Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) indicates a slight depreciation against the US Dollar today (30) in comparison to last week’s Friday, as per the official exchange rates list issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 321.70 from Rs. 321.54, and the selling price to Rs. 332.49 from Rs. 332.01.
The Sri Lankan Rupee, meanwhile, has also depreciated against several other foreign currencies, including Gulf currencies.
Colombo (LNW): A Gazette notification has been released outlining the requirements for investors keen on operating duty-free retail or shopping mall ventures in the Colombo Port City.
Issued on October 25, 2023, by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his role as the Minister of Investment Promotion, the Gazette states that to manage a duty-free retail business, an investor must invest a minimum of USD 5 million and possess international experience in duty-free trading.
Meanwhile, a minimum investment of USD 7 million is mandated for those looking to operate a duty-free shopping mall within the Colombo Port City.
Colombo (LNW): Direct flights between Turkey and Sri Lanka started on Monday (Oct 30).
The inaugural direct Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Colombo transported 261 passengers, landing at Bandaranaike International Airport on Monday (30) morning.
Upon arrival, the passengers were greeted with a traditional Kandyan dance performance and gifted Ceylon tea packs by the Sri Lanka Tea Board.
For nearly ten years, Turkish Airlines had routed its flights to Katunayake via Male, Maldives.
Now, the direct journey from Istanbul to Colombo takes just eight hours, with flights scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Each flight is set to depart Istanbul at 5:40 AM local time and leave Sri Lanka at 7:40 AM local time.
Colombo (LNW): Plans are underway for the establishment of an independent Parliamentary Standards Authority with the remit to dismiss MPs found guilty of serious misconduct, announced Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reform Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.
This move, aligning with President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s perspective, is aimed at drafting a code of conduct for Sri Lankan MPs and establishing an oversight body to boost public trust and ensure accountability, the Minister noted.
The preliminary draft received cabinet approval, and feedback will be sought from the Speaker and all Party Leaders.
This proposed body, possessing quasi-judicial powers, will be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, excluding any political figures.
Currently, MPs found guilty of corruption face limited penalties, such as a short ban from parliamentary sessions.
The new legislation will also mandate transparency in MPs’ financial expenditures.
The President has formed a committee, led by former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, to offer insights on this new authority’s establishment.
Its roles will span overseeing MP remuneration, implementing the MP code of conduct, and conducting disciplinary proceedings.
The overarching aim is to foster integrity, transparency, and professionalism amongst MPs.
Colombo (LNW): An individual, currently detained for drug possession, has confessed to 19 contract killings during his interrogation, the Colombo Crime Division reported.
During questioning, the suspect revealed connections with several underworld figures, including the infamous late drug lord, Makandure Madush.
The man, known as Nilantha Kumara or ‘Thangalle Sudda’, is a former Army personnel who deserted his post. He was apprehended in Colombo Fort in possession of 10 grams and 07 milligrams of heroin.
Acting on information provided during his interrogation, officials discovered a Galkatas firearm concealed in Unawatuna.
A senior officer from the Colombo Crime Division clarified that, while the suspect alleges involvement in 19 homicides, specifics about these incidents remain unknown.
Given that the current evidence is solely the suspect’s testimony, further detention and investigation are required to corroborate his claims.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka government is reviewing existing laws on state-owned lands in the extent of 82 percent of available land to broad-base ownership
Another objective is to provide ownership of lands for those who are living on state lands through legal means for more than 10 years.
The new inititive covers lands granted under the provisions of the Land Development Ordinance, lands disposed under the provisions of the Land Grant (Special Provisions) Act or lands provided under the Crown Lands Ordinance.
The land accessibility and land disputes and the lack of proper land management system are the current impediments for potential industrialists setting up new business ventures in the island, a senior official of the Finance Ministry said.
The other main issue was that 60 percent of private owned lands have been mortgaged to banks and finance companies as collateral for massive loans.
At present Sri Lanka has no proper national land inventory, not even on state owned lands, he said adding that this situation makes land administration more difficult.
The Government will have to enact new legislation that will permit the conversion of state land permits and grants to unconditional land grants given for the use of people to marketable and bankable title deeds.
It provides provisions to set up an authority that gathers information on state lands and facilitates investment in underutilised state land.
In this context,the government is to implement land project addresses the weaknesses in land administration with foreign funding.
Currently Sri Lanka does not possess a proper national land inventory, not even on state lands.
Under this project it has been planne to create a parcel fabric map (a basic geographically based cadastral map of land parcels) and complete inventory of state lands.
Data thus provided will be entered into the government’s e-State Lands Information Management System (Eslims).
The map will identify location of state land with survey boundaries initially in seven districts in the North Western, North Central, Central and Eastern provinces.
The project seeks to merely strengthen government land administration capacity and assist with technological improvements.
In an attempt to rectify the problematic land registration system in Sri Lanka, a title registration system is being implemented at present called the “Bim Saviya” (Strength of Land ) with the assistance of the World Bank.
It has been implemented in 18 of 43 Land Registries at present. This initiative provides land title free of land fraud and eliminates the procedure of searching predecessors to title 30 years in the past.
In addition the Bim Saviya is also implementing an E-Land registry which is extremely necessary in Sri Lanka.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka hydro electricity generation has regained momentum accounting for 64% of the total generation during the last week, up from 61% in the previous week, according to charts.lk statistics.
It said the use of thermal oil-based electricity has fallen lower than 10% in October, which was 27% in September.
The contribution of the Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) has also contributed 10% during October.
As hydropower has the least generation cost, CEB’s profitability improves during years the hydropower contribution to the total electricity generation increases and vice versa.
The positive relationship between hydropower contribution and CEB’s profitability is consistent throughout the period from 2011 to 2019.
In 2013 and 2015, share of hydropower generation peaked at, 58% and 46% respectively. It was only in 2013 and 2015, CEB managed to generate a profit as opposed to the loss it makes in the other years.
Hydropower contributed to almost 100% of electricity generation in the country till mid-1995.
However, the contribution of coal and the more expensive oil-based generation to Sri Lanka’s electricity generation mix has seen a continuous rise over the years fueled by rapid growth in electricity demand over the last two decades.
The limited potential to develop large new Hydropower facilities has significantly escalated the costs to CEB leading to massive losses.
Furthermore, contribution from hydropower plants are highly vulnerable to weather conditions which explains the frequent swings in its contribution in different years. During wet years, hydropower generation increases even beyond 40% of energy mix.
But in dry years, oil-fired thermal power plants are heavily used to bridge the gap in Hydropower generation, and these are the years during which CEB’s profitability plummets heavily.
Hydropower, thermal coal, and thermal oil power plants are the key power generation sources of Sri Lanka accounting for 92% of the power generated on average in the last 5 years.
Other non-conventional renewable energy sources such as wind power contributes only a small proportion, 8% on average over the last 5 years.
The cost of generating power varies considerably based on the power source. The unit cost of generating power in 2020 from the key power plants that generate over 50 Gigawatt Hours (Gwh) annually.
The data shows that the unit cost of generating power from the hydropower plants are the lowest compared to other sources of power generation in Sri Lanka.
Amongst the powerplants considered in the Infographic, the unit cost of generating power from the hydropower plants averaged LKR 5.0 per Kwh during the year compared to LKR 10.2 per Kwh of coal power plant,
LKR 16.8 Kwh of Non-conventional Renewable Energy power plants and a substantially high average of LKR 32.9 Kwh of the Thermal Oil power plants.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): The Government’ plans to incentivise additional pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish operations in Sri Lanka with the aim of enabling them to meet a minimum of 75% of the nation’s pharmaceutical demand.
Unveiling this ambitious plan Minister of Industry and Health Dr. Ramesh Pathirana recently said that currently, only approximately 20% of Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical needs are produced domestically.
The Minister further said that a National Policy for Industrial Development (NaPID) has been crafted and has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance for its endorsement prior to its presentation to the Cabinet.
The NaPID is intended to be incorporated into Sri Lanka’s National Policy Framework (2023-2048).
More companies are engaging with local pharmaceutical manufacturing and Sri Lanka will be able to amass around US$ 15 million export revenue from Pharma exports by 2030 said President Sri Lanka Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (SLPMA) Kalana Hewamallika.
Currently this figure is around USD 5 million. He recalled that in 1956, Sri Lanka took a momentous leap into the Western pharmaceutical industry when Pfizer –Dumex Ltd, entered the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector which marked the beginning of Sri Lanka’s journey towards its footprint in the pharmaceutical field.
“By manufacturing high-quality Western medicines, local companies are actively contributing to the creation of a self-sufficient Sri Lanka, which will result in the saving of foreign currency.
Presently, local manufactures produce more than 150 molecules of medicines, ooconsisting of more than 50 therapeutic categories and exceeding 10 dosage forms.
Local manufacturers of pharmaceuticals command 15% of the market share and approximately 25% of the essential medicines used in the government hospitals and clinics are supplied by our manufacturers.”
Due to this process these companies have saved the country around US$ 100 million annually and this number is fast increasing. “Establishment of Oya Maduwa Pharma zone in Anuradhapura too is a step taken in the right direction,” he disclosed.
Medical and pharmaceutical expenditure of the country during 2020 was recorded at US$ 600 million.
By 2022, it has reached a value of US$ 750 million, posting a five-year annual growth rate of 4.1%.
Currently, 84.6% of pharmaceutical needs are imported and about 15 local manufacturing plants including Sri Lanka Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation SPMC provide the balance 15.4% of the requirement with an estimated value of Rs 18 billion annually.
The annual budget estimate for importing medicines and surgical consumables is 300 million US dollars.
As of January 2023, Sri Lanka was still facing a funding gap of 220 million US dollars to import essential medicines and supplies.
Sri Lanka’s government owed Rs 25.7 billion in arrears to foreign pharmaceutical suppliers, he added.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s mobile operator community yesterday announced the commercial launch of new industry-wide network APIs, as part of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative.
Application Programming Interface. In the context of APIs, the word Application refers to any software with a distinct function.
Interface can be thought of as a contract of service between two applications. This contract defines how the two communicate with each other using requests and responses.
In doing so, they will help developers and businesses accelerate the growth of digital services and apps, by ensuring they work seamlessly with all the country’s mobile networks and 100s of others around the world.
All four of the countries mobile operators; Bharti Airtel Lanka Ltd., Dialog Axiata, Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka Ltd., and SLT-Mobitel have prioritised and launched three value creating APIs.
These are One Time Password (OTP) validation, Device Location and Carrier Billing, giving developers and enterprises a standard way to technically and commercially reach over 21 million Sri Lankans regardless of their network operator.
As part of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, these APIs will be locally and globally federated, meaning developers can reach new subscribers outside of Sri Lanka as Open Gateway coverage grows.
The initial set of APIs are set to revolutionise the digital adoption by Sri Lankan enterprises and developers by providing a single integration that works across all four operators in the country.
GSMA Open Gateway empowers developers worldwide to create innovative services by accessing network resources. Developed in collaboration with mobile operators worldwide, the framework ensures consistent, interoperable access to mobile networks through the standards-based CAMARA repository, a Linux Foundation project.
The initiative fosters collaborations among operators, industry associations, developers, and content creators while adhering to all relevant technical standards, regulations and user privacy standards. More than 36 mobile operator groups, representing 214 mobile networks and 60% of mobile connections worldwide, are now part of the initiative.
The platform delivered by the GSMA Open Gateway initiative will enable operators to offer an exciting new and federated portfolio of services that developers can access through APIs to enhance the experience that they deliver to their users.
Colombo (LNW): The government of Sri Lanka is considering setting a price cap for fertilisers following reports from the Ministry of Agriculture about them being sold to farmers at inflated prices.
A definitive decision on this price control has not yet been made, and any final resolution will be based on thorough analysis of studies and reports concerning fertiliser sales, several local reports claimed.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture shared that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has suggested creating a Modern Agriculture Technical Secretariat, and a Cabinet paper will also be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers in the coming week.
