Strange things have been happening in the country for several years. Those include ports where ships don’t come, airports where planes don’t come, presidents who say tomorrow will be difficult and tomorrow will be even more difficult, and ministers who tweet messages are some of them.

This is about another such thing.

A fuel ship that has arrived at the port of Colombo has started selling fuel on a retail basis. It is not because of the fault of the ship but because of the mischief of the rulers of our country.

40 million dollars must be paid for unloading the fuel stock of the ship. The petroleum corporation, which is now completely bankrupt, cannot find even one dollar, let alone 40 million dollars.

Because of this, the central bank has been requested to provide dollars, but the central bank is releasing only 05 million dollars per day for fuel import. According to that, the petroleum corporation has to go to the store to buy a kilo of rice and unload fuel equivalent to it at 05 million dollars.

Accordingly, it takes at least 08 days to complete the unloading of fuel in the fuel ship. It can also be done only if the central bank provides 05 million dollars each day.

By the time the fuel is unloaded, late fees and hundreds of thousands of dollars will have to be paid in addition.

That’s how the central bank comes up with strange plans to save dollars.

The first license of the electric vehicle import license program was issued to foreign workers who legally send dollars to Sri Lanka through the banking system yesterday(20). This first vehicle license was obtained by a Sri Lankan who is currently working abroad.

Accordingly, the Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara granted this license to Mr. Dhamma Perera, his authorized representative in Sri Lanka.

As Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said, Currently, there is a special demand for electronic vehicle licenses and many foreign workers are continuously making inquiries about this and information and applications in this regard can be obtained from the website of the Ministry of Labor and Foreign Employment or the website of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau.

The Lotus Tower was opened for public exhibition on the 15th. Every day a large number of people came to see the Lotus Tower and the people who came had expressed different opinions about the Lotus Tower.

One of the monks said that after climbing the lotus tower, he felt as if he had come close to ‘Tusitha Dew Lowa’. Some people had said that after spending days in fuel queues and gas queues, they were in a queue for the first time to see the Lotus Tower. People also said that they forgot all the issues for a moment.

People who post positive opinions about the Lotus Tower say that the revenue from its display can be used to pay off debts. However, it is a problem how to pay the loan taken in dollars for the construction of the lotus tower with rupees received from local tourists.

Joining a television conversation last night, the Minister of State Shanta Bandara also expressed a similar opinion.

However, foreign tourists must come to visit the Lotus Tower in order to pay off the debt from the revenue generated through the exhibition.

As stated by the Minister of State Shanta Bandara, the number of foreign tourists who have visited the Lotus Tower in the first 04 days is 28. One foreign tourist has to spend 20 dollars for that and thus the income earned in the first 03 days is 560 dollars.

The Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe says that the agreement received from the creditors is extremely crucial for obtaining financial relief from the International Monetary Fund. He points out that in order to continue the negotiations with the financial fund, an agreement must be reached with the creditors.

Nandalal Weerasinghe mentions that discussions are being held with creditors regarding debt restructuring, and he hopes to receive a positive response from them regarding debt restructuring by next Friday.

The Governor of the Central Bank expressed these views while attending a conference held in Colombo.

He says that in order to recover from the crisis that the country is facing, it is mandatory to restructure the loss-making government institutions, and economic stability cannot be achieved except with such a decision. Nandalal Weerasinghe said that the first step is to increase the electricity tariffs, maintain the fuel price at a stable level, and increase the tax revenue, and as the second step, the restructuring of institutions such as the Petroleum Corporation and the Electricity Board, which are suffering serious losses, should be carried out.

The Governor of the Central Bank emphasizes that certain decisions taken for the sake of economic stability will be painful for the society, but for the good of the country, the people will have to endure the pain for a limited time.

President Ranil Wickramasinghe, who had gone to Britain to attend the funeral ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II, has returned to the island.

Accordingly, it is reported that today (21st) at around 8.20 am, the delegation including the President arrived at Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport.

Venura Gunawardena, the former president of Sathosa, was arrested yesterday (20) by the Criminal Investigation Department.

That is under the charge of defrauding more than 31 lakh rupees.

Accordingly, he was produced in court yesterday and remanded until today (21).