Based on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent proposal to reduce the retirement age of public servants to 60 through the interim budget appropriation bill, government employees who have completed the age of 60 by December 31 this year will have to retire.

Accordingly, the number of public servants set for retirement by the end of this year will exceed 20,000, revealed the Public Administration Ministry. The relevant circular will be issued within the next two weeks, said Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government M.M.P.K. Mayadunne.

He added that however, the 60-year age limit does not affect public servants of several essential professions, including doctors, nurses, engineers, who according to the Ministry will have the opportunity to remain in service up to 63 years based on their essential service. The relevant amendments will be submitted to the Cabinet, Mayadunne noted.

The government has initiated this redundancy plan in response to the huge economic crisis befallen the country.

MIAP

The four year multi-tranche USD 2.9B “staff level” agreement is not the end. It requires Sri Lanka to undertake publicly unspecified “prior actions” before it is approved by the IMF’s.

If Sri Lanka satisfies this, the USD 2.9B will be disbursed in tranches over a four year period. Associated with each disbursement is Sri Lanka having to meet conditions. If it does not, tranches will be withheld.

However, this is not the end. Far from it, the USD 2.9B is less than the bilateral and multilateral aid Sri Lanka will receive this year. This whole exercise is conditioned on Sri Lanka being bailed out and implementing the associated reforms to secure a sufficient credit rating and investor confidence to access international capital markets.

If it cannot do this, it falls further into the abyss.

IMF Statement: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/09/01/pr22295-imf-reaches-staff-level-agreement-on-an-extended-fund-facility-arrangement-with-sri-lanka

The shortage of medicines in the health sector in Sri Lanka has severely affected the treatment of cancer patients, reports said. The authorities of the Maharagama Apeksha Hospital and other cancer treatment units have revealed that the matter has been briefed to the Health Ministry on several occasions, but no solutions have been provided to date.

Correspondents confirm that there is a severe shortage of 15 type of cancer medicines including trazumab given to breast cancer patients. In the backdrop, the treatment of some cancer patients has completely collapsed.

Despite procurement approval being granted for the import of several medicines, no steps have yet been taken to import them. Accordingly, the Ministry has given permission to purchase about 50 types of medicines under emergency purchase.

MIAP

State-run LITRO Gas has decided to revise the gas price from midnight tomorrow (05), slashing the price of a 12.5 kg domestic gas cylinder by Rs. 100 – 200, reports said.

The state-run lp gas distributor had been incurring losses in the recent past, but once again has begun to make profit since July. In August, the company has achieved a profit of Rs. 700 million.

The latest price revision will be done in consideration of the company becoming a profitable body and the declining gas prices of the global market.

Peiris ensured that the dollars emitted in this way will not be used for any purpose other than importing gas.

MIAP

Startling revelation has come to light on giving very valuable gifts including a house in Weligama Sri Lankan born Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez by an accused in a financial crime during interrogation before she has been served notice by the Delhi Police for questioning on September 12 in a multi-crore money laundering case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

She has also been summoned by a Delhi court on September 26 in connection with the same case.

Earlier this month, the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money trail in the 200 crore extortion case, named Jacqueline Fernandez as an accused. The actor was named an accused in the supplementary chargesheet filed in the Delhi court by the probe agency.

During a face-to-face questioning with the conman in October last year, Jacqueline Fernandez told the Enforcement Directorate or ED he introduced himself as the “owner of the Sun TV and nephew of Jayalalithaa”,

The Delhi Police had arrested Chandrashekhar for allegedly extorting around 215 crore from Aditi Singh and Shivender Singh, members of the former promoters of pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy.

The probe agency has arrested eight people in the case till now, including Chandrashekhar’s wife Leena Maria Paul, Pinky Irani and also filed two charge-sheets.

In its first charge-sheet, the ED mentioned how Chandrashekhar used the allegedly laundered money. He gave the actor gifts worth 5.71 crore from the sum he swindled.

Jacqueline Fernandez, during the face-off with the conman, said she received four bags from Gucci, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, three shoes from Louis Vuitton and Louboutin, two outfits from Gucci, perfumes, four cats, a Mini Cooper, two diamond earrings and a multi coloured diamond bracelet.

The ED has alleged the actor was aware the gifts were bought from the proceeds of the crime. Her lawyer, however, claimed she was a “victim of a conspiracy”

The ED had already registered a case against Sukesh Chandrasekhar in the Rs 200 crore money laundering case including Jacqueline’s name. Sukhesh is said to have bought a house for Jacqueline in her native Sri Lanka.

Also, he gave an advance for a bungalow in Mumbai’s most expensive Juhu area. Apart from these, he bought a house in Bahrain for Jacqueline’s parents and gave it as a gift. These matters have been mentioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its charge sheet.

When asked about her WhatsApp chat with accused Pinky Irani that Sukesh had bought a new house for her in Sri Lanka, she admitted that Sukesh had bought a property for her in Weligama, Sri Lanka. However, he said that he had never visited this house,’ states the charge sheet. Weligama is a famous tourist place in Sri Lanka.

Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa attending the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Akmeemana Electorate Authority Board rally in the Galle district yesterday (03) questioned whether a plot against the current Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is in the works to reinstate a former Governor who fled the nation.

The event was organised by Akmeemana Chief SJB Organiser former MP Vijayapala Hettiarachchi and was attended by a large number of people. The SJB Akmeemana Electorate Office was also opened simultaneously.

Speaking at the event, the Opposition Leader disclosed that the government together with the MPs of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) are plotting against the CBSL Chief, in a move to appoint one of their cronies to the position.

Despite some people’s questioning on the current CBSL Chief’s dual citizenship, the entire country remembers who appointed a dual citizen as a CBSL Governor many years ago, Premadasa reminded, adding that the same individual who had claimed that he had a wedding to attend to had fled the nation and now is nowhere to be found.

The Opposition Leader raised suspicion whether the next step of the plot against the Governor would be the recalling of the former CBSL Governor who had fled the country and having him reinstated, and reminded that there is also a predecessor to the current CBSL Chief living in Sri Lanka who had bragged that there is ‘no connection‘ between money printing and inflation and acted arbitrarily.

Some parties showing their political opportunism have joined forces with a rogue government that paid compensation for a manure ship, was involved in the sugar scam, the coconut oil scam and the coal scam, the Opposition Leader added.

These opportunists not only sold themselves out but also sold the name of Ranjan Ramanayake, Premadasa went on, adding that they have not granted the former MP full freedom.

MIAP

The delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka says it welcomes the staff-level agreement between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Sri Lanka.

The Finance Ministry said it is working on implementing the prior actions agreed upon under the Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) and on securing the financing assurances needed from Sri Lanka’s official bilateral creditors to obtain the adoption of the $ 2.9 billion worth four-year program by the IMF Executive Board.

“The authorities have been working with their international financial and legal advisors on their debt restructuring strategy,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

“The authorities further intend to make a presentation to creditors in the next few weeks to update them on the most recent macroeconomic developments in the country, the main areas of the reform package agreed with the IMF staff and the next steps of the debt restructuring process,” it added.

Taking to its official Twitter handle, the EU delegation said it looks forward to continuing cooperation on public finance management and green economy, including export industries.

Earlier this week, IMF staff and the Sri Lankan authorities reached a staff-level agreement to support Sri Lanka’s economic policies with a 48-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of about USD 2.9 billion.

The IMF said the objectives of Sri Lanka’s new Fund-supported program are to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while safeguarding financial stability, protecting the vulnerable, and stepping up structural reforms to address corruption vulnerabilities and unlock Sri Lanka’s growth potential.

Debt relief from Sri Lanka’s creditors and additional financing from multilateral partners will be required to help ensure debt sustainability and close financing gaps, the global lending agency said further in a statement.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Peter Breuer and Mr. Masahiro Nozaki visited Colombo from August 24 to September 01, 2022 to continue discussions on IMFs support for Sri Lanka and the authorities’ comprehensive economic reform program.

Meanwhile, Japan called on all creditor nations to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring. “It’s important for all creditor nations, including China and India, to gather to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring,” Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.

In response to Japan’s request, China, a major creditor nation of Sri Lanka, said it stands ready to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to continue to play a positive role in supporting Sri Lanka’s response to current difficulties and efforts to ease debt burden and realize sustainable development.

The conditions stipulated in the government’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must be released to the public, demanded former Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Wasantha Samarasinghe.

Speaking to media yesterday (03), the former JVP MP reminded that the President as a lone MP in Parliament had questioned the former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) about the IMF conditions during the government’s preliminary discussions with the global fiscal agency, adding that Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the head of state and the minister of finance on the other hand, is not keen on revealing them today.

Samarasinghe stressed that the IMF conditions should be tabled in Parliament and that the world must know what the Sri Lankan government has agreed to.

MIAP