It is reported that the Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera who was receiving treatment at the Narahenpita Police Hospital for covid infection has been transferred to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDH), Angoda.
Ananda Wijewickrama, a specialist at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, has told the media that the minister’s condition is stable.
Wimal Weerawansa, Minister of Industry says that the main crisis facing the country’s industry is the difficulty in obtaining imported raw materials rather than a two-hour power cut.
“There is a crisis in issuing letters of credit and opening the LCs. As such, many industrialists are facing great difficulties. During the discussion I made a proposal in the Cabinet, There are not many countries that import this raw material, there are several, we can negotiate with those one or two countries and get a special credit line for the raw material is the best solution at the moment. The issue of obtaining these imported raw materials is the main challenge that has arisen today regarding the survival of the industry rather than the two-hour power cut. ”
Minister Wimal Weerawansa stated this while expressing his views to the media yesterday (21).
India and Sri Lanka extended the existing S&T cooperation for 3 more years, with focus on new areas like waste-water technologies, biotech, sustainable agriculture, aerospace engineering, robotics, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence, as well as industrial collaborations at the India-Sri Lanka 5th Joint Committee on S&T Cooperation held on January 20, 2022.
(Contents of this Press Release have been drawn from the Press Release issued by Ministry of Science & Technology, New Delhi on 20 January 2022.)
Renuka Perera, the new Chairman of Milco, the Managing Secretary of the SLPP, says that he was able to solve the gas problem in the country within an hour of assuming the post of Chairman of Litro.
Q. Now you have been in several government agencies. How long can you stay here?
“Let’s do the right thing as long as we can. You are asking about the appointment of Litro, right? As I recall, His Excellency the President had inquired on the 3rd of January at a time when there was a major crisis over gas in the country, and. He asked if it is not possible to take over this institution. While that was going on, the President had planned to oversee the Litro Company. However, after he supervised, he spoke to me in a very friendly manner and told me that this company only has to fill the cylinders with gas coming from the ship and send it to the market. He said, I can do more than that, so he suggested Milco would be a good fit. The plan is to increase milk production in our country. That is how this change took place. But I am happy that the media reports that I am the ‘chairman of an hour’ – but with my appointment, during that hour the gas problem in the country has completely disappeared ”
Renuka Perera was speaking to the media after assuming duties as the Chairman of Milco yesterday (21).
It is reported that several parliamentarians of the SLPP and several state ministers have sent letters to President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa requesting that the post of Vice-Chancellor of the Wayamba University be given to ‘a friend’ of them.
Following is the letter sent to the President by Minister of State for Livestock D.B. Herath requesting that Prof. H.M.A. Herath be given the post as he is well known.
At first glance, the letter appears to have included the professor’s name and the post of Vice-Chancellor in the same general letter template as the traditional letters that MPs give to their voters to get minor jobs in the SLTB, Railway Department.
In addition, MPs Samanpriya Herath, D.Y.G. Ratnasekera, Nalaka Kottegoda and Minister of State Sanath Nishantha Perera, as well as the convener of the Sri Lanka People’s Doctors’ Association have written to the President in this regard. This was stated by the Member of Parliament for the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna – Vijitha Herath in Parliament.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa says that it should not be forgotten that there was a dark era in this country where art was banned by restricting the views of artists.
“Artists make great efforts to bring the social reality to the masses creatively. We know that in the past, these people faced many difficulties due to the Covid epidemic. We know that several artists in our country lost their lives due to the Covid. We even lost the opportunity to pay our last respects to certain artists as we had to submit to various restrictions. We should remember them with respect.
Every artist is an asset to the country. Their ideology is seen in the whole society. Therefore, artists should have the right to enjoy democratic freedom in the country. Do not forget that our country had a dark past when this right was taken away from artists. Although such a situation does not exist today, we cannot forget it completely and move on to the future.”
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said this addressing a function held at Temple Trees yesterday (21) to present insurance policies to artists.
Udaya Gammanpila, Minister of Energy has stated that a power cut of one and a half hours per day should be started immediately until the next rainy season.
“Until the rains start in April, we will have to generate electricity from fuel. As we now try to provide electricity 24 hours a day, I understand that if we do not take a big dollar loan from somewhere by the end of March – if we take a loan, we will have to pay it back with interest – we will have to go for a 4 hour power cut by the end of March. Wouldn’t it be better if we went for an hour and a half right now until the next rain came?”
Minister Udaya Gammanpila stated this addressing a function held in Hanwella yesterday (21).
The South Korean Government will support to promote employment generation, vocational training and investment opportunities, said Park Byeong-Seug, Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea.
He made these remarks when he met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (20).Park Byeong-Seug is the Speaker of the 21st National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
There is ample scope for investment opportunities in Sri Lanka due to its strategic location in the region, the President said and requested Park Geung-seog to encourage leading Korean companies to explore investment opportunities.
Nearly 22,000 Sri Lankans are employed in South Korea and they are happily contributing to the workforce and they have remitted around US$ 520 million to Sri Lanka from Korea.
The Korean government and the Korean Embassy highly value the significant role of Sri Lankan migrant workers and their precious contribution. The migrant workers bridge both countries in many ways, as they continue to contribute to the economic development of Korea and Sri Lanka.
Geung-seog told the President that steps would be taken to fulfill the request made to increase the quota provided for employment for Sri Lankans in South Korea.
The South Korean Speaker also agreed to provide assistance to enhance vocational training opportunities in Sri Lanka and further stated that he would be willing to provide assistance to meet the present needs of the country.
The Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka Woonjin Jeong assured the Foreign Minister that the facilities required for the Sri Lankan youth who are eligible for employment in Korea to travel to Korea will be provided shortly.
He was speaking at a discussion on the delays faced by young people who are eligible for jobs in Korea, chaired by the Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Foreign Ministry recently
The Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka explained the position of the Korean Government and stated that it has been planned to provide employment opportunities in Korea to all those who are eligible for employment in Korea.
He said there is a delay in providing those opportunities due to the COVID pandemic; however assured that he is focused on sending them to Korea at the earliest available opportunity.
He also stated that the Korean government is planning to assist in the development of the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka.The discussions also focused on several matters including increase of employment opportunities for Sri Lankan youth in Korea and enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries.
Sri Lanka government is set to introduce the Special Goods and Services Tax (SGST) setting up a separate tax revenue collection unit at the treasury forcing trade unions of the Departments of Inland Revenue and Excise to stage protest campaigns.
Trade union leaders said that this move will affect the whole tax revenue collection system creating confusion among tax payers encouraging them to default.
The new bill titled ‘Special Goods and Services Tax’ was published by gazette dated 07 January 2022. The Special Goods and Services Tax (SGST) was originally proposed in Budget speech 2021 but was not implemented.
It has once again been presented in Budget 2022. The SGST aims to consolidate taxes on manufacturing and importing cigarettes, liquor, vehicles and assembly parts, while also consolidating taxes on telecommunication and betting and gaming.
The rationale for this new tax as per the bill is .to promote self-compliance in the payment of taxes in order to ensure greater efficiency in relation to the collection and administration on such taxes, officials said.
Another aim is to avoid the complexities associated with the application and administration of a multiple tax regime on specified goods and services, Finance Ministry sources said. The SGST Bill is silent on the treatment of the existing VAT on these goods and services.
However, according to the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill also gazetted on 07 January 2022, liquor, cigarettes and motor vehicles will be exempted from VAT while telecommunications and betting and gaming services will still be subject to VAT.
While the gazetted Bill sets out some of the features of the proposed SGST there are many important areas not covered in the Bill. These are expected to be gazetted as and when required by the Minister in charge.
Tax revenue which was 13% of GDP in 2010, declined to 8% in 2020. Ad hoc policy changes and weak administration contributed to the decline in tax revenue collection.
According to the budget speech the SGST is estimated to bring in an additional Rs. 50 billion in revenue in 2022. Revenue from taxes proposed to be consolidated under the SGST has significantly declined over the past 3 years.
Given the already difficult macroeconomic environment, along with ad hoc tax policy changes raising the additional revenue estimated at Rs. 50 billion seems a difficult task.
According to the bill, SGST will now be collected through a new unit set up under the General Treasury where a Designated Officer (DO) will be in charge of the administration, collection and accountability of the tax.
The existing revenue collection agencies, such as the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) or the Excise Department will not be primarily responsible for the collection of this tax.
By removing the IRD and Excise Department, a parallel bureaucracy will be created, at a time when public spending needs to be carefully managed.
The General Treasury also has no previous experience and expertise in direct revenue collection. Weak administration is one of the key reasons for the low tax collection and success of this tax would depend on the strength of its administration.
In addition to the above mentioned concerns, as per the Bill the minister in charge of the SGST has been vested with the power to set the rates, the base and grant exemptions. Accordingly, Parliamentary oversight over fiscal matters is weakened under this proposed Bill.
Sri Lanka’s recovering tourism sector will help end the balance of payments troubles, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said, echoing statements made by ministers.
“When the pandemic is in the world for around two years there will be a pressure for the country. With the pandemic, the tourism sector is also under pressure,” Governor Cabraal said.
However tourism industry is heading for booming recovery with record number of tourist arrivals exceeding 31600 to Sri Lanka posted in the first 11 days of 2022, Tourism Ministry said .
He said, in 2021, even though the foreign reserves had five billion US dollars, Sri Lanka was able to pay six billion US dollars in debt, and save three billion US dollars as well.
Cabraal said, with the tourism sector under pressure the country is not getting an income of nine billion US dollars.
“We are doing all this while we are lacking that income at the moment. What I see is not having patience,” he said.
“In another two-three months, the tourism sector will develop further. When that happens, the pressure we have will reduce.”
Economic analysts using classical principles however have warned that tourism fall is not the reason for currency troubles but liquidity injections.
Tourism receipts are owned by the people who earn the money and the government does not own it.Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have exceeded 31,600 in the first 11 days of 2022, despite the challenges emanating from the global COVID pandemic and reinforcing the industry’s optimism. From 1 to 11 January, Sri Lanka received a record 31, 688 tourists, a significant rebound from 2021.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said during the first 11 days the highest number of tourist arrivals was from the Russian Federation – 5,726.
In addition, tourists have also arrived from India – 5,566, Ukraine – 3,028, UK – 2,370, Germany – 2,046, Maldives – 1,269, France – 1,241, Australia – 1,093, Poland – 771 and US – 662.
However, future trend of tourism remains uncertain amidst the evolving nature of the pandemic and other correlated variables such as vaccination rates and efforts in curtailing the pandemic.
“It is great to see the tourism is beginning to rebound amidst concerns on highly infectious COVID variant Omicron. The collective effort of all citizens contributed to the successful recovery of the industry,” Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told journalists yesterday.
Speaking at a discussion titled ‘Tourism Resumes’ organised by Presidential Media Centre (PMC) she said Sri Lanka needs to ‘ride with the tide’ to sustain the industry despite the challenges emanating from the COVID pandemic.
Fernando said they were also concerned about the continuity of the current arrival trends, given the global spike in COVID cases.
“We saw several cancellations particularly from European countries and India following resurgence of COVID Omicron variant. Certain countries have imposed restrictions already, these are inevitable in a pandemic situation,” Fernando said.
With partial reopening in January 2021 which saw 1,682 tourists, arrivals have been on the rise in tandem with the vaccination rollout, improved health and safety precautions, and easing of travel restrictions.
SLTDA Director General Dhammika Wijayasingha said that the majority of incoming tourists stay for 14 or more days on an average, from the previous 7 to 10 days.
“Post-pandemic we saw a lot of tourists coming to Sri Lanka for wellness tourism and vacation with family. These tourists stay longer than the usual, which extends to minimum 14 or more days. It’s a great trend that we hope would continue from long-haul travellers,” she added.
Given the challenges they encounter to reach final destination amidst health protocols, Wijayasingha pointed out that the travellers under new normal will want to explore the long haul countries to the fullest.
Since mid-2021, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) rolled out promotions in several countries, including Russia, France, Germany and the UK. The inflow of tourists has been boosted by increased connectivity as well by international airlines.
National carrier SriLankan Airlines also launched direct flights to Russia and France after a lapse of six years.
In November, four international airlines resumed operations to Colombo, these include France flag carrier – Air France, Swiss leisure airline – Edelweiss, Russia’s flag carrier – Aeroflot and Tata-SIA joint venture – Vistara Airlines.
In addition, Russia’s Azur Airlines and Kazakhstan’s Air Astana commenced direct flights to Sri Lanka, while popular European airlines Poland’s flag carrier Lot Polish Airlines and Italy’s Neos Airlines commenced operations from December 2021.
