The Asian Development Bank (ADB) promised to provide support for Sri Lanka to recover from the economic crisis befallen it, during the preliminary discussion held between the bank and the government of Sri Lanka at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (12).

Accordingly, the ADB Bank stated that it can provide support and bilateral cooperation to the government of Sri Lanka to overcome the crisis.

The discussion was held with a group of representatives including President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Kenichi Yokoyama, the Director General of the South Asian Department of the ADB.

Chen Chen, Director of the Sri Lanka Mission, Utsav Kumar, Deputy Director of the Sri Lanka Mission and Chief of Staff to the President Sagala Ratnayaka also attended the meeting.

MIAP

An estimated6.3 million people in Sri Lanka are facing moderate to severe acute food insecurity and their situation is expected to worsen if adequate life-saving assistance and livelihood support is not provided, the Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World FoodProgramme (WFP) warned today in a new report.

Two consecutive seasons of poor harvests led to a nearly 50 percent drop in production coupled with reduced imports of food grains due to foreignexchange constraints, according to the joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report.

The report notes that immediate food assistance and livelihood programmes – including through existing social assistance mechanisms – should be critical to enable households to access nutritious food – particularly moderately and severely acute food insecure ones.

Without assistance, the food security situation is expected to deteriorate further, particularly during theOctober 2022 to February 2023 lean season, driven by poor harvests of staple foods, in particular paddy rice, and the ongoing economic crisis.

“In order to avert a further deterioration of food security conditions and to support restoration of agricultural production, livelihood assistance targeting smallholder farmers should remain a priority,” said FAORepresentative in Sri Lanka Vimlendra Sharan.

He added that “with around 30 percent of the population depending on agriculture, improving the production capacity of farmers will ultimately boost the resilience of the agricultural sector, reduce import requirements amid shortages of foreign currency reserves and avert the rise in hunger.

” WFP’s top priority is to provide immediate food and nutrition assistance to the most at-risk communities to prevent a further deterioration of their nutrition,” said WFP Representativeand Country Director in Sri Lanka, Abdur Rahim Siddiqui.

At the request of the Government, the joint Crop and Food SecurityAssessment Mission visited all 25 districts in the country between June andJuly 2022 to analyze agricultural production levels in 2022, particularly of main staple cereals, as well as to assess household food security conditions.

Production of paddy rice, the main food staple, is forecast at 3 million mt in 2022, the lowest level since the 2017 drought-affected harvest, mostly due to low yields following reduced application of fertilizers, the report finds.

Production of maize, mostly used as animal feed, is about 40 percent below the past five-year average, with negative effects on poultry and livestock production.

Likewise, production of vegetables, fruits and export-oriented crops,such as tea, rubber, coconut and spices, is well below average, causing a significant decline in households’ income and export revenues.

Prices of most food items have been on a steady rise since the last quarter of 2021 and reached a new record high in August 2022, with the year-on-year food inflation rate at nearly 94 percent.

The total cereal import requirement in 2022 is estimated at 2.2 million mt. In the first six months of 2022, more than 930,000 mt of cereals were imported, leaving an outstanding import requirement of 1.27 million mt.

Given The persisting macroeconomic challenges, there is a high risk that the remaining import requirement will not be met.

The key recommendations by the joint FAO/WFP Mission are the immediate provision of food or cash-based assistance to vulnerable and marginalized communities, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, women-headed households and persons with disabilities, to help them meet their immediate food and nutrition needs.

The report also recommends the immediate provision of agricultural inputs, including fertilizers, focusing on smallholder farmers.

The report outlines the need to support households to establish homegardens and backyard gardening to enhance their nutritional status, while providing adequate amounts of fuel to ensure effective planting, harvesting,transportation and processing of food crops.

The report suggests providing high-nutrient animal feed, vaccines and veterinary health kits at subsidized prices to livestock owners, especially dairy and poultry to mitigate the impacts of the feed shortages.

Support for the resumption and continuation of national nutrition programmes such as school meals, which faced disruptions due to funding constraints, were also highlighted as a priority

September 19 (Monday) has been declared as a special public holiday in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, the longest serving monarch in Britain, who passed away last week.

Her Majesty’s funeral is set to be held on September 19 and the date has also been declared as a national day of mourning.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs.

MIAP

After a methodical review, the Government will soon overhaul the existing social welfare schemes and their benefits targeting delivery of subsidies to the poor and vulnerable communities.

The identification of needy recipients countrywide is to be made via a credible procedure while evaluating existing schemes without political differences or favouritism, Finance Ministry sources divulged.

The ministry is in the process of establishing transparent and objective criteria to identify recipients of welfare support to ensure that relief is received by the most deserving households, a senior official said.

The improved targeting will enable higher allocations to recipients and will be in the form of cash transfers directly to the bank account of the recipient. This scheme with a strong social safety network is expected to be implemented in the coming months, he disclosed.

The aim is to implement an adaptive social protection network system through use of the government’s and international financial agency funds which can quickly provide support to vulnerable groups and provide relief for communities affected by the economic crisis.

The assistance of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has been mobilized through its repurpose project funds for emergency spending on social protection needs of these two affected poorest of the poor sectors.

The Welfare Benefit Board will introduce a new QR code system under Finance Ministry criteria soon for the identification of those in actual need of financial assistance due to the current economic crisis, among the recipients of Samurdhi, Elders’ and the Physical Disability allowances.

Chairman of the Welfare Benefit Board, B. Wijayarathne said it is estimated that nearly 3.9 million families will apply for this programme.

It will include the 1.75 million Samurdhi beneficiary families, around 416,000 elderly, about 72,000 disabled persons and about 49,000 other persons.

A data system is to facilitate the subsidy programme to the needy people in a targeted manner, he said adding that the aim is to evaluate the number of beneficiaries with all this data.

The exact amounts of cash subsidy for these vulnerable groups under this new scheme are yet to be decided, the official said.

Sri Lankans living in Zambia, via the Zambia Sri Lanka Friendship Association, recently donated 1150 Rabies Vaccines to the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. The donation was coordinated by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka to Zambia, Elmo Jayatileke with Mr. Ronnie Peiris while Dr. Anver Hamdani from the Ministry of Health, coordinated it from Sri Lanka.

According to the Honorary Consul, Sri Lankans in Zambia have also donated medicines valued at approximately USD 10,000 in their individual capacities.

Sri Lanka High Commission

Pretoria

12 September, 2022

In a bankrupt country like Sri Lanka why should the top two officials in the Central Bank and the Treasury be paid over Rs 2.5 Million a month. The man who justified the default as a soft default and ruined a nations credibility – Nandalal is paid according to activist Ravi Kumudesh Rs 2.5 Million a month , a pension and in addition gets one million from the IMF.

Where is the governance? Mahinda Siriwardana – The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance where even Dhammika Perera expressed utter disgust for delays, is paid Rs 2.5 Million a month with allowances.

The Governor also gets Rs 2 Million for a suit allowance annually and a house, medical and Benz Car. These officials are paid more than even the private sector Bosses.

But there contribution other than a few SJB MPs who know more economics than John Maynard Keynes, the English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments, have been disastrous from all fronts.

What is parliament (unfortunately majority has no O/Ls) doing to stop this excesses. The country cannot afford to pay incompetent officials like these two officials so much money when the majority can’t even get one meal day. The President must wake up before it is too late for the people. Today Sri Lanka’s credit ratings are in tatters because of the action of these officials. But they are the darlings of the opposition.

What is the Aragalaya doing with this abuse? Stop this abuse of power now.

The State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tharaka Balasuriya, assumed duties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, 9September, 2022 at a modest ceremony. The Foreign Secretary, Aruni Wijewardane and senior officials of the Ministry were present at the occasion.

Addressing the officials, State Minister Balasuriya stated that he is looking forward to supporting the Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in continuing the mandate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an efficient manner in order to revitalize the economy of Sri Lanka during the current economic situation prevailing in the country.

First elected to Parliament in 2015, State Minister Balasuriya, held the State Ministerial portfolio of Social Security, following the establishment of the new Government in November 2019.  Previously, he was a Member of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council, to which he was elected in the year 2012.

State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Wisconsin, US and has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK. He had his primary education at the Colombo International School.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

9 September, 2022