Author: TELO Admin

The Chinese government has come forward to fulfil 80% coverage of vaccines in Sri Lanka making the vaccination programme a great success and thereby strengthen the country, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said.

She expressed these views at a special discussion held with the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong at the Chinese Embassy this morning.

“The Chinese Government has extended its support to the Government of Sri Lanka in strengthening the programme to save the lives of people infected with Covid-19 and to control the virus by providing essential medical equipment to Intermediate Treatment Centres and Hospitals,” the Minister said.

Minister Wanniarachchi also thanked the Chinese Government for their support to control Covid virus in Sri Lanka from the outset, further strengthening the long standing international relations between the two countries.

In response, the Chinese Ambassador said the Chinese Government is giving priority to providing all assistance to control the Covid-19 epidemic in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, steps will be taken to provide grants and necessary assistance to Sri Lanka in the future, he said.

The China Development Bank (CDB) is expected to expand the pending $ 200 million, which it agreed to provide to Sri Lanka as part of a $ 500 million loan extended to the country in the first half of this year, to $ 350 million based on a request made by the Sri Lankan authorities, The Sunday Morning Business learns.

Speaking to us, Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle stated that Sri Lanka has already received a sum of $ 500 million under the agreement signed between the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the People’s Bank of China. He said that even though it is a $ 700 million loan agreement, CDB is now expected to add another $ 150 million, making the second tranche of the loan $ 350 million, which is yet to be received by Sri Lanka.

“Some Chinese money equivalent to $ 350 million is to be received, for which the authorities are currently working on the documentation process. However, we are hoping to receive it within this month,” Attygalle said.

When inquired if Sri Lanka will request for a larger payment of the pending swap facility, Attygalle highlighted that the authorities might request for it, but he is not fully aware of the situation.

Speaking to us last month, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman hinted that more swap lines with a number of countries are in the pipeline. However, he did not reveal any further information at the time, as he said it could hinder the negotiations taking place with the respective countries.

Subsequently, speaking to us in April, Attygalle also mentioned that the remaining $ 200 million in renminbi-denominated credit would be issued to the country during Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s then upcoming visit to China.

Sri Lanka received a $ 500 million loan from China in April. Issuing a statement, the Sri Lankan Embassy in China said: “This loan will infuse vitally required foreign exchange into the Sri Lanka economy. These funds will help with government efforts to facilitate rapid economic recovery following the setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

These loans were received from China after the People’s Bank of China approved a swap facility of $ 1.5 billion for the CBSL. Accordingly, the agreement signed between the CBSL and the People’s Bank of China is valid for three years and the deal was made during a period when Sri Lanka was struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic.

China has further agreed to provide a $ 989 million loan to Sri Lanka to build an expressway that will connect its central region to the Chinese-run seaport, which is part of Beijing’s plan for a line of ports stretching from Chinese waters to the Persian Gulf. Accordingly, as per the study conducted by the Chatham House, reports claim that the cumulative value of Chinese infrastructure investment to Sri Lanka amounted to $ 12.1 billion between 2006 and July 2019.

In the meantime, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Board on 23 May approved in principle a draft $ 200 million currency swap deal with Sri Lanka for the purpose of meeting foreign currency expenditures.

With reference to the official statements made by BB, the currency swap agreement will be finalised after being legally vetted by Government-approved lawyers and would get around 1-2% plus LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) from Sri Lanka as interest.

Also, the Government of the Republic of Korea in April agreed to provide concessional loans up to an aggregate commitment amount of $ 500 million to finance mutually agreed projects in Sri Lanka from the Economic Development Co-operation Fund (EDCF) of the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

Accordingly, both Governments have agreed to sign a new framework arrangement for the period of 2020-2022 in order to obtain loans through the EDCF to finance projects that are mutually agreed upon (up to the amount of $ 500 million).

Sri Lanka is also liable to repay nearly $ 4.5 billion in foreign debt annually until 2025. In this regard, the Ministry of Finance made a firm statement highlighting that the CBSL and the Ministry are planning on meeting the country’s debt obligations through foreign inflows, export income, and taxes, and clearly mentioned that Sri Lanka will not be seeking the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have agreed to work on “four pillars” of security cooperation, covering areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cyber security, in a recent virtual meeting of top security officials of the three countries, The Hindu reported.

The Deputy National Security Adviser-level meeting was hosted online by Sri Lanka on Wednesday, and chaired by General LHSC Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of Army of Sri Lanka. Pankaj Saran, Deputy National Security Adviser of India, and Aishath Nooshin Waheed, Secretary, National Security Adviser’s Office of the Maldivian President participated.

Intelligence sharing

The discussion comes nine months after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited Colombo for deliberations with Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence, Kamal Gunaratne, and Defence Minister of Maldives, Mariya Didi, in which the three countries agreed to expand the scope of intelligence sharing.

Their meeting marked the revival of NSA-level trilateral talks on maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region after a gap of six years.

Following up on that, the Deputy NSA-level meeting this week identified “four pillars” of cooperation in Marine Safety and Security, Terrorism and Radicalisation, Trafficking and Organised Crime, and Cyber security, a press release from the Indian High Commission here said on Friday, adding “specific proposals” for cooperation in each area, including joint exercises and training were discussed.

The ‘Colombo Security Conclave’ among the three neighbouring countries seeks to “further promote” maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region, and was initiated by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2011, when he was Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, according to a media release from the Sri Lankan Army.

The initiative, grounded in military and security collaboration, assumes significance in the region, in the wake of the current geostrategic dynamic that India shares with Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Earlier this year, India aired security concerns over China being awarded development projects in an island off Sri Lanka’s northern province, close to India’s southern border.

Engagement with Quad

On the other hand, the Maldives’s engagement with members of the India-United States-Japan-Australia grouping, known as the ‘Quad’, has been growing over the last year, especially in the area of defence cooperation. The Ibrahim Mohamed Solih government signed a ‘Framework for a Defence and Security Relationship’ agreement with the United States last year, an initiative that India welcomed.

In November 2020, the Maldives received a Japanese grant of $7.6 million for the Maldivian Coast Guard and a Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center. Meanwhile, Male’s foreign policy choices are increasingly being challenged by sections, mostly opposition groups, wary of “Indian boots on the ground”.

As hospitals and allied medical facilities reached breaking point in the backdrop of the virulent Delta strain of the Coronavirus wreaking havoc across the country, Sri Lanka’s top national professional medical body, called for the re-imposition of travel restrictions to curb the rapid transmission of the deadly variant.

“That’s the only solution to combat surging caseloads in the short term”, says the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA).

The final outcome could be disastrous if there’s no decisive action at this juncture to clamp down on unrestricted public movement as the country is on the brink of the fourth wave, SLMA Vice President, Consultant Endocrinologist, Dr. Manilka Sumanatilleke warned.

The Colombo area was found to be particularly vulnerable as most of the positive cases that have emerged so far were linked to the highly transmissible Delta variant, medical officials said.

“The infection is spreading super fast”, they cautioned, while pointing out that the spike in the caseload and the mortality rate reported on a daily basis was due to Delta surfacing as the dominant Covid-19 strain.

Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the Sri Jayewardenepura University, Dr. Chandima Jeewandara, confirmed that 75% of the Covid-19 cases detected in Colombo during the last week of July were associated with the Delta variant.

The rapid spread of the strain in Colombo has become increasingly clear because in the first week of July, only 13% Delta infections were found following laboratory testing on Covid-19 variants, he said.

Initially detected in the Dematagoda area, the strain has spread rapidly to many other parts of the country bringing in its wake a bigger caseload, which has overwhelmed the country’s health sector.

According to latest figures, 94 Covid related deaths were reported (49 males and 45 females), while 1,885 positive cases were reported on August 5. This has pushed up the total caseload to 320,640 and the death toll to 4,821 so far.

The situation is so grave that there are three Covid linked deaths in Sri Lanka every hour, Dr. Sumanatilleke explained.

“The frequency of accommodating patients have already been exceeded in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Kununegala and Puttalam”.

The virus is spreading faster than the ongoing inoculation drive, he said, while stressing that the only option to combat the growing threat is to re-impose travel restrictions.

The government must be proactive in addressing the crisis without allowing the situation to reach alarming proportions, he noted.

With hospitals at maximum capacity in terms of patient’ admissions, the whole outlook is frightening, he pointed out.

Though the SLMA and other professional medical bodies have called for a fresh travel ban, there has still not been a positive response from the health sector.

Government medical officials have expressed confidence that galloping infection numbers can be tackled by broad-basing the ongoing inoculation drive.

Source:The Island