Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe has been appointed as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
Weerasinghe served as a Deputy Governor for the CBSL and will be serving as the new Governor upon the stepping down of predecessor Ajith Nivard Cabraal.
He will assume office on April 07.
MIAP
Jathika Jana Balawegaya leader Anura Dissanayake said in Parliament today (05) that there was no point in talking about bills without ministers in parliament now and that a meeting of party leaders should be convened immediately to discuss the situation in the country and take decisions.
Accordingly, the Member of Parliament requested the Speaker to immediately adjourn the Parliamentary debate and convene a meeting of the party leaders.
The report of the International Monetary Fund on Sri Lanka was tabled in Parliament today (05).
The Finance Ministry had received the draft of the report, but at the recent All Party Conference, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said it was not possible to present it.
However, the final report was tabled in Parliament today amidst a heated situation.
Meanwhile, Minister Wimal Weerawansa and 16 other government MPs function independently and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa on behalf of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party also informed Parliament that all 12 of their MPs function independently in parliament
The protests against the government, including the President, are still active and are joined by all sections of society.
Photographs: Ajith Seneviratne
US Ambassador Julie Chang joined several other heads of missions in Colombo to call on the Government to respect the people’s right to peaceful protests.
“Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully – essentially for democratic expression. I am watching the situation closely, and hope the coming days bring restraint from all sides, as well as much-needed economic stability and relief for those suffering,” Ambassador Chang said on Twitter.
The Office of the European Union expressed concern over the state of emergency and strongly urged Sri Lankan authorities to safeguard democratic rights of all citizens, including the right to free assembly and dissent, which has to be peaceful. “Challenging times for Sri Lankan people – EU continues to follow situation closely,” the EU office in Colombo said.
The German Ambassador in Colombo Holger Seubert associated himself with the sentiments of the EU and added that people demonstrating for their rights is no emergency. “It’s the emergency that brings them to the streets,” he said.
The Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo David McKinnon said that the freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest are fundamental to the success of any democracy, including Sri Lanka’s. “The free exchange of ideas is also how solutions to challenges will be found,” he said on Twitter.
Meanwhile thousands of Lankans abroad from around the world yesterday staged protests demanding the Government resign over the failure to resolve multiple crises.
Protestors from Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, US, Finland, Canada, Italy and Germany held placards and shouted slogans demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa step down along with the rest of the Government.
Irrespective of religion or race, Sri Lankans living overseas gathered in unity to show their support to fellow Lankans at home, who are suffering from the worst economic crisis, amidst a state of emergency, where curfew has been imposed countrywide.
They called on the Government to stop oppression against people’s right to protest peacefully.
A small group of protestors have gathered outside President Gotabaya Rakapaksa’s son’s house in Los Angeles, USA, with protestors calling on him to call his father back home.
The protester said that President Gotabaya had to go down and his money had to come back. The protester said that people in Los Angeles are with Sri Lankans
It is reported that protests have also taken place in front of the house in Los Angeles, USA where the son of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa resides. It is reported that a group of Sri Lankans residing in the United States has been involved in this.
The group of Sri Lankans has staged this protest demanding the President’s son Manoj Rajapaksa to bring his father back to America.
Tissa Jananayake, a popular tuition teacher who supported Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the 2019 presidential election, has apologized to the people.
It is about deceiving and supporting this unfortunate regime.
Following is a note he posted on his Facebook page.
Parliament is due to convene today (05) amid continuing protests across the country demanding the resignation of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the government.
Parliament convenes today for the first time since the start of the mass protests, and today the government is likely to lose a majority of 113 in parliament.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main partner of the government, announced yesterday that it would leave the government today and serve as an independent member of parliament.
In the face of the current situation, the President has stated that any party that can show a majority of 113 in Parliament will be given the opportunity to form a government.
But the first demand of the protesting people is that the president should resign.
Today (05) marks the 51st anniversary of the April 1971 insurrection. The uprising was launched by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and was the first mass armed struggle launched by a political party in Sri Lanka.
Oppressed youth went on strike against the government – led by the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike – in many parts of the country with the aim of seizing power by attacking the police.
Under certain circumstances, the insurgency failed and the young people were subjected to severe state repression, killing and imprisoning large numbers of others.
However, the courage, commitment and sacrifice they showed then should be commemorated today with a common purpose instead of personal goals.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s resignation and appointment of Ali Sabri,a lawyer handling the country’s treasury at a time of financial crisis have raised eyebrows of economic experts and moderate intellectuals in the island nation.
With the resignation of the Governor and pending a successor, the Central Bank has postponed the April monetary policy review which was scheduled for yesterday.
Post the pre-scheduled meeting, the Central Bank was to release the statement today followed by a press conference.
However the resignation of the Governor at a time where the country is facing sevre forex crisis and results of corrective measures are pending will not bring any relief for the suffering masses, several economic experts said.
The Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal on Monday said he has tendered his resignation to the President as he doesn’t want to continue under the present circumstances.
“In the context of all Cabinet Ministers resigning, I have today submitted my resignation as Governor, CBSL to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,” he announced in a twitter post.
All 26 Cabinet Ministers had resigned with immediate effect late on Sunday night.
Cabraal, who had served as the State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms of the 9th Parliament, had tendered his resignation as an SLPP National List MP to once again take over the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in September last year.
Former CBSL Deputy Governor W.A. Wijewardena following Cabraal’s resignation said he had hope for CB and the monetary sector because Cabraal was better than his predecessor Prof. W.D. Lakshman.
“Many blamed me for doing so; my explanation was that like King Mahasen, he had done both merits and demerits and we should now give him an opportunity;Mr Wijewardena said.
He noted that he even gave him four pieces of advice. That advice was: 1) Remove Lakshman shock of holding the rupee at 203/$ and getting importers to put 100% margin 2) He should realise he is Governor of the nation’s CB and not Rajapaksa and serve our interest 3) Ask Gota to go back to tax system prior to 2019 and 4) Seek IMF funding,” Wijewardena recalled.
“Sadly, he failed to listen to this advice and instead pronounced that he will go for a ‘homegrown solution’ claiming that CB has more experts than outside bodies, he disclosed.
He said that thisCB road map was a non-event because ANC had touched on areas for which he had no authority. Also, it was reviewed in December 2021 to find none of the goals have been achieved. T
here was still no positive response from ANC and he stubbornly held to his view of not allowing the rupee to depreciate and MF support; finally, when all reserves were gone, he had to allow LKR to fall freely causing problems for his political masters and SL, how nice had he been listening to us?” queried Wijewardena via his tweet
Referring to the new appointment of Finance Minister,another eminent economists who wished to remain anonymous noted that this is not the time for experimenting with ad hoc patch work solutions for the benefit of a few in the government headed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa as his decision to appoint Ali Sabri for the post of Finance Minister and the acceptance of resignation of Mr. Cabraal will make the crisis situation worse aggravating it to boiling point.
Several high level officials have alaready expressed concern on the decision taken by the president claiming that it will definitely boomerang over the present administration.
They expressed their dismay at the failure of the President to find suitable ruling party members to hand over the Finance ministerial portfolio as there are many qualified and experienced MPS with economic and financial background in the SLPP.
They noted that Ali Sabri was doing a good job as Justice and he was working tirelessly to introduce judicial reforms and a new constitution.
But the public officials will soon protest against this appointment unless no remedial action is taken by the President , they added.