Category: Featured Headlines

Two Russian warships have entered Sri Lankan waters, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

A detachment of Pacific Fleet ships led by the flagship of the Nakhimov Guards missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs and the large sea tanker Boris Butoma have entered the responsibility zone of the TOF south of Sri Lanka.

The detachment of ships is making an inter-fleet transition from the Mediterranean Sea to the point of permanent deployment in Vladivostok after completing tasks in the far maritime zone.

In the area of Sri Lanka Island, the Pacific Fleet took operational control of the ships’ detachment on the crossing from the Black Sea Fleet, whose area of responsibility they successfully traversed. The detachment of ships is currently making the crossing across the Indian Ocean.

Admiral Tributs is a Project 1155 Large Anti-Submarine Ship (Большой Противолодочный Корабль, BPK) of the Russian Navy. The ship was laid down on 19 April 1980 and launched on 26 March 1983.

The vessel is 163 m (534.8 ft) long with a beam of 19.3 m (63.3 ft) and a draught of 7.8 m (25.6 ft). Displacement was 6,200 t (6,102 long tons) standard and 7,900 t (7,775 long tons) full load.

Power is provided by four 23,000 kW (31,000 hp) hp GTA M-9 propulsion complexes, each comprising a 6,300 kW (8,500 hp) M-62 and a 16,800 kW (22,500 hp) hp M-8KF powering two fixed pitch propellers. which gave a maximum speed of 29.5 knots (55 km/h; 34 mph).

To combat submarines, Admiral Tributs mounts two quadruple launchers for eight missiles in the Metel Anti-Ship Complex along with two RBU-6000 12-barrel rocket launchers for close in defence.

Global ratings agency S&P Global on Thursday cut Sri Lanka’s bonds by two notches to its lowest rating ‘D’ from ‘CC’, pushing it deeper into junk territory, following missed interest payments due on Sept. 14 and Sept. 28, 2022.

“We do not expect the government to make payments on the ISBs within 30 calendar days after their due dates,” the agency said.

The agency affirmed its ‘CCC-’ long term and ‘C’ short term local currency sovereign ratings. S&P’s outlook on the long-term local currency rating remains negative.

S&P Global Ratings affirmed its ‘SD’ long-term and ‘SD’ short-term foreign currency sovereign ratings on Sri Lanka. At the same time, it affirmed the ‘CCC-’ long-term and ‘C’ short-term local currency sovereign ratings. The outlook on the long-term local currency rating remains negative.

Sri Lanka’s external public debt moratorium prevents payment of interest and principal obligations due on the government’s ISBs. This would have affected interest payments due Sept. 14, 2022, and Sept. 28, 2022, on its ISBs maturing 2024, 2029, and 2030.

S&P Global lowered the ratings on the following bonds from ‘CC’ to ‘D’:

US$1.0 billion, 6.85% bonds due March 14, 2024.
US$1.4 billion, 7.85% bonds due March 14, 2029.
US$1.5 billion, 7.55% bonds due March 28, 2030.

S&P foreign currency rating on Sri Lanka is ‘SD’ (selective default). The negative outlook on the local currency rating reflects a high risk to commercial debt repayments over the next 12 months in the context of Sri Lanka’s economic, external, and fiscal pressures, S&P said.

Prof. G.L.Peiris yesterday (03) said that if Local Government polls were to be held by March 20, 2023 as scheduled, the Election Commission (EC) should take tangible measures to set the process in motion.The former Foreign Minister Prof. Peiris said that the EC should ask for required funds from the government and make the necessary administrative appointments to prepare the groundwork.

However, the EC was yet to request for the necessary funding, the SLPP Chairman and National List MP told the media at the Nawala office of Nidahas Janatha Sabhawa comprising over a dozen rebel government members.Prof. Peiris said that his group had received an assurance from the EC about two weeks back that it would take steps to conduct LG polls by March 20, 2023. Appreciating the assurance given by Chairman of the EC Attorney-at-Law Nimal Punchihewa, Prof. Peiris said that as far as he was aware the EC was yet to ask for required funding.

Referring to the recent proposals made by Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for electoral reforms, including at the level of LG, Prof. Peiris alleged that it was nothing but a ruse to put off the polls.The academic asked how the ruling party could even consider such a proposal against the backdrop of a comprehensive set of proposals made by a PSC headed by none other than the current Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP).

Prof. Peiris pointed out that Dinesh Gunawardena’s committee produced the report that was handed over to the government about four years ago after nearly eight years of deliberations. The former minister said that the government should be ashamed of its efforts to further put off the scheduled elections at a time even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) questioned the legitimacy of the government.

At the onset of the briefing, the National List MP explained how the government, now engaged in talks with the IMF could benefit by conducting the scheduled polls regardless of the outcome. Prof. Peiris stressed that the responsibility on the part of the government to secure legitimacy if it was keen to finalise the agreement on USD 2.9 bn loan facility by end of this year. The postponement of LG polls against the backdrop of the indefinite delay in Provincial Council polls wouldn’t be acceptable to the IMF, he asserted.

Prof. Peiris maintained that the government was so unpopular it couldn’t win even 20 percent of the votes cast at the next election.The ex-minister said that political parties and groups in the Opposition recently reached an understanding as regards counter measures against government bid to put off LG polls. “We’ll move the Supreme Court if the government sought to further postpone scheduled elections,” Prof. Peiris said.

Referring to several Supreme Court decisions given over the years in respect of matters concerning elections, Prof. Peiris stressed that one particular ruling stressed the responsibility on the part of the government to provide required funding. Another ruling underscored that LG polls couldn’t be put off unless approved by the electorate at a referendum.The rebel leader said that the Opposition wouldn’t accept under any circumstances the change of the composition of the EC comprising five persons.

Responding to a spate of questions regarding Wednesday’s protest in Colombo called by an Opposition political grouping, Prof. Peiris said that the rebel SLPP group backed that initiative. The genuine Opposition backed such protests meant to pressure the government to stop arrests in terms of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the former minister said.

Sri Lanka will likely miss the December 2022 deadline to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, and will have to wait for March 2023, the Hindustan Times reported, quoting an unnamed financial analyst based in Washington DC, USA, where the IMF is headquartered.

It further reported that Sri Lanka will miss the December deadline for securing an IMF loan, as the main bilateral debtor, China, was involved in the 20th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) National Congress, and had little time for holding debt restructuring talks with Colombo. The next meeting of the IMF Executive Board is in March 2023.

Meanwhile, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing the 32nd Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka Tea Factory Owners’ Association on 30 October, said: “Now, this is the process. We had to move to reach an agreement by December, which means coming to an agreement by mid-November, and going to the IMF Board in mid-December. In this scenario, we are at an advantage. However, I don’t know whether we can achieve this, for the simple reason that in China, focus on the issue has started only now, after the Chinese Communist Party conference.

“However, we must aim to secure the IMF agreement by January. The first issue is to ensure that we can restructure bankruptcy. We have to start talks with our creditors. I first went to the Paris Club, where all the creditors were from the West and Japan. However, we are in a unique position today where, out of our three main creditors, only one belongs to the Paris Club, which is Japan. The other two are not in the Paris Club – they are India and China.

“China only started dealing with bankruptcy in Zambia; I think that India has done so for the first time with Sri Lanka. I have already started discussions with Japan, and now, with India and China. We can come to a common platform of how we can resolve these issues, while we also have discussions on bilateral issues that affect each other’s countries.”

Further, the Hindustan Times reported that while debtors India and Japan have already initiated a dialogue with Colombo on debt reconciliation and restructuring, China is yet to engage in the dialogue, as Beijing was involved in the 20th CCP National Congress and had little time for Sri Lanka.

It also reported that Sri Lanka’s total debt was $ 36 billion at the end of 2021. Of this, Sri Lanka owes $ 7.1 billion to China, which is 20% percent of its debt. The total public debt, which was 115.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of December 2021, has now gone up to 143.7% of GDP by end-June 2022. Of this, the bilateral debt has climbed from 12.7% of GDP to 20.4% of GDP.

Sri Lanka is to secure a $ 2.9 billion loan from the IMF in eight equal tranches.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) arrested a monk who stayed at a five-star hotel in Colombo for 18 days and slipped away without settling the hotel charges.

It was reported that the monk from a temple in the Mahiyangana area checked in to the hotel on August 31 and stayed there at least 18 days.

However, the monk was reportedly admitted to the Colombo National Hospital after having developed a sudden illness and informed the hotel that the charges amounting to Rs. 527,820 for his stay would be settled once his health condition turns better.

The hotel management has complained to the CID after the monk has failed to pay the hotel charges when he was discharged from the hospital and left for his temple in Mahiyangana.

Accordingly, the CID arrested the monk from his temple.

The monk was remanded till November 11 after being produced before the Fort Magistrate.

The United States today urged protesters in Sri Lanka to exercise their rights peacefully.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung said that freedom of assembly is fundamental to democracy.

She urged the Sri Lanka Government to ensure space to support the rights of citizens.

The Ambassador also urged protesters to exercise their rights peacefully.

The Police had warned earlier that it will crackdown on the mass protest held in Colombo today (Wednesday).

The Police had issued letters to the protest leaders today saying they have not been given permission to go ahead with the protest.