Category: News

The United Kingdom is “ready to consider” financing assurances to Sri Lanka to secure a 2.9 billion US dollar extended fund facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a UK official said.

Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) Anne-Marie Trevelyan told the British parliament on Tuesday January 24 that the UK is fully supportive of the proposed Coordination Platform between Sri Lanka’s Paris Club and non-Paris Club creditors, which the British government believes represents the most efficient way to restore debt sustainability in Sri Lanka.

“Constructive engagement across creditors is vital to secure a prompt and comprehensive International Monetary Fund programme for Sri Lanka and ensure a sustainable economic recovery. As a member of the Paris Club, the UK stands ready to consider the necessary Financing Assurances to secure an Extended Financing Facility with the IMF in a timely manner,” she said.

Trevelyan was responding to a question posed by Conservative MP Bob Blackman to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly on what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of a statement a previous statement from economists and academics calling on creditors to share the burden of debt restructuring for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is cautiously optimistic that the IMF bailout package will come through in the first quarter, with IMF board approval anticipated some time in March. India has already assured the IMF of its assistance to Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring plans, with a confirmation from China also expected in the coming weeks.

The island nation is going through its worst currency crisis in decades and the IMF loan would help unlock other avenues of financing that’s desperately needed.

Sri Lanka’s central bank held interest rates steady for a third straight meeting on Wednesday, as widely expected, saying the prevailing tight monetary stance is crucial to taming still-high inflation and restoring economic stability.

The island nation of 22 million people, which is trying to clinch a $2.9 billion IMF funding package, is in the grip of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

The Standing Lending Facility (LKSLFR=ECI) rate was held steady at 15.50% while the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (LKSDFR=ECI) was kept unchanged at 14.50%, remaining at their highest levels since August, 2001.

“The Board … was of the view that the maintenance of the prevailing tight monetary policy stance is imperative to ensure that monetary conditions remain sufficiently tight to rein in inflationary pressures,” the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said in a statement.

“Market rates are adjusting as expected, so there was no need to touch policy rate,” said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at CAL Group.

The CBSL had increased rates by a massive 950 basis points between August 2021 to July 2022 to fight runaway inflation. Policymakers are still grappling with challenges on several fronts including a shortage of foreign currency, a collapse in the rupee, a steep recession and slowing global growth.

CBSL Governor P. Nandlal Weerasinghe said there was little room to cut rates until the foreign exchange reserves position stabilises.

However, the situation has improved and the market can support around $1 billion in imports, he said.

Tight monetary and fiscal policies will help bring down inflation to desired levels by the end of 2023 and restore price and economic stability over the medium term, CBSL said in the statement.

After hitting an annual peak of 68.9% in September, consumer inflation moderated to 57.2% in December.

IMF DEAL CRITICAL

Sri Lanka is committed to meeting all its debt repayments and is hoping to complete debt restructuring negotiations in the next six months, Weerasinghe said in a speech to the private sector on Tuesday and expressed optimism about talks with creditors at today’s news conference.

“If IMF gets assurances, then expect the program to be unlocked in the first quarter of this year,” he told reporters.

India told the IMF last week that it strongly supports Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring plan, a crucial endorsement for Colombo as it tries to secure the four-year $2.9 billion programme with the global lender.

“It is important CBSL is clear in their communications about domestic debt restructuring, whatever the eventual decision, since that’s the big driver of the risk premia attached to market rates,” said Thilina Panduwawala, head of research at Colombo-based Frontier Research.

Weerasinghe said it was too early to discuss domestic debt restructuring.

MARKET RATES FALLING

Market interest rates have begun to move down and are expected to ease further, the central bank said.

Interest rates on three-month government securities have eased to about 30% from a peak of around 32% earlier this month.

“They may only start looking at policy rate revisions once inflation makes a substantial turn and the IMF deal is through,” said CAL Group’s Jonas.

The Charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in Colombo Mr. Hu Wei is reported to have conveyed to the Most Venerable Mahanayake Thero of the Malwatte Chapter Thibbatuwawe Sri Sumangala Thero, whom he met in Kandy on January 11, 2023, his government’s strong opposition against His Holiness the Dalai Lama visiting Sri Lanka and that if such a visit was allowed by the Sri Lankan government the historical China-Sri Lanka relations will be damaged.

In a Colombo-datelined report of January 18 in ‘The Citizen’, Mr. Wei is also reported to have stated that the Dalai Lama is not ‘a simple monk’ but ‘a separatist’ trying to secede Tibet from China and, therefore, the Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka must safeguard the relations.

Not only political analysts or international political observers but any ordinary individual can see the stupidity and unhistorical falsehood of the statement that has been made with ulterior motives in a tone threatening the sovereignty of a democratic country and also the chief prelates of its principal religion. Mr. Wei has also been quoted as saying that Tibet remained part of China; there are over 46,000 monks and nuns in over 1700 Buddhist temples; the overall GDP per capita income, life expectancy and well-being have gone up several fold under the Chinese communist administration; and that Tibet has been transformed from serfdom to ‘democracy’.

History bears witness to the tragic and most heart-rending fact that up to 6000 monasteries and shrines were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people who protested and fought against Chinese military invasion were slaughtered, their women were raped and killed, the precious and well-preserved and valuable Tibetan culture and tradition got progressively eradicated, famines were experienced repeatedly for the first time in recorded history of Tibet with hundreds of thousands dying due to starvation, civilians and Buddhist monks in large numbers committed suicide by self-immolation, thousands of people who protested were tortured and incarcerated in concentration camps and the others those who could manage, including Buddhist monks and civilians, fled the country in their thousands seeking asylum in India and in other countries.

The gentleman spoke of the well-being of the people and the increased GDP per capita income are achievements in almost all world nations as a changing world phenomenon, except in some Asian and African countries due to specific reasons. But the gentleman who made that statement should realize that the people who follow Buddhist concepts do not seek personal or economic welfare but a simple life and the freedom to live their life as they want and achieve spiritual uplift and that is exactly what the Tibetan people wanted and still do and the fact remains that they had it under the spiritual leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and they loved him and look forward to the golden day of his return to their country as its spiritual and temporal leader.

The Dalai Lama fled to India over six decades ago during the initial stages of Chinese military invasion after coming to know that he was invited to China with the motive of assassinating him. The thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks and civilians who fled Tibet after him are living peacefully and happily in many world nations, telling aloud to the world the sub-human and bestial treatment that the Tibetans got under the Chinese military invaders and what miserable life they are now living under the communist rulers. In fact, the Chinese military rulers will not find even a single genuine Tibetan Buddhist civilian or monk who will say, after these six decades of military rule, that he or she is happy under the Chinese military rule. All Tibetans abroad, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, are continuing to voice for the liberation of their mother land from the military grip of the non-religious communist rule.

The chief prelates of Sri Lankan Maha Sangha had once again extended their invitation to the Dalai Lama for pilgrimage in Sri Lanka under the current state of severe economic downturn back here with strong hopes and beliefs that his visit will help boost the economy to certain extent because he has many millions of followers throughout the world and some of them are heads of multinational companies and globally recognized affluent individuals with prospects of investing in Sri Lanka while on the other hand his visit to Sri Lanka will help boost spiritual tourism because such a phenomenon was witness in Bodh Gaya where the five-year International Pali and Sanskrit Bhikkhu Exchange programme was launched on December 27, 2022.

When they extended the invitation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, they never anticipated that China would take all possible measures to block his visit, like on all previous occasions, because Sri Lanka needed help from all quarters at her present precarious economic condition and that any country would most willingly support such help coming from any source. However, China reacted negatively, instituting immediate diplomatic and other political measures to prevent the visit. Their Charge d’affaires visited the Mahanayake Theros of the Asgiriya and Malwatte chapters hurriedly with lorry-loads of dry rations and other relief measures to ‘bribe’ the chief prelates and ‘demand’ from them, citing the purported ‘national welfare’ as a reason, to defer from their intention of bringing down His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Here, they have gone one step further and described His Holiness as a ‘separatist’, implying as if Tibet remained part of China from time immemorial and he was trying to separate it. But stupidity from a diplomat trying to hoodwink the entire world as China militarily snatched away Tibet from its most beloved spiritual and temporal leader and its innocent peace loving and ardent Buddhist followers. The Dalai Lama remains the most beloved global Buddhist leader and the most honored guest of the Government of India for the last six decades. He is the recognized and renowned Buddhist spiritual leader who frequently meets with political and spiritual leaders of world nations and tirelessly conveys the noble teachings of the Buddha all over the world attracting hundreds of thousands of followers and admirers after him from all over the world. How ridiculous to call him a separatist because he wants his own country back from the communist military leaders who snatched it under military invasion!

The Charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy is also quoted as saying that Tibet forms part of China as either Kandy or Jaffna forms part of Sri Lanka. This is the highest level of ludicrousness to which anyone can drop down to and a diplomat of the most populous land has dropped down to that level. Pages of history stand witness to what inhuman, barbarous atrocities were committed by the Chinese for snatching away Tibet from its legitimate rulers and citizens. So let us hope that the Chinese would revisit their strong and rigid stand with regard to the visit of the Dalai Lama to visit Sri Lanka with a noble outlook.

Source:The Leader

One suspect from a group that had duped many people by providing misleading information pertaining to a job interview in Colombo organized by an employment agency has been arrested, Minister of Foreign Employment and Labour Manusha Nanayakkara said on Wednesday.

Minister Nanayakkara told NewsWire that a third party had misled the public about a fake job interview by publishing a notice on social media platforms.

“There are some job opportunities in Turkey, but those will be officially informed. I urge job seekers to follow our official channels rather than falling prey to these types of fake job scams,” the minister said.

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) stated that an interview had been organized by a registered employment agency for specific jobs, while official letters had also been issued to prospective job seekers.

The SLBFE stated that, however, an individual had scammed the public via social media claiming that free jobs were being offered during the interview today, prompting hundreds of people to report for the interview, resulting in a tense situation.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Embassy in Colombo said neither the Embassy nor the Turkish Ministry of Interior are related or connected with any recruitment activities of manpower.

“It has been brought to the immediate attention of the Embassy that some misinformation is being circulated in social media according to which Türkiye has been recruiting manpower in Sri Lanka. The Embassy would like to hereby inform neither the Turkish Embassy in Colombo nor the Turkish Ministry of Interior are related or connected with such recruitment activities, seemingly organised by some private individuals,” the Turkish Embassy said in a statement.

It is reported that over 1000 individuals had travelled to Colombo from across Sri Lanka for a Turkish Job interview after seeing a social media post.

The Police had to be deployed to control the situation which turned violent at the JR Jayawardena Center in Colombo after job seekers were turned away.

The National Election Commission in a letter to the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has inquired over the possibility of making available the facilities required for the upcoming election.

The letters inquired the Central Banks’ position to provide US dollars for the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board to supply electricity and fuel for the election.

At the recent meeting with the National Election Commission, the CPC and the CEB had pointed out that they are short of US Dollars to ensure a continuous supply of electricity.

They had requested the National Election Commission to inquire from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on supporting them to avert a dollar crisis.