The Police Media Division issued a statement on the recent arrest of protesters who marched at the Colombo Lipton Circle yesterday afternoon (24) in the form of a demonstration organised by the Socialist Youth Union (SYU) against the recently decreed High-Security Zones, calling the movement ‘illegal’ and revealing that 83 persons were taken into custody.

Among the arrestees are 77 men, 04 women and 02 Buddhist monks, Police said.

The demonstrators avoided repeated warnings by the Police to dissolve themselves and marched forward, and the arrests were made given the protest’s illegal nature, because it obstructed traffic and the public walking on the road, and to avoid the risk of them entering the High-Security Zones, and accordingly, the march was dissolved by force and 83 persons were arrested, the statement said.

MIAP

Aeroflot plans to resume flights from Moscow to Colombo, Sri Lanka, beginning on October 9, the Russian flagship carrier said in a statement. The company will operate flights twice per week initially.

Flights to Bangkok, Thailand, will resume on October 30, and there will be seven flights per week, the statement said. Moreover, the airline will operate up to three flights per week to Goa, India, beginning on November 2.

Flights will be carried out on a wide-body Airbus A330. Aeroflot suspended flights to Shri-Lanka in June after one of its airplanes was seized in Colombo.

An Airbus A330 arrived in Shri-Lanka to collect passengers and return to Moscow, but was unable to take off due to an order issued by a local court that had received an appeal filed by an Irish company linked to the aircraft’s lessor. The plane was able to leave Shri-Lanka after several days when the court reversed its decision.

Aeroflot General Director Sergei Alexandrovsky earlier announced plans to open flights from Moscow to Bangkok and Goa on the winter timetable. Other destinations considered included Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, as well as Dubai, Alexandrovsky said.

Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited said  that Aeroflot Airlines recommenced its flight operations last year to Colombo from Moscow with a flight frequency of 2 flights a week between Moscow and Colombo after one year due to Covid19 out break in the island before the suspension of its flights this year.

The first flight, (SU284) with a total number of 240 passengers arrived at 10.50 hrs at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on 21^st November 2021.

Aeroflot-Russian Airlines will initially operate flights every Friday and Sunday and it will increase the frequency up to five times a week in the near future.

Aeroflot-Russian Airlines is the oldest international airline that operated international flights to Colombo and it has been operating the Moscow-Colombo route since 1964. Aeroflot had to stop operations to Colombo in 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

This route development will boost the tourism industry in Sri Lanka especially in the post-pandemic period.

Russia has been one of the most reliable and friendly destinations for Sri Lanka to attract tourists and for many decades.

Russian inbound tourism has been showing its great potential as an important source market for the development of the travel and tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka is steadily becoming one of the emerging popular destinations for Russian tourists.

Therefore, the recommencement of the Aeroflot airlines to Sri Lanka will immensely contribute to the booming aviation, travel, and tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s loss-making state-run retail store chain Lanka Sathosa, which has made billions of rupees of losses amid allegations of mismanagement and corruption is to be restructured soon.

The retail store network registered an annual loss of around Rs.779 million in 2020, significantly lower than the Rs.1.9 billion lose recorded in 2019 while the net loss from 2015 – 2019 amounts to Rs. 11.9 billion and accumulated debt was around Rs.28 billion, finance ministry data shows.

But in 2021 it has recorded trade turnover of Rs. 41 billion as a result of increasing sales of essential commodities at control prices imposed by the Consumer Affairs Authority.

The Sathosa restructuring process will be carried out following the establishment of State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit” with the allocation Rs. 200 million proposed in interim budget 2022.

This will be given priority in accordance with the government’s food security programme under the social security net proposed in interim budget 2022, a senior Trade Ministry official said.

He noted that Sathosa retail outlets numbering around 420 countrywide will be transformed in to profit making entities to sell fast moving food products for the benefit of urban and rural consumers at reasonable prices.

“We have to sell essential goods below cost because as a state enterprise we are required to do so, “he said adding that by restructuring it, the ministry hopes to reduce overhead costs passing its benefit to consumers.

“We have a duty to provide a service to the people to provide food items easing the cost of living, but it is essential to tackle a mismatch via restructuring to make it profitable, “he said.

It has been proposed to introduce modern technology such as an enterprise resource planning system, and controls to cut waste, staff and logistics costs, he disclosed.

Lanka Sathosa is planning to expand the retail chain by another 100 countrywide including the North and East.

20 ‘mega stores’ to sell a wide range of consumer goods and provide banking and provide dining facilities will be opened to meet the competition of super market chains like Arpico, Cargills and Keells Super.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to leave for Japan tonight (25) for a three-day official tour.

The Sri Lankan President is also set to attend the funeral of former Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July.

Wickremesinghe is also expected to meet with current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and a group of high officials of the Japanese government, to hold bilateral discussions.

The Japanese government will also be invited to intervene in talks with major states including India and China for the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt, in view of the IMF’s requirements.

MIAP

The anti-democratic repression unleashed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Rajapaksa-led regime must immediately be stopped, urged Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the National People’s Power (NPP) MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake, speaking to reporters after his visit to the Maradana Police Station to look into the protesters who were arrested at yesterday’s (24) protest against the President’s decree on designating high-security zones.

“Those who should be locked-up are outside, and those who should be outside are locked-up. These protests were very peaceful protests. Nobody acted for sabotage. This is the plan unleashed by Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Rajapaksas by completely scrapping democracy off the country in their bid to live in bunkers in fear of the public,” Dissanayake told the reporters.

The JVP/NPP Leader went on: “Therefore, we urge Ranil Wickremesinghe and the regime led by Mahinda Rajapaksa that this very monstrous, anti-democratic and authoritarian fury must immediately be stopped. Today, they may be successful in doing so. But tomorrow, the swarming in of hundred thousands of people to Colombo cannot be stopped by Ranil Wickremesinghe. 85 have been arrested, 05 injured hospitalised. Therefore, the people of this country will be aligned against this monstrous assaults by Ranil Wickremesinghe. So, we tell Ranil and those who navigate these attacks, may you find places to hide from the people in fear. Therefore, we urge Ranil Wickremesinghe that this repression be immediately stopped.”

MIAP

By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan authorities will formally hold talks with international creditors on Friday to start the process of restructuring billions of dollars of its debt and share plans to tackle the island’s worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

The success of the restructuring process is critical for the nation of 22 million to secure final approval for a $2.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and subsequent financing from other global agencies.

The money will help the island nation overcome an acute shortage of food and fuel that sparked sweeping street protests for months this year and led to the ouster of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka’s finance and other officials plan to hold a virtual interactive session to share the objectives of its loan package agreed with the IMF on Sept. 1 and the next steps of the debt restructuring process.

Its presentation to the creditors will be made public after the event. The government has already held preliminary restructuring talks with neighbour India and diplomats based in Colombo.

“There was a very positive response from the meeting with ambassadors chaired by the president on Thursday,” an official at the president’s office said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Sri Lanka is focused on trying to get the IMF deal finalised by December or early next year.”

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency debt was $47.3 billion as of end-2021 and local-currency debt at $53.6 billion, according to an update from the Ministry of Finance in August. China, Japan and India are its top bilateral creditors.

The foreign currency debt includes $13 billion in international sovereign bonds held largely by private creditors, such as asset managers BlackRock (BLK.N) and Ashmore (ASHM.L).

1. John Hopkins University Economist Professor Steve Hanke reports that Sri Lanka is 3rd in the world in terms of the depreciation of the local currency against the USD: 1st – Zimbabwe: 2nd – Cuba.
   
2. Cabinet approves import of 25,000 MT of maize or alternative grains for the production of animal feed to address the current shortage of maize in the country.
   
3. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Russia Professor Janitha Liyanage says Aeroflot flights between Moscow and Colombo will resume from 9th October.
   
4. Bar Association expresses concerns at the President’s move to declare certain areas in Colombo District as high-security zones.
   
5. SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam says the government never promised to offer chairmanship of COPA and COPE to the Opposition: also says the opposition is misleading the country by such false claims.
   
6. Police fire water cannons and tear gas to disperse persons protesting against the declaration of high security zones: 84 persons including the National Organizer of the Socialist Youth Union Eranga Gunasekara and two Buddhist monks arrested.
   
7. Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera expresses concern over the future of the poultry industry in the country as the economic crisis is severely affecting the production of chicken and eggs.
   
8. Parliament passes Bill to establish a “National Council” representing all recognised political parties in Parliament, with responsibility to guide short, medium, and long-term national policies, without a vote: PM Dinesh Gunawardene says it was presented after reaching agreement with all political parties.
   
9. Cabinet approves President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal to limit Ministers’ trips abroad: Ministers’ travels limited to “necessary trips”: delegations limited to “required personnel”.
   
10. “Bandula” 80, the oldest elephant in the Dehiwala Zoo, dies: Bandula had been brought to the zoo in 1943 as a year-old calf, and thereafter trained to participate at the “elephant dancing show” which is a major tourist attraction.

Looking at the length and breadth of the economic crisis after the Covid era, it appears that the current Sri Lanka is caught in the trap of an ‘Economic Hitman’. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who came to power on November 16, 2019, faced this debt burden. As of 2014, the amount required for debt servicing was two billion dollars, and in 2019, the amount surged three times to six billion dollars. After ‘leaning against the wall’ in the debt trap, Sri Lanka had two solutions. One solution was to maintain the economic stability of the country by paying off the due loan installments, even in the midst of dire straits.

Although this appears to be a highly pressured method, various strategies could have been sought to pay off the loan premium through unpopular practices such as import restrictions. Sri Lanka followed this methodology till 12th April 2022. It was also the method that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) must follow. The Central Bank had no legal right to follow any other method.

The next method was to unilaterally default on the loan without paying the installments. This is seen as declaring the country bankrupt. Such a serious decision cannot be taken by an official let alone by the President or by a single opinion. There is a separate legal status for that, and it must be approved by the Cabinet and Parliament.

Soft Default

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was considering a case of debt default in the world economy, using what he described as ‘soft default,’ on the subject of Sri Lanka at this time. Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy and Prof. Shantha Devarajan advised him on that. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka was paying the due installments and doing its job even when these two were contacting the ex President through Zoom and advising the him to direct Sri Lanka to a smooth debt default. The Ministry of Finance also knew that the practice of the Central Bank was correct.

It is also necessary to consider Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy and Professor Shantha Devarajan, who became the sole advisor of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and who were assigned to give advice for the economy of Sri Lanka, according to the coordination of Milinda Moragoda. Dr. Kumaraswamy, who served as the Governor of the Central Bank during the Good Governance government, is one of the leaders who led Sri Lanka to the current debt trap. Dr. Kumaraswamy, a strong financial backer of the LTTE and a consultant to Raj Rajaratnam’s Galleon Company, who was convicted by a US Court in 2011 for profiting by using undisclosed information in insider trading, also acted as the Indian side’s representative for the ECTA agreement with Milinda Moragoda as a member of the Pathfinder Team.

Rajapaksa had intended to not pay the debt by single decision as the first step to bankrupt the country by rounding up World Bank advisers like Prof. Devarajan. Accordingly, the proposal of Dr. Indrajith Kumaraswamy and Professor Shantha Devarajan was that Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe should be appointed as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, Dr. Weerasinghe became the new Governor on April 7, 2022, and by the sole decision of the new governance, on April 12, Sri Lanka decided to default on its sovereign foreign debt with immediate effect. Foreign-aided NGOs were already exerting the environmental influence necessary to add the adjective bankrupt to Sri Lanka, and even so, Sri Lanka acted for its economic sovereignty. In this situation, the country’s economic sovereignty was illegally betrayed by Dr. Weerasinghe.

At the same time, the power center of the Sri Lankan economy began to gather around the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thus, it is my understanding that it was Weerasinghe who took the necessary steps for the assassination of the country’s economy.

On April 29, United National Party (UNP) Chairman Vajira Abeywardena questioned as to whose permission was Sri Lanka declared bankrupt.

He asked whether the Cabinet had given the approval to act considering the country to be bankrupt and weather the Ministry of Finance and the Minister himself had approved it. As the Chairman of the UNP, he also stressed that it is the responsibility of all 225 members of Parliament to study the issues and tell the country whether the Parliament has given approval.

Sri Lanka is in a very sad situation in front of the world and the Central Bank, which answers to everything, did not respond to Abeywardena’s statement that the country has reached that situation due to non-payment of debts. Vajira Abeywardena also questioned about this in Parliament.

He added that those who declared Sri Lanka bankrupt have committed an illegal act, and although the Parliament has given up financial control and handed it over to others, since the financial control belongs to the Parliament by law, declaring the country bankrupt is a powerless process, and the current President is questioning it in Parliament when he was still a Member of Parliament. He also said that neither the Ministry of Finance nor the Central Bank has the power to bankrupt the country and said that when something is done without power, everyone remains silent. He said that the country’s bankruptcy was declared by the other group without the knowledge of the representatives of the Parliament, but the blame was placed on the Chambers. He further said that it is the responsibility of everyone in Parliament to demand a proper investigation into the bankruptcy of the country.

This is treachery of the worst kind, as well as an offense of the gravest kind. Dr. Weerasinghe is the main person responsible for that.

With the decision to default, Sri Lanka had to resort to a position dependent on the International Monetary Fund for its entire economic process. Dr. Weerasinghe, who participates in the discussions about Sri Lanka with the IMF and has become the head of the preparation of the necessary Sri Lanka policy. He previously served as the Sri Lanka representative of the Monetary Fund of Sri Lanka. Due to Weerasinghe receiving three years for the opportunities of working in the financial fund which is entitled to others for two years, he got the opportunity to get the super pension provided by the financial fund. Accordingly, Dr. Weerasinghe is now a pensioner of the financial fund. What is the morality of him having such a relationship with the financial fund for Sri Lanka to negotiate with it? On one hand, Sri Lanka’s decision to default on the International Monetary Fund; On the other hand, being the negotiator of the financial fund on behalf of Sri Lanka as a beneficiary of the financial fund.

It is true that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was the puppet of Milinda Moragoda, gave this ability to Weerasinghe. However, Dr. Weerasinghe was ultimately stabbed, but more weight should be put on him when it comes to this economic assassination.