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Sri Lanka apparel sector fails to hit US $ 6 billion export target

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Sri Lanka apparel sector fails to hit US $ 6 billion export target

The export earnings in Sri Lanka’s clothing sector for the June to August period are set to fall by 20-25 percent, with the sector likely to miss the US $ 6 billion export target for the year, as the country’s political and economic crisis continues unabated.

Sri Lanka’s Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Secretary General Yohan Lawrence said that in terms of the value, this is “nearly a loss of US $ 125 million per month for the next three months”.

A loss of buyers’ confidence in the industry because of the “political instability” is a real risk, he said. 

With apparel accounting for on average 40 percent of Sri Lanka’s total export revenue, there is an urgent need to maintain buyers’ confidence in the industry adding “the perceived threat to the sector” has been very damaging.

Moreover, the lack of a steady supply of energy is affecting small to medium-scale apparel makers although Sri Lanka’s large apparel manufacturers have managed to continue production because they “have been among the most effective adopters of renewable energy technology, particularly solar energy”.

 Lawrence is urging the government to “secure bridge financing” immediately until there is a definite timeline on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

Lawrence said JAAF is pressing the government to “immediately commence discussions with credible policy and industry experts towards rapid development of a practical, apolitical ‘Roadmap for Sri Lanka’s Economic Recovery’”.

While there are ongoing efforts to get bilateral funding, “it is nowhere near enough”, he said adding, “This is a very real problem”, that needs sorting.

With foreign reserves down to almost nothing, imports have come to a near standstill.

 He  said, the supply of imported raw materials needed for the apparel export sector has so far continued to flow. 

This is because the sector has been allowed to use money from export earnings to buy raw material inputs, he claimed.  

“So, we have been using part of our inward remittances [export revenue] as outward remittances to buy the raw materials we need and the balance of the money will be converted to local currency,” Lawrence added

Harsha Amarasekara succeeds Dhammika Perera as Chairman of Vallibel One

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Harsha Amarasekara succeeds Dhammika Perera as Chairman of Vallibel One

Attorney-at-Law Harsha Amarasekara has succeeded Dhammika Perera as the Chairman of Vallibel One Group, effective from June 16, 2022.

A board member of Vallibel One Group, Amarasekara is an experienced legal professional who specialises in Commercial Law, Business Law, Securities Law, Banking Law and Intellectual Property Law, as well as Arbitration and National Crisis.

Amarasekara currently serves as the Chairman of the Sampath Bank and several leading business bodies valued by the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) including CIC Holdings PLC, Swisstech (Ceylon) PLC, Vallibel Power Eratna PLC, Expolanka Holdings PLC, Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC, Royal Ceramics Lanka PLC, Ambian Capital PLC and Amaya Leisure PLC.

He also serves as the the Chairman of the CIC Agri Business (Pvt) Ltd. and the Swisstech Aluminium Lmited. Amarasekara also served as the Director of Amana Bank PLC from its inception until his retirement in February 2020.

Dhammika Perera, founder and former Vallibel One Group, resigned from all his posts, including the board of directors of all his companies, as he became a National List MP of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

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Three state food security committees to handle lanka food crisis 

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Three state food security committees to handle lanka food crisis 

With little remaining domestic food reserves and currency, coupled with record-high prices for fertilizer and food triggered by man made agriculture disaster , Sri Lanka seems to have run out of options for food security.

Cabinet sub-committee is to be appointed  on the directions of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) and the committee formed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe will try to solve the man-made food crisis involving too many cooks  to spoil the soup,agricultural experts said.

As a last ditch attempt,Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinge has directed  relevant authorities to implement a countrywide food security programme in 225 divisions spearheaded by MPs elected from those divisions.

He  gave directives to appoint a committee headed by MP Nimal Lanza to tackle the food crisis successfully and to appoint MP Harsha de Silva and representatives from the President’s Office, Finance Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Sri Lanka Army and the private sector.

He disclosed that around four to five million people will be directly affected by the food crisis.

The Prime Minister also stressed the need for a medium and long term plan for a modern agricultural system that would create a regionally competitive market and called for it to be formulated urgently.  

The   top officials including the Secretaries to the Ministries and the Private Sector have been directed  to provide leadership to develop and reach the targets of 336 Divisional Secretariats in the country under the Food Security Programme.

 Duplicating the PM’s initiative ,COPA is  to set up a separate  committee to bring all the agencies responsible for tackling the current food crisis together, to take quick decisions, to follow up on the actions to be taken and to discuss future actions.

Discussions also focused on obtaining the support of SAARC Food Bank and the World Food Program (WFP) for Sri Lanka in overcoming the food crisis.

Accordingly, the possibility of catering to low-income families through the Food Commissioner’s Department, Lanka Sathosa, State Trading Corporation (STC) and Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies was also discussed.

The Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that  another  committee set up by  the new government under the chairmanship of Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva will  meet at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Government suspends licences of three fuel tanker trucks over illegal distribution

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Government suspends licences of three fuel tanker trucks over illegal distribution

The Power and Energy Ministry has suspended the licences of three fuel tanker trucks effective immediately over illegal distribution of fuel.

The decision to suspend the licences was taken following a probe into the allegation pending conclusion.

Recent Social Media reports raised controversy revealing fuel being distributed to cans (bullies) during transportation.

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IMF team visits Sri Lanka  Monday20 to  negotiate economic program

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IMF team visits Sri Lanka  Monday20 to  negotiate economic program

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team will be  visiting  Sri Lanka on June 20-30  to continue discussions  on an economic programme till the end of this month.

It has reaffirmed its commitment to support the island nation during the ongoing economic crisis in accordance with the “IMF’s policies”, a spokesperson of IMF in Washington disclosed. .

The IMF will further conduct negotiations with the Central Bank authorities on its lending arrangement building on the progress made during the May 9-24 virtual mission,the spokes person added.

During their visit the team will hold discussions with the President and Prime Minister who is also the finance minister. 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is determined to finalise the staff level agreement during the visit, PMs office said

The IMF team concluded technical discussions on a comprehensive reform package on   May 25 to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability in the country.

The team made good progress in assessing the economic situation and in identifying policy priorities to be taken going forward.

The discussions focused on restoring fiscal sustainability while protecting the vulnerable and poor; ensuring credibility of the monetary policy and exchange rate regimes; preserving financial sector stability; and structural reforms to enhance growth and strengthen governance.

President calls in Ruling Party MP Group

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President calls in Ruling Party MP Group

A special discussion is due to be held between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the MP Group of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) tomorrow (20).

The meeting is set to focus on the current fuel crisis, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution and the future initiatives of the government and will held tomorrow at 5 pm at the President’s House.

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CBSL Governor now finds fault with President

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CBSL Governor now finds fault with President

Whilst Sri Lanka’s major creditors have still not got together to discuss debt restructuring, as part of the effort to draw a clear line under a debt crisis that spurred South Asia’s first default in 100 years, the Governor who has got this habit of blabbing to the media. Now he has said If Sri Lanka had gone earlier to the IMF we would not be in this mess.

This is nothing new. Opposition said so several times. This is a direct attack on the head of state. Whilst we all agree that mismanagement was clearly on the part of the president, and he was the root cause of this unprecedented crisis. He was badly advised. This type of statements is unwarranted.

Anyway what was Nandalal doing in the Central Bank as no 2 ? Daydreaming? Could he produce a document that shows he was advocating for the IMF? CBSL withdrew from the IMF program way back as 2020. Nandalal was too busy at that time working out his pension of Rs 750,000 per month. So he did not want to rock the boat.Worse than going to the IMF, was the south Asian tea producer defaulting on a paltry $78 Million USD in 2022, shutting Sri Lanka out of the capital markets.

Sri Lanka now seeks relief on its more than $ 55 billion of external debt (Zimbabwe was only $ 17 billion) to get its borrowing under control. Sri Lanka will soon hold its first meeting with its international creditors — which include a plethora of Chinese , Japanese and Indian institutions , Western banks, sovereign bilateral lenders and multilateral institutions. Sri Lanka needs to urgently reach a staff-level agreement on a $5 billion three-year extended credit facility with the IMF and needs to finish bilateral negotiations to secure the funding.

Nandalal other than spreading doom and gloom by increasing interest rates and going for a soft default (invented by Nandalal) he has not raised one Dollar to ease the situation . That is expected of a CBSL Governor. Instead he has focused on curbing the private sector and issuing statements, politicizing the institution further. Analysts say that Nandalal is not man for a crisis, he may be good they say in times when the country is stable. The country needs a people and business friendly Governor who can be innovative within the four walls of the CBSL.

Not a man who spells doom and gloom continuously. Unfortunately the President does not understand this and he will only make matters worse for Sri Lanka. Since he has now come back from the shadows to run the government.

Adolf

PM already solved many problems. Be patient till he solves the rest: Vajira Abeywardena

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PM already solved many problems. Be patient till he solves the rest: Vajira Abeywardena

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has already solved many burning problems in the country and the people therefore should be patient till he solves the rest, said Chairman of the United National Party (UNP) Vajira Abeywardena, speaking to a briefing in Galle yesterday (18).

Accordingly, the Prime Minister as of this moment has been able to provide successful solutions to the fertiliser problem as well as the shortage of essential commodities, Abeywardena revealed, adding that Wickremesinghe has adopted measures to receive the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to ensure food security as well.

Both the political parties and the people should be supporting the programme implemented by the Prime Minister and the rest of the problems can also be solved should they act with patience, he added.

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Opposition Leader Premadasa makes special request on behalf of 22 million People!

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Opposition Leader Premadasa makes special request on behalf of 22 million People!

Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa addressing a meeting held in the Opposition Leader’s Office yesterday (18) urged the government to stop this repressive system leading three-wheeler drivers to suffer in fuel queues 24 hours a day, the people to suffer inside vehicles, to starve, the innocent to die in the queues and by falling from trains and adopt an administration committed to the problems.

The rulers’ continuity of a journey failed to understand the pain and pressure of the people suffering in the queues must be stopped immediately, the Opposition Leader emphasised, calling on the government to allow the parents who are suffering from not being able to feed their children’s hunger and the students who have lost their education at schools and universities to settle in this country.

The government led by the President and the Prime Minister which has delivered frustration and suffering to twenty two million people in this country has repeatedly proved their incompetence and failure, Premadasa noted, suggesting that what the government does on the other hand is taking revenge on the people.

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Discussion on the situation in SL chaired by Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar

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Discussion on the situation in SL chaired by Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee held a meeting on the current situation in Sri Lanka yesterday (18), under the patronage of Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

Tweeting, the Indian Foreign Affairs Minister noted that a good discussion held in a positive atmosphere on various issues and India’s role.

He added that unanimous support on the need to stand with Sri Lanka in this difficult time.

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