UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says that the people have no faith that politicians have a plan to save the country from the crisis faced.
Wickremasinghe points out that the hopes of the people that the present government would embark on a new journey after reading the Prosperity Vision and Policy Statement are being shattered day by day. He has said this while participating in a UNP reorganization program.
He states that by now the mechanism of the government has completely collapsed and there has never been such an incident in the history of the country. Wickremesinghe emphasizes that there are no reports of such a catastrophic collapse of the country, at least during World War II.
The leader of the Samagi Jana Balawega Sajith Premadasa has decided to go to the Presidential Secretariat with hundreds of thousands of people who are coming to protest in Colombo today under the leadership of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. The decision was taken following a discussion between Premadasa and his group of parliamentarians this morning.
Accordingly, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya has decided to gather the people coming to Colombo in two places and march towards the Presidential Secretariat from two directions.
One march will start from Maradana Technical Junction and the other will start near the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.
The organizers of the Samagi Jana Balawega say that the people who are participating in the protest being held in Colombo today are now arriving in Colombo. It is reported that more than 1500 buses have already arrived in Colombo.
Earlier police had obstructed a protest that was organized by the members of Samgi Jana Balawegaya and buses carrying participants were stopped by police in many parts of the country. However, it is reported that there will be no obstruction from the police this time.
A German vlogger, going by the name of Ken Abroad that captured the hearts of thousands of youtube users in Sri Lanka has said he may cut his visit short and leave the country as money printing created forex shortages and a power crisis.
“When you are travelling abroad, you have many challenging situations,” Ken said in his latest youtube video.
“But the challenges are getting worse so I am actually thinking about leaving Sri Lanka earlier than planned.”
“In Sri Lanka, we are having power cuts of 6 to 8 hours every day. It is not only me, many businesses are struggling.”
He said power cuts meant no lights, he could not charge his laptop and there was no wi-fi. In the evening it was worse.
“Many restaurants are closing because they cannot operate,” he explained. “I can sit on the beach so that is not a problem.”
However, he said he needs to use the laptop for his job. Ken works online as a social media expert, according to his website, and is on a journey around Asia where he also earns some money from his youtube channel.
Ken had captured the hearts of thousands of Sri Lankans both in the country and abroad, who usually give him advice and urge him on as he meets locals and goes off the beaten track.
The usually positive and bubbly Ken said he does not like to complain, and asked his Sri Lanka followers to tell him why it is happening.
“I am curious to know why we are having the power cuts in Sri Lanka at the moment.”
“Really sorry to see you leave you were one of the most humble and my favourite bloggers ever to visit Sri Lanka,” youtube viewer Vimukthi Mayadunne wrote in response.
“Thank you for sharing the beauty of my country with the world. So sorry for the current situation in this country this pathetic ignorant tone-deaf government is making dumb decisions one after another taking the country into further trouble. Goodbye and Travel safe.”
Sri Lanka is facing a severe currency crisis after the central bank printed money to keep interest rates down to create a ‘production economy’ after cutting taxes.
However, when money is printed – liquidity injections are made – forex shortages emerge in a pegged exchange rate regime, as dollar outflows exceed inflows with money and exchange policies working in opposite directions.
Sri Lanka’s pegged central bank created forex shortages within two years after it was created in 1950 and triggered forex shortages and currenccrises, every 4 to 5 years especially when the US prints money and tightens policy.
Using Mercantilist dogma, foreign shortages are then blamed on imports, the trade deficit and the current account deficit instead of money printing.
The central bank usually prints money to keep rates down as budget deficits go up, but in 2018 money was printed to keep rates down despite the budget deficit being brought down with new taxes.
Classical economists and analysts have called for the central bank to be abolished in favour of a currency board or let the country dollarize.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of monetary instability, echoing warnings of domestic economists and analysts.
Ken’s thoughts about leaving Sri Lanka came as the UK warned British travellers about the economic crisis.
“The economic situation is deteriorating in Sri Lanka with shortages of basic necessities including medicines, fuel and food because of a shortage of hard currency to pay for imports,” UK’s travel advice to citizens said.
“There may be long queues at grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies. Local authorities may impose the rationing of electricity, resulting in power outages.”
Sri Lanka has floated the currency but classical economists have said policy interest rates have to be raised.
“We need the support of you guys who doing a great service for the tourism of the country during this current difficult situation brother,” Dhananjaya wrote.
“You can move to colombo where there are only nighttime power cuts like for an hour or 2 hours only. We know you are a kind man from all the vlogs you posted so if you can stay for your full visa valid, it will be a great help & support to the locals brother! ”
Colombo is on a 220kV grid of state-run Ceylon Electricity Board where more generators are connected. But tourists areas in the South are connected to the Southern 132kV grid which needs Samanalawewa reservoir to keep it well-energized.
When the CEB asked for one or two-hour power cuts early in 2022 to save water, it was denied to them.
CEB this has week given the go-ahead to connect ACE Embilipitiya, an idle private plant to the grid to improve supply.
Top officials of the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage have pointed out to government leaders that administrative problems have arisen in the Ministry due to the decision of Minister of Water Supply and Drainage Vasudeva Nanayakkara to resign from his duties relevant to the ministry. In this situation, the government leaders are focusing on appointing another person as the Minister of Water Supply and Drainage.
Vasudeva Nanayakkara resigned from the affairs of his ministry in protest of the decision to remove Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila from their cabinet posts but said he would not resign from the post. He did not attend yesterday’s cabinet meeting and returned his official vehicle and official residence as he had resigned from the duties.
Due to this situation, the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage has become a ministry without a Minister and the government leaders have been pressured to appoint another person to the post of Minister of Water Supply and Drainage.
Nanayakkara has stated that the government is preparing to approach the International Monetary Fund to recover from the current severe economic crisis in the country and will resign from the ministry immediately if it decides to seek the assistance of the International Monetary Fund.
In this situation, he will most likely have to lose his ministerial post or resign from the ministry.
We invite you to come to the street to walk together with us, You don’t have to endorse SJB or it’s leadership to join us in protest against this irresponsible, callous government We walk because we are against corruption We walk because we want to be lead by responsible leaders that have the interest of its citizens at heart We walk because we deserve to live in a country where our rights our secured We walk because the government has failed to provide our basics: Electricity, Gas, Milk Powder, Medicine etc We walk because our livelihoods are destroyed We demand for better governance, administration We demand to be governed by professionals and not by third class, uneducated politicians We demand to govern with responsibility We have no other country to go, This is SriLanka Where we are born Where we will die Where we will live & We deserve to live in dignity The President is only a temporary custodian and he has no right to destroy our country We stand up against nepotism, against this corrupt family, their cronies and allies that destroy our nation But mostly We stand up for ourselves and the future of our children Join us on the 15th of March It’s not an SJB protest It’s a Citizen’s March ! Lihini Fernando
Indian media reports that the Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa is scheduled to pay a visit to India. According to those reports, Rajapaksa is scheduled to leave for India today.
In addition to the US $ 500 million loan agreed upon by India, another $ 1 billion loan has been requested from India and the purpose of Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to India is to hold relevant discussions. Rajapaksa had earlier held an online discussion with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar in this regard.
Faced with a major financial crisis, Sri Lanka has been unable to import essential commodities including fuel, gas, pharmaceuticals, food and has recently obtained credit and exchange facilities from several countries, including India, China and Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka has requested this $ 1 billion loan to import essential commodities including fuel, food and medicine.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has issued another special gazette notification revising the scope and functions of the Ministries.
This revises the specific priorities of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Environment.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment has been entrusted with the task of “exploring the mineral resources that are currently considered to be present in the underground and in the ocean e using modern high technology to strengthen the country’s manufacturing process” which had belonged to the Ministry of Industry.
Also, Sri Lanka Climate Funds (Pvt) Ltd and Ceylon Mineral Sands Company have been transferred under the Ministry of Environment.
The Port of Colombo will become the 13th largest in the world with the addition of another seven million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) capacity by 2024-2025. Currently the Colombo Port has a capacity of seven million TEUs.
This was stated by Dr. Prasantha Jayamanna, who assumed duties as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) on January 20 this year..
While we achieve this transshipment capacity and the handling capacity of 14 million in Colombo Port, we will need other support services. Therefore, we aim to develop logistic centres to add more capacity to Colombo Port to handle multi-country consolidation and value additions, he added..
Similarly, we have started the expansion of the oil berthing capacity of Colombo Port which will cut off unwanted delays for oil vessel berthing, which in turn provides bunkering fuel to the ships coming to Colombo. These vessels will unload oil to the JCT oil bank and from there customers will buy and sell to various vessels as bunker oil. This has also commenced and will continue.
The Colombo Port has moved up one notch in globe’s best ranking due to a healthy 6% growth in volumes to a record 7.25 million TEUs.
He also said that SLPA’s revenue in 2021 had risen to a record Rs. 60 billion with profit of over Rs. 20 billion as per provisional data.
The Colombo Port saw volume increase by 5.8% to 7.249 million in 2021 from the previous year. Transhipment grew by 4.2% to 5.85 million whilst domestic boxes saw double digit growth of 10% to 1.19 million. SLPA terminals on their part saw a 5% growth to 2.2 million TEUs in 2021 with domestic boxes helping with a 39% growth.
In an interview with Daily FT Dr. Jayamanna described the overall growth in 2021 was commendable given the challenges posted by the COVID pandemic and global supply chain disruptions.
He said proactive measures and support from all stakeholders ensured the Colombo port, considered as the nerve centre of the economy, functioned with resilience amidst local and global shocks in 2021.
He said development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) and the West Terminal (WCT) and those being ready by 2024/25 will ensure Colombo sustains its hub status.
“Sri Lanka’s port sector has brought in the largest amount of private Foreign Direct Investment of over $ 600 million. This reaffirms its importance and future potential,” the Chairman emphasised.
He also said that efforts are underway to develop Trincomalee as an industrial port and Galle as a leisure port. He envisages further FDIs in to these two initiatives.
Dr. Jayamanna said that SLPA as well as other operators Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) and South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) are continuously improving productivity and efficiency to both retain existing volume as well as woo new traffic.
He said efforts are already underway to woo more Bangladesh cargo with special incentives and facilities. The modernisation of Bandaranaike Quay is also underway with expression of interest to be called to boost logistics services.
