy Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinders in Colombo as shortages of essentials gripped the island Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
“If this continues, public transport will collapse and the economy will come to a standstill,” said Wijeratne.
It is a crisis many say has been over a decade in the making but was exacerbated by the pandemic and economic policies of the current government, led by president Gotabaya Rajapaksa who came to power in late 2019.
Consecutive governments have borrowed high-interest sovereign bonds, which coupled with billions in loans from countries including China and Japan have left Sri Lanka with cripplingly high foreign debt repayments. It has been operating with a $6bn trade deficit, importing far more than it exports, and invested billions in expensive, large-scale infrastructure projects.
“We have been spending beyond our means for years,” said Ahilan Kadirgamar, a sociology professor at the university of Jaffna.
A fruit vendor waits for customers in Colombo Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
As the pandemic hit, Sri Lanka lost crucial foreign income from tourism, and tax cuts by the Rajapaksa government meant that the flow of federal income was severely reduced. Over the past two years, inflation has surged, foreign reserves fell by 70% and an ill-advised outright ban on fertilisers crippled the farming industry, leading to an ongoing shortage of fruit and vegetables.
Sri Lanka now owes $15bn in foreign bond repayments, with $7bn owed this year and a $1bn repayment required as soon as June, all to be paid in dollars. But with Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves at their lowest levels in years, and the country’s economic rating in the gutter, there are barely any dollars left and many fear the country is headed for a default. “The situation here is very bleak,” said Kadirgamar.
The impact on the daily lives of people, from lowest income up to the country’s wealthiest, is palpable. Nishan Shanaka 40, is a civil engineer in Colombo but he now drives an auto-rickshaw in the evenings and on the weekends because his salary won’t cover the cost of food and his children’s education. He described his family’s struggle to afford flour and bread and said they now existed on cheap vegetables.
“The cost of everything is far too high now, even if I go to buy a toffee it’s unaffordable,” said Shanaka. “The high fuel prices are impacting everything, my daughters can’t even get the school bus because they can’t afford to run them any more.”
Thangarasa Vathani, 48, owner of a fabric and tailoring shop, said she had already had to close one of her tailoring factories, and let go several members of her staff. The few left now worked from her home, but she was concerned she wouldn’t be able to keep them on for much longer. “People here are so disturbed, we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Those who can afford it are sending their children abroad but not all of us have the money to do that,” said Vathani.
A child studies besides a lit candle at her residence during a power cut in Biyagama, a suburb of the capital Colombo Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
The crisis is already affecting industry. Lawrence Wilson runs a lucrative noodle-making factory but has had to cut back production to alternative weeks because the necessary supplies have stopped coming in. “The situation here is dire and it’s only getting worse,” said Wilson, who said he spent his nights trying to find petrol for the car. “Groceries that used to cost 2000 Sri Lankan rupees are now costing 5,000 rupees. I don’t know how people on lower incomes are surviving.”
There are many signs that the economic crisis is turning Rajapaksa’s core voting base, the Buddhist Singhalese majority, against him. An editorial in the daily newspaper Daily Mirror last week ran with the headline “Empty treasury, power cuts, fuel shortages and nonsense”.
His government’s failure to restructure their foreign loans and refusal to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency loan as Sri Lanka has done in the past – likely over fears they would impose stringent cost-cutting conditions which would be politically unpopular – has angered many, who now see it as too late. The government is still placing its hopes on the return of foreign tourism and a rise in exports, but experts say it’s unlikely to solve the crisis.
“I blame this government,” said Shanaka, who voted for Rajapaksa. “I work hard at a garment factory supplying foreign brands like Nike and Victoria’s Secret and Lulu Lemon. We bring good foreign income into Sri Lanka, but the government has wasted it all away with bad policies. It is a terrible time for this country.”
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has promised the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) that immediate actions will be taken to solve the power crisis in the country.
Janaka Ratnayake, Chairman of the PUCSL, stated that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the General Treasury are set to take immediate steps to import fuel for power generation.
