The selling price of the US dollar has risen to 355 rupees today (27) at most commercial banks.
It can be seen that in some banks the price has gone up to Rs. 360.
Selling price of the USD risen up to Rs.355 – 360
We have completed the basic plan of the all-party-government – Lansa
Nimal Lansa, Member of Parliament for the SLPP says that the basic plan for an all party government has been prepared by a group of parliamentarians who have left the government and become independent.
“We have now completed the basic plan of the all-party interim government. From tomorrow (27) we will hold discussions with all parties in this country and move forward. Today we came to a unanimous decision on that. Unless Gotabhaya Rajapaksa resigns voluntarily, it will play a big role constitutionally. But we have proposed to bring power to a national council ”
Nimal Lansa was speaking to the media after a meeting of the Independent Parliamentarians’ Group in Colombo last night (26). Wimal Weerawansa, Athuraliye Rathana Thero, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and representatives of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party were also present.
Easter Attack: Several bodies buried at Saindamarudu to be unearthed today to search for Sarah
The bodies of those killed in an explosion at a house in the Saindamarudu area in Ampara are to be unearthed today (27) to confirm whether Sarah Jasmine alias Pulasthini Mahendran, who was involved in the Easter Sunday bombings, is dead.
Sarah Jasmine is the wife of Hasthun who bombed the Katuwapitiya church in Negombo.
Investigations had revealed that she had fled to India, but the government continued to claim that she had died.
On two previous occasions, the body parts of the victims were compared with Sarah’s DNA, but her body was not found.
However, the body parts will be exhumed again today and sent for testing to identify Sara’s DNA. It is said that the former Judicial Medical Officer, Government Analyst and Investigating Officers will be present at the event under the supervision of the Ampara Magistrate.
Massive crowd joins the SJB March
The Samagi Jana Balawega’s ‘Samagi Bala Pagamana’ against the corrupt government began in Kandy yesterday (26) morning.
The Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa led the leaders of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
It was seen that a huge crowd was participating in it.
This massive march is scheduled to reach Colombo from Kandy in five days.
Omalpe Sobhitha Thera reveals a condition from Mahinda if to resign
Omalpe Sobhitha Thera says that Mahinda Rajapaksa has stated that he will not resign from the post of Prime Minister as the country may become anarchic after his resignation.
“The prime minister says that he will resign, and he is ready for that. But when it takes time to fill the gap left by that resignation, the country will lose control. How long does it take to fill this space? We said that the administration of the country could be run under the executive powers of the President. However, the Prime Minister continued to say that the country could not be run under the powers of the President. The country will be destabilized when the Prime Minister leaves the Cabinet. If the country becomes unstable, the current situation will become a nightmare and more crises will arise. So I can resign without a doubt, but they have to agree with all other parties in Parliament and decide what to do next. That is to come to a unanimous decision to appoint a Prime Minister. He said he was ready to step down once they have reached a consensus on who the prime minister would be and how he would be appointed. Now we are discussing this again with the Mahanayake Theras. We hope to form a coalition of party leaders and move forward soon with the responsibility of the party leaders in this regard. ”
Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera was speaking to the media after meeting Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday (26) afternoon to discuss the letter issued by the Chief Incumbents.
The ration scheme for pesticides reversed!
Janaka Wakkumbura, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation stated that the ration scheme for pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides approved by the Registrar of Pesticides has been abolished with effect from yesterday (26).
The Minister said that chemical fertilizers will also be imported and distributed to the farmers within a very short period of time and requested the farmers to go to the farms and start cultivation.
The importation of pesticides and chemical fertilizers was banned under the President’s Green Agriculture Policy. Due to the ban, the entire agriculture sector of the country has suffered a severe setback in the recent past.
Finance Minister Ali Sabri sworn in as the new Minister of Justice
Finance Minister Mohamed Ali Sabri has been appointed as the new Minister of Justice.
Accordingly, he was sworn in before President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday (26) afternoon.
He was also the Minister of Justice in the previous Cabinet.
Fuel price hike hits the country sparking countrywide protests
Losses at the fuel stabilisation fund set up on March 30, 2020 by the Treasury to alleviate government finances when prices rise or fall in the world oil market, has raised many questions, official sources said.
This fund was established with an initial capital of Rs. 50 billion by issuing Treasury bills to the Central Bank, Finance Ministry documents revealed.
The fund was partly utilised to settle the dues of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) during 2020.
At least Rs. 48 billion was given to the CEB which in turn had repaid the CPC with the money. However continuing losses at the CEB and CPC resulted in the two institutions requiring more money from this fund which led to the Treasury pumping in more money.
This led to the account of the Fund being a negative Rs. 26.67 billion by end December 2020.
Sources said that more money was given to the CPC in anticipation that this money would be recovered from the sale of its products but that never happened.
The untimely end of the fuel pricing formula and fuel stabilisation fund introduced with good intentions to pass the benefits of international oil price fluctuations to the people has resulted in unrecoverable loss to the country at present, economic analysts said.
According to the widely debated fuel price formula introduced by the previous Government, fuel prices were supposed to be revised on the 10th of each month and a number of factors in addition to global oil prices were taken into consideration when formulating the formula.
However, the Government headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa discontinued these two systems.
Earlier the normal procedure was that the price revision of fuel is determined and announced in a gazette notification by the Finance Ministry with effect from midnight on the date of the notification of revised prices.
The price hike of the present regime has not followed this procedure on two occasions this year.
When asked to comment on this matter, former petroleum minister and MP Chandima Weerakkody noted that the Finance Ministry is the sole authority in the determination and announcement of the revision of fuel price as and when necessary according to the CPC Act.
The new Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera told parliament on Thursday that the decision to increase prices was taken after discussion with relevant ministry and CPC officials and with the consent of the President. He added that he contacted the Finance Minister over the phone and obtained his approval as well.
WB grants US$ 600 million to Sri Lanka to avert economic crisis
The World Bank has agreed to provide US$600 million in financial assistance to the country amid the economic crisis, President’s Media Division (PMD) revealed in a statement on Tuesday (April 26) .
“World Bank Permanent Representative Chiyo Kanda during a meeting with President today (26) informed that World Bank has agreed to provide US $ 600 million financial assistance to Sri Lanka to overcome the current economic crisis, of which US $ 400 million will be provided promptly under the 1st phase,” PMD said in a statement.
As the country struggling to tackle high levels of debt and trim the fiscal deficit to mitigate the adverse impacts on citizens, World Bank recently warned that more Sri Lankans will slip into poverty this year.
The unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency. It means the country cannot afford to pay for imports of the staple, such as food and fuel.
The situation led to acute shortages and very high prices, leaving the economy in tatters with people protesting across the country. Sri Lanka has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year and will need to repay $25 billion over the next five years.
“Around 11.7 per cent of people in Sri Lanka earn less than USD 3.20 per day, the international poverty line for lower-middle income countries, up from 9.2 per cent in 2019,” the Bank said in its Spring Update on the South Asian region.
Meanwhile, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official on Tuesday (April 26) suggested that Sri Lanka must tighten monetary policy, raise taxes and adopt flexible exchange rates to address its debt crisis. The country of 22 million people has requested loans from the IMF.
The strategic Indian Ocean Island’s pathetic plight featured on major media and television channels that craft the global narrative, with images of people in queues amid food, fuel, and medicine shortages due to its crashing currency, soaring cost of living and ‘Arab Spring’ style protests.
One of the wealthier nations in the South Asia region and listed by the World Bank in 2019 as an Upper Middle-Income County (MIC), Sri Lanka with a population of 22 million people had just defaulted on her debt payments—for the first time in the country’s history.
Global media imaging of the scenic island nation’s financial crisis served to affirm the relevance of the Washington Consensus and the Fund albeit as the “lender of last resorts”.
Sri Lanka’s total debt is USD 51 billion and the country must pay USD 7 billion this year to International Sovereign Bond (ISB) traders based in New York as noted by Senior Economist and Head of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Dr Dushni Weerakoon.
Valuable funds misappropriated in SL’s 100,000 tasks initiative
As the government grapples with massive budget deficits and perilously high debt, its recent programmes to improve the living standards of the people have become a burden to the Treasury due to a misuse of funds.
The ambitious island-wide development drive of 100,000 tasks initiative launched by former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa this year to improve the living standard of villagers has become a burden for the Treasury as a result of mishandling of funds and high spending without any financial records, an internal audit query revealed.
Massive sums of money are being defrauded by ruling party politicians appointed as members of pradeshiya sabhas in the planning and implementing of special tasks in rural areas by hoodwinking divisional secretaries and officials.
These fraudulent activities and pilfering of money granted for the programme in respective areas have been brought to the notice in writing to high officials including divisional secretaries, several members of Grama Niladhari and Samurdhi associations disclosed.
According to the internal audit report, necessary administration and financial procedures have not been followed as it was overruled by higher political authority.
Financial records and accounts of spending for these projects are missing and it has become a difficult task for the Finance Ministry to make a correct assessment of the amount of money spent from the 2022 budgetary allocation of Rs. 85 billion, a senior official said.
These 100,000 tasks initiative is now being implemented in 14,021 Grama Niladhari areas and each of these areas would carry out at least one project, or several multiple projects depending on the needs of the region.
According to plans, these projects could differ from livelihood support to small infrastructure projects to help uplift the living standard of these communities in those areas.
Moreover, these projects are also aimed at aiding current national issues such as food security, aiding the overall Sri Lankan community. Other projects aimed at solving the food security issue also include the promotion of home gardens for citizens to take control of their personal food security.
Under the initiative, 14,000 home shops are to be set up as one outlet each in all villages at Grama Niladhari divisions country-wide with the help of seed capital of Rs, 15 billion in total provided by the government by indirectly making use of an Indian credit line.
These home shops will fulfill the needs of food items and non food products, such as clothing and household items because villagers in rural areas had to travel to nearby towns located very far from their villages to buy their requirements from city groceries.
Although a part of money has already been allocated to this project, not a single home shop has been opened in rural areas, several Grama Niladharis confirmed.