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SLFP General Secretary, Minister Duminda Dissanayake says that if false propaganda over the decisions taken by the SLFP in the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister and the government continues, many leaders of the SLFP including himself will have to reveal the real truth behind the 16 who left the government.

The Minister further stated that the two small groups of United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) are working towards creating clashes within the government. Dissanayake also claimed that 23 MP’s of the party withheld from voting at the NCM in a bid to protect the 16 who left the government but certain individuals have been trying to link him along with Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to the UNP.

However, he stressed that he nor Amaraweera has any intention to join the UNP.

In order to help Small States get access to global markets, Sri Lanka pledged financial contribution to setup the Small States Trade Financial Facility yesterday (17), on the margins of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the United Kingdom. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Finance & Mass Media signed this agreement on behalf of Sri Lanka.

Initiated at the CHOGM 2013 Summit in Colombo, the Commonwealth recognised the importance of trade finance for the development of Small States and introduced this innovative blended finance support totalling USD 5 million. It is expected that commonwealth Small States will have access to USD 300 million of incremental trade finance over a three-year period from this programme. As an anchor investor, Sri Lanka has donated USD 1.5 million towards this fund since 2015.

Minister Samaraweera stated that Sri Lanka’s pledge towards this scheme reflects our commitment towards espousing the values and the spirit of this organization in assisting the more vulnerable members in the Commonwealth to develop their economies whose populations productive capacity and domestic markets are limited.

The other countries supporting this endeavour by pledging financial commitment towards this initiative are India, Mauritius and Malta.

It is being reported that following the political change on May 8 former Test Cricket Captain of Sri Lanka, Minister Arjuna Ranatunga will be appointed as the new President of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC).

The current chief of the SLC, Thilanga Sumathipala was appointed to the post on January 3, 2016, and according to regulations at the time, the term of office of any board of a national sports association was two years.

Accordingly, the term of the current board ended on January 3, 2018. As a result, a general meeting had to be called prior to March 31 to appoint a new board. However according to new regulations gazetted by Former Minister of Sports, Dayasiri Jayasekara this should happen prior to June 1. The new regulations have also increased the term of the board to four years.

It is said that the current SLC board is, therefore, looking to adopt the new regulations but if they do so they will not be required to hold an election before June 4 giving the current board two more years to be in their positions.

Due to an attempt to postpone the elections scheduled to May 20, several UNP MP’s have suggested that the board should be dissolved and a committee should be appointed instead headed by Minister Arjuna Ranatunga.

According to sources the request to accept the post has been made to Ranatunga by the UNP party leadership and a number of senior cricketers.

The move comes especially at a time where the current President of SLC, Sumathipala supported the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister resulting in him becoming politically isolated. Allegations have also been rife that Sri Lanka cricket suffered during his tenure as SLC Chief.

Therefore if an election is called Ranatunga is expected to gain the full support of the UNP.

A soldier of the 3 Sri Lanka National Guard (SLNG) of the Kawantissapura camp at Kataragama managed to save the lives of four three-wheeler passengers, trapped in a raging inferno in the recent accident where a three-wheeler had a head-on-collision with a bus near the 'Aluth Para' junction on Colombo - Kataragama main road, close to Ambalantota on Monday (16). The soldier had fought the blazing fire at the risk of his own life to save the accident victims.

According to sources four members of one family, including one toddler and a child in the three-wheeler has been returning from Kataragama when a speeding passenger bus from the opposite direction collided with it head on, igniting a blazing fire in the three-wheeler while all the passengers remained trapped under the bus.

Lance Corporal M.G Chandana of 3 SLNG had been on board the Kataragama-bound bus had acted immediately to save the victims. Accusations were rife after the accident that many witnesses to the accident had been reluctant to help and was seen instead taking photographs at the accident spot.

The lives of all four victims are said to be now out of danger and the Police are conducting investigations.Meanwhile, Ambalantota Police station, as well as the SLNG, are planning to felicitate the heroic soldier for his timely intervention and the rescue of four live while risking his own life.

Engineers of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) have announced they will work to rule commencing from May 8. According to the Union, the action will be based on several demands including salary anomalies.

‘Water Creatures Beach Guest Restaurant & Surf Bar’ in Mirissa, where a group of Dutch tourists were brutally assaulted, has been shut down following an order from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) today.

Six suspects were earlier arrested by Weligama Police in connection with the incident and remanded until April 19.

According to the SLTDA the establishment was not registered with the Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB), as stipulated by the Tourism Act No. 38 of 2005, a spokesman for the SLTB said.

According to the spokesman, the SLTB is set to take legal action against the establishment through its newly formed enforcement unit if they continue to operate without a valid licence. Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that the establishment had obtained a liquor licence despite being an unregistered tourist establishment.

While Police investigations into the incident have been expedited at the request of the Ministry of Law and Order as well as the Inspector General of Police, the SLTB has offered to sponsor the complainants to revisit Sri Lanka to assist the Police in the investigations.

“If they can identify the suspects we will sponsor them to return to the country” the spokesman confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Police claim following this incident, they have received a complaint from an Australian tourist of a similar incident at the same establishment.

According to sources from the Police tourist division, the tourist claimed females were harassed at a beach party held previously at the same establishment which goes by the name of Water Creatures Restaurant. While the restaurant claims the alleged incident on April 7, had occurred on the beach and not within the restaurant, Police say eye witnesses who have come forward refute this.

According to the complainants, the females in the group were sexually harassed by a group of local men and they were later assaulted for speaking out against the harassment.

The re-authorised US generalised scheme of preferences (GSP) will become active for Sri Lankan exporters from April 22 Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen said.

US President Donald Trump re-authorised US GSP facility for 120 countries when he signed the US Omnibus Spending Bill on 23 March.

The re-authorisation opens opportunities for around 5000 products to be imported to US without tariff from 120 developing countries. Sri Lanka will now benefit from the renewed US GSP Scheme until 31 December 2020.

Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure appointed Professor Rohan Samarajiva as Chairman of Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the Ministry said in a statement today.

The new appointment came after the Board of Directors of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the apex ICT organization under the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure has been reconstituted.

IProfessor Rohan Samarajiva, former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission contributed to the design of the e-Sri Lanka initiative that the ICTA implemented from 2003. He served on the ICTA Board during the organization’s formative period.

Source : Sunday Times Online

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Ministers who recently walked out from the government are demanding the appointment of a new General Secretary for the SLFP.

Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara claims that the SLFP cannot continue under a General Secretary who backs the United National Party (UNP) referring to the current General Secretary, Minister of Agriculture Duminda Dissanayake.

According to Jayasekera SLFP members who left the unity Government recently will push for a new General Secretary.

Jayasekara said the request will be made at the Central Committee meeting scheduled to be held once President Maithripala Sirisena returns from London while they will also push the party to leave the unity Government.

Sri Lanka has long identified the risk of financial crime as a priority area, given the country’s history in battling a sophisticated terror organization. A number of measures were taken over the years and the government is currently working on bringing on necessary amendments to some of the existing regulations with the objective of preventing financial crimes.

Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera made these remarks at a roundtable discussion on ‘Financial Regulation: Working Together to Address De-Risking,’ held on the sidelines of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), at the Mansion House in London, today (17).

The Minister stated that the sophistication of financial crimes has increased exponentially in recent years and is a threat to all nations which has resulted in a number of negative fallouts for international finance.

"One such negative fall-out is “de-risking”, the scenario of global banks selectively withdrawing from the business of correspondent banking. This can have highly detrimental implications for banks in developing countries in particular as it can shut them out of the global financial architecture," the Minister added.

Minister Samaraweera also stated that the challenge for countries like Sri Lanka is how to ensure continued progress of financial inclusion in this context.

"At a more micro-level, one of the major objectives of our government, embodied in the 2018 Budget themed Enterprise Sri Lanka, is to empower entrepreneurs by providing access to finance. In order to ensure access to finance at grass roots level, it is important for the Sri Lankan financial system to have robust access and engagement with the global financial architecture", Samaraweera said.

The Scotland Police have defended a contract it has with the Sri Lankan Police despite concerns raised by human rights groups.

A reply to a freedom of information request by Police Scotland noted that its international contracts in 2017 included a training programme in Sri Lanka, a state accused of gross human rights abuses including Police torture.

Scots officers were sent to Jamaica and Sri Lanka to train their respective police forces, two projects criticised by human groups.

In reply, however, Superintendent Shaun McKillop of Police Scotland, said he fully acknowledged such concerns but added that not to engage with these nations would mean having no influence over improving the situation in the future.

“Sri Lanka remains one of the key places for the UK government, so we continue to work for them through the conflict, stability and security fund,” McKillop said. “We’ve done some work for the UK government in Pakistan, looking at crime investigation in the Punjab. We’ve also worked for the Scottish Government in Malawi and Zambia.”

When asked why state torture remains a problem in Sri Lanka nearly a decade after Police Scotland began its work there, McKillop said it was important to keep engaging with the country.

He said: “The British High Commission review our training on a regular basis, as well as our own monitoring. We are continuing to work with them and to press them.

The World Bank projecting an economic growth of 4.8 percent for Sri Lanka this year warns that while the economic outlook remains favorable, challenging political environment impeding reforms is a key risk for the medium-term growth as political uncertainties slowed the implementation of reforms.

"The outlook remains favorable, provided the government is committed to the reform agenda of improving competitiveness, governance and public financial management," the global lender said in its latest report "South Asia Economic Focus Spring 2018".

Together with the IMF program, these reforms will add to confidence and support fiscal consolidation efforts.

The report projects the growth to rebound in 2018 from a low base and continue to be around 4.5 percent in the medium term, driven by private consumption and investment.

Inflation will stabilize at the mid-single digit level as the impact of natural disasters wears off, although the upward trend in oil prices may exert some upward pressure.

The external sector will continue to benefit from the GSP+ preferential access to the European Union and tourism receipts, despite the deceleration of remittances.

External buffers are expected to improve, with emphasis on purchasing foreign exchange, maintaining a more market-determined exchange rate, and increased FDI.

The overall fiscal deficit is projected to fall in the medium term, supported by the ongoing implementation of revenue measures.

 Growth should continue to translate into poverty reduction and improvement in living standards.

However, a further slowdown in reform implementation, in a challenging political environment, remains the key risk to the baseline and the impending election cycle elevates this risk, the Bank warns.

The World Bank cautions that Sri Lanka faces several challenges that increasingly put its future economic growth and stability at risk, which must be addressed through macro and structural reforms and it suggests to:

(1) stay on the fiscal consolidation path by broadening and simplifying the tax base and aligning spending with priorities. This is important given high public debt, SOE debt and guarantees and large gross financing requirements;

(2) shift towards a private investment-tradable sector-led growth model by improving trade, investment, innovation and the business environment;

(3) improve governance and accountability by implementing the Right to Information Act for citizens' engagement and improve SOE performance and service delivery; and (4) reduce vulnerability and risks in the economy by enhancing disaster preparedness and mitigating the impact of reforms on the poor and vulnerable with well-targeted spending;

(4) reduce vulnerability and risks in the economy by enhancing disaster preparedness and mitigating the impact of reforms on the poor and vulnerable with well-targeted spending.

Source : Colombo Page