News

The Ministry of Power and Energy says that it will arrive at a decision today (April 17), on whether to maintain the increased fuel quota in view of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year festive season or not.

The government had taken measures to increase the existed fuel quota under the QR code system with effect from midnight on April 04.

Earlier, it had reportedly been decided to revise the fuel quotas back to the previous quantities from tomorrow (April 18).

The government had taken steps to increase three-wheel quotas from 5 litres to 8 litres, motorcycles from 4 litres to 7 litres, buses from 40 litres to 60 litres, cars from 20 litres to 30 litres, land vehicles from 15 litres to 25 litres, lorries from 50 litres to 75 litres, quadric cycle from 4 litres to 6 litres, special purpose vehicles from 20 litres to 30 litres and vans from 20 litres to 30 litres.

However, the Ministry of Power and Energy stated that a decision had not been arrived so far on whether the fuel quotas are to be revised back or not.

The Sri Lanka Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs officially confirmed the cancellation of the gazette notification dated April 1st, 2022. Considering this, Asia Rugby has made the prudent decision to reinstate Sri Lanka Rugby as a full member of Asia Rugby.

During its meeting on April 9th, 2022, in Phuket, Thailand, the Asia Rugby Executive Committee (EXCO) temporarily suspended Sri Lanka Rugby’s membership. On May 1st, 2022 EXCO unanimously ratified the decision and imposed a full membership suspension.

Asia Rugby President Qais al Dhalai stated, “The EXCO’s decision to suspend Sri Lanka Rugby’s membership was made in accordance with Asia Rugby’s Articles and Regulations to maintain our principles of equality, transparency and accountability. I am pleased to hear about the withdrawal of the gazette notification, making it possible for Asia Rugby to lift the suspension.”

Qais further added, “We look forward to welcoming Sri Lanka teams back to Asia Rugby competitions.”

Leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) Mano Ganesan has admitted having initiated an effort to bring the UNP and the SJB under one umbrella.

Together with SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, he has spoken to both president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

“We suspended the initiative when SJB failed to respond,” Ganesan tweeted.

“But the subject of ‘premiership’ never popped-up in our discussion,” the TPA leader added.

Meanwhile, in a statement on the same subject, he dismissed claims by certain media that the president had offered, through him, the premiership to Premadasa.

Ganesan added that he was not a messenger, but will play the role of a mediator in talks with honest intentions.

Japan, France and India will announce a new platform for creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Wednesday, adding it would be “very nice” if China were to join the effort.

As chair of this year’s Group of Seven (G7) meeting, Japan has put efforts to address debt vulnerabilities of middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka as among priorities for debate.

The announcement of the new platform, initiated by Japan, France and G20 chair India, will be made on Thursday, Suzuki said in a news conference after the G7 finance leaders’ meeting.

The platform will likely consist of a series of meetings of the creditor nations to discuss the debt.

“We altogether made a great effort to set up the framework,” Suzuki said. “I hope many countries will participate. It will be very nice if China will join,” Suzuki said.

Sri Lanka last month secured a $2.9 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund to tackle its suffocating debt burden and its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades, which has disrupted imports of essentials from fuel to medicine and caused political turmoil.

Source: Reuters

State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya involved in an accident April 16, 2023 at 8:00 PM

An accident had occurred on the Kegalle-Avissawella main road in the Vandala area of Ruwanwella, involving the luxury jeep carrying State Minister of Finance, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya.

The incident occurred in close proximity to the state minister’s residence, with five individuals, including the state minister, inside the vehicle at the time of the collision.

The security officer of the state minister was reportedly injured during the accident and subsequently admitted to a nearby hospital.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the state minister is too is presently being treated at the Karavanella Base Hospital for minor injuries sustained in the crash. The jeep is said to have veered off the road and collided with a wall.

The Asian Development Bank is considering more concessionary funding for Sri Lanka and support for green bond issues as part of its assistance to help the nation recover from the economic crisis, according to Bloomberg News.

ADB Sri Lanka country director Chen Chen said in an interview in Colombo that the Manila-based lender’s immediate priority in 2023 is to continue work on overall economic stability and support the banking and energy sectors.

“We are also actively working on mobilizing more concessional resources and grant resources to the country,” Chen said. “This will hopefully be part of our assistance in the coming years.”

ADB is trying to mobilize funds below the already concessional Ordinary Capital Resources facilities that Sri Lanka currently has access to, Chen said.

Last month, Sri Lanka clinched a $3 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund that is expected to unlock fresh funding and help the island nation begin restructuring its debt after an unprecedented default in 2022. Last year, the World Bank made Sri Lanka eligible for more concessional funds, as the nation sought to ease its debt obligations.

Through 2022, the ADB disbursed around $334 million by re-purposing existing project loans. The lender already has about $3.7 billion of previously approved loans in transport, energy, education, health, social protection, agriculture, and small and medium enterprises, among others, which will be disbursed as projects progress, Chen said.

Sri Lanka is now conducting an asset quality review of banks with ADB’s support, and is discussing reforms to improve governance and financial sustainability for the power sector, Chen said.

Disruptions to economic activity due to electricity outages last year as the government ran out of dollars to pay for essential imports including fuel, food and medicine, showed that the power sector has a key role to play in Sri Lanka’s stability and future recovery, Chen said.

The ADB is also working with local authorities to prepare the groundwork to sell “green or blue bonds” after economic stability is restored, Chen said.

The lender expects Sri Lanka’s economy will contract by 3% this year and expand by 1.3% in 2024, after shrinking by 7.8% last year.

“We hope in the long term, the private sector can contribute more to the economy,” Chen said. “We would like to continue discussions with the private sector if there are emerging needs.”

The Ministry of Education announced today (17) that all Government schools will reopen as planned.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Education has stated that it will not issue letters for admission to intermediate classes because a new circular regarding admission to intermediate classes in national schools will be issued on 20 April 2023.

Japan, India and France are scheduled to hold a press briefing on Thursday (13 April) to announce the launch of the debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) communicated this quoting the Japanese Finance Ministry.

Accordingly, the finance ministers of the three creditor countries – Shunichi Suzuki, Bruno Le Maire and Nirmala Sitharaman – will join the said press briefing planned to be held on the margins of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Washington DC.

The three creditor countries have been working closely for a coordinated debt restructuring process for the island nation.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe are expected to join the live streaming of the press briefing.

In addition, the IMF, World Bank and other international organizations as well as the private sector will participate in the debt restructuring discussions.

The IMF had made Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring a prerequisite for granting the USD 2.9 billion bailout. Its Executive Board approved a 48-month extended arrangement under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with an amount of SDR 2.286 billion (about USD 3 billion) to Sri Lanka following financing assurances from the creditors.

Sri Lanka, which drew its first tranche of the USD 3 billion bailout programme, has already met an instalment to pay back an Indian line of credit which the island nation obtained early last year just before announcing the debt default.

The IMF bailout, the 17th in Sri Lanka’s history, was approved following prolonged discussions over Colombo’s unsustainable debt.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking a major political and humanitarian crisis in the island nation.

Air Seychelles has announced that it will commence twice-weekly flights from Mahe to Colombo, starting in June.

The inaugural flight is scheduled to depart on June 20, 2023, at 22.05 and arrive in Colombo four hours later.

The airline’s Airbus A320 Neo aircraft will serve the route with 12 business class and 156 economy class seats.

Charles Johnson, Air Seychelles’ chief commercial officer said the new route will link Seychelles with Sri Lanka, providing excellent opportunities for tourism, medical treatment, and trade.

The airline’s partnership with SriLankan Airlines will also allow travelers to purchase a single ticket for travel beyond Colombo to various destinations in Asia, which will considerably reduce travel times and offer competitive prices.

The service will provide more than 20 connections through a future partnership with SriLankan Airlines, allowing for convenient one-stop connections to several destinations in India, Bangladesh, and popular tourist spots such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Sandy Benoiton, acting chief executive officer, believes that the new destination will enhance the airline’s regional service and improve connectivity to Southeast Asia and beyond.

To mark the launch of the new flights, Air Seychelles is offering a special web promotion from SCR 6,800 until April 25, 2023, for travel between June 20 and September 30, 2023, subject to seat availability.

The Department of Examinations has urged university lecturers to take part in the evaluation of the 2022 G.C.E. Advanced Level examination papers.

In a media release, Commissioner General of Examinations Amith Jayasundara said the paper marking activities can be commenced with the participation of the exam markers who have already applied for the task.

The paper marking process has been delayed by 54 days, the exams chief said, adding that the students who sat for the A/L exam are now afflicted while the entire sector of education is facing instability as a result.

He also mentioned that the Education Ministry has increased the payment made per answer sheet.

The 2022 Advanced Level exam was held from 23 January to 17 February this year.

The paper marking process was put on hold as the Federation of the University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) joined a countrywide one-day strike action led by the trade union collective of professionals on March 15 against the recent tax revision, electricity tariff hike and several other unpopular decisions made by the incumbent government, the.

Although services returned to normalcy after the token strike was called off the following day, the FUTA decided to continue its trade union action as satisfactory solutions were not provided for their demands.

The FUTA decided to call off its trade union action and rejoin academic activities starting from April 17.

However, the association stated that the decision on the participation of university academics in the A/L examination paper evaluation will be deferred until a satisfactory conclusion is reached.

New Year Message : President Ranil Wickremesinghe

The dawn of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year subsequent to the transition of the Sun from the house of Pisces to Aries, is considered as an extremely momentous occasion by the Sinhala and Tamil communities in the country.

On this propitious celebration, people traditionally engage in observing New Year customs at stipulated auspicious times, with the wish of securing abundant prosperity.

Last year, amidst the unprecedented economic crisis which disrupted our daily lives, we partook in the New Year rituals with untold hardship and was confined to a struggle in alleviating from this adversity.

However, I am gratified that the commencement of this year has presented a salubrious environment for us all, and therefore we should strive to be more affluent and prosperous, than today. We can undoubtedly achieve this aspiration by unitedly moving forward as one Sri Lankan nation. Accordingly, despite differences in political affiliation, ethnicity and religion, a fresh beginning is imperative to create a brighter future for us and our nation, in this New Year.

I wish all Sri Lankans here and abroad a happy Sinhala and Tamil New Year!

Ranil Wickremesinghe

President

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

The first ever Sinhala language publication on education technology has been launched.

Titled ‘Adyapana Thakshanayata Praveshayak’, it has been written by Dr. Himendra Balalla, a division head and lecturer at the National Institute of Business Management (NIBM).

The book contains the writer’s experiences and research in simple language to serve as a guidebook for teachers, administrators and students.

Speakers at its launch at Waters Edge at Battaramulla included director general of NIBM D.M.A. Kulasuriya, Prof. Tudor Weerasinghe, presidential media division director Stanley Hettiarachchi and Prof. Anura Munasinghe.