SRI LANKA NEWS IN BRIEF

(MARCH 2017)
Compiled by Victor Melder

SriLankan Airlines has commenced the induction of the first of its latest Airbus aircraft. The A320neo that arrived February 27th will be the first of the A320neo and A321neo family aircraft in its fleet. The introduction of these new-generation aircraft will help enhance its exceptional service standards for passengers and serve to align its fleet to the airline’s new strategic focus on Asia and the Middle East. The addition of seven brand new wide body A330-300 aircraft in 2016 greatly enhanced its long haul fleet and passengers can now enjoy more comfortable seats, a state-of-the-art entertainment system, excellent in-flight cuisine, and flight attendants famed for their warmth and caring. Ajith Dias, chairman of SriLankan Airlines, said: “Our airline realigned its strategic focus during the last quarter of 2016 to capitalise on market opportunities in the rapidly growing travel and tourism industry in Asia, which included the launch of services to 11 new destinations throughout the Indian Ocean and Middle East regions. The arrival of the A320neo and A321neo aircraft will better align our fleet to this objective, as these aircraft are more suited to our medium haul operations, while we already possess an excellent fleet of A330 aircraft for our long haul routes.” Daily Island 1.3.2017)

The Government of Japan has provided a grant of Japanese Yen 250 million (approximately 332 million Sri Lankan Rupees) to the government of Sri Lanka for the procurement of counter terrorism and public security equipment, such as network camera monitoring system and x-ray cargo inspecting system manufactured by Japanese enterprises in order to enhance the capacity of the Government of Sri Lanka in counter terrorism and public security, a press release issued by the Japanese embassy in Colombo said.
The Exchange of Notes for the above project was signed between Kenichi Suganuma, Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka and Dr. R H S Samaratunga, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, on February 27 at the Ministry of Finance in Sri Lanka. (Daily Island 1.3.2017)
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today declared as national heroes 82 people who had been described as “traitors” nearly 200 years ago for rebelling against the British rule. Sirisena signed a gazette notification to rescind their names from the list of “traitors” at Kandy, the erstwhile British capital of the country. Keppetipola Disawe, a local leader, and his men were declared “traitors” over the 1818 rebellion against the colonial rule. Keppetipola was captured by the British and he and his associates were charged with treason and sentenced to death. “This is a moment that we all could be proud of,” Sirisena said. Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, won freedom in 1948, a year after British quit India. (New Indian Express 1.3.2017)
Annually, around 6,000 infants are born with birth defects and it is the second leading cause for infant deaths (20 percent) in Sri Lanka. Around 2,000 infants are born in Sri Lanka annually with congenital heart diseases, Acting Director General of Health Services Dr. J.M.W. Jayasundara Bandara said. He said that some of the infants suffer from birth defects such as congenital heart diseases which could be cured through surgery, while President Maithripala Sirisena stated recently that he would provide the required funds for such surgeries. The `Little Hearts’ projects which is now going on would be able to collect a part of the funds required for such surgeries. Meanwhile Consultant Community Physician Dr. Kapila Jayaratne ( MBBS, MSc, MD (Com.Med) said that only 5.6 percent of infants / children bellow the age of five die in Sri Lanka annually and only eight children out of every 1,000 die before celebrating their first birth day. Statistics are very satisfactory when compared with developed countries such as UK, where four children below the age of five die out of 1,000 every day. (Daily News 4.3.2017)
According to the report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, deforestation in Sri Lanka has decreased to 0.4 per cent during the past decade, Conservator General of Forests Anura Sathurusinghe said. Mr. Sathurusinghe told the Daily Mirror that the FAO report, issued every five years, has rated Sri Lanka as a country with less deforestation during the period of years 2000 – 2010. “During the past decade (2000-2010), the deforestation in the country has decreased to 58, 791 hectares of forest land, which was rated as 1.3 per cent as against 104, 380 hectares during the period 1990 – 2000. At present the FAO has rated Sri Lanka as a country with minimum forest cover,” he said. (Daily Mirror 5.3.2017)
Dengue deaths have risen to 24 in the first two months of this year, with more than 17,600 cases being reported, a top official said.
The Dengue Control Unit’s Consultant Community Physician, Dr. Prechila Samaraweera, said that during the whole of last year 77 dengue deaths were reported while the number of cases reported in the first two months of last year was 11,133. Most dengue cases have been reported from the Colombo District where there were 4,400 victims in the past two months followed by the Gampaha district with 2,330 cases. The Galle, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Kurunegala districts also reported a large number of cases.
Dr. Samaraweera said the Dengue Control Unit was launching a National Mosquito Control Week on March 29. (Sunday Times 5.3.2017)
Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka fell in February for the first time since a nearly three-decade-long civil war ended in May 2009, government data released on Friday showed. It snapped a 93-month streak of tourist increases on the island. Tourism accounts for close to 5% of Sri Lanka’s economy. Arrivals in February edged down 0.4% to 197,517, the first fall since May 2009. The slight decline, analysts said, was due to inconvenience and long waiting time at the main airport, which is currently closed for eight hours a day for runaway renovations.It is due to open again fully in early April, but the airport renovations have caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled since 6 January. Tourist arrivals and revenue from tourism hit record highs in 2016, with annual arrivals jumping 14% to a record 2.05 million. Revenue in 2016 hit $ 3.4 billion, beating the previous record of $ 2.98 billion posted in 2015, Central Bank data showed. (Daily Financial Times 6.3.2017)
The Unity Government yesterday moved a paper for supplementary allocation for Rs. 494 million, seeking parliamentary approval to purchase vehicles for some ministers and Rs. 62.2 million in 25 double cabs for the Auditor General’s Department.
Minister of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media and Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunathilaka moved the Supplementary Allocations from the Supplementary Support Services and Contingent Liabilities Project which appears under Expenditure Head No. 240 of the Department of National Budget-2016 as at 31 December 2016 and 2017 as of 31 January 2017 under Section 6 (1) of the Appropriation Act No. 16 of 2015 and Act No. 24 of 2016 respectively. According to the supplementary allocation request, Rs. 42.6 million will be used to purchase a vehicle for the Minister of Special Assignments, Rs. 42 million to purchase a vehicle for Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, Rs. 86 million to purchase two vehicles for Minister of Irrigation and Water Resource Management, Rs. 41 million to purchase a vehicle for the Minister of Science, Technology and Research, Rs. 43 million to purchase a vehicle each for the ministers of Tourism and Christian Affairs, Higher Education and Highways and Sustainable Development and Wildlife. Further approval was sought for Rs. 42.5 million to purchase a vehicle for the State Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Rs. 43 million to purchase a vehicle for the State Minister of Science, Technology and Research, Rs. 31.3 million to purchase a vehicle for the State Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure and Rs. 37.4 million to purchase a vehicle for the Leader of the Opposition. (Daily Financial Times 8.3.2017))
Director National Institute for Nephrology, Maligawatte, Dr. Ratnasiri Hewage has disclosed that approximately 5,000 new kidney patients are detected annually. Dr Hewage, however, said that there had been a decrease in the spread of kidney diseases at present. The causative factors of kidney disease had been identified in 75 per cent of cases. Most of them were related to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, high blood pressure, increase in the cholesterol level, overweight, stress and neglecting minor kidney ailments. He said the causes of the remaining 25 per cent kidney disease patients were unknown and those conditions were commonly known as Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu). Announcing the National Celebrations on ‘World Kidney Day at Wilgamuwa, District Secretariat, Matale on Monday (13) the Director said that critical kidney patients should undergo dialysis or kidney transplant surgery. (Daily Island 9.3.2017)
Officers from the Hambantota Office of Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) launched an operation to evict a herd of wild elephants that had entered the premises of the Hambantota Magampura Port. The operation lasted from 5.30pm to about 9.00pm and DWC officers were able to chase away some 15 elephants who had made their way into the port. Officials from the China Harbor Engineering Corporation had told the DWC that about 40 wild elephants were roaming around the port premises and were causing damage to property on a daily basis. Environmentalists however, point out that the main reason for such incidents is the continued reluctance on the part of officials to declare a separate reserve for wild elephants in the Hambantota region who have become displaced due to the construction of the Magampura Port and the Mattala Airport. They note that the former regime ignored the recommendation to declare an elephant reserve despite it being explicitly stated in the Enviornmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) of the two projects. The tragedy is that the present Government is adopting the same approach as the former, they noted. This has resulted in about 350 wild elephants in the region being evicted from their natural habit which has been taken over for development work. (Times 9.3.2017)
A Cabinet Paper on introducing new laws, rules and regulations banning the sale of single cigarettes will be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers , Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne had stated. Minister Dr. Senaratne had stated that the tax on tobacco had been increased up to 90 percent and plain packaging will be introduced for cigarette packets. The pictorial warning has already been introduced . Minister Dr. Senaratne said that aid will be provided for tobacco farmers who lose their job. The World Bank and the World Health Organisation will assist them to commence alternative employment projects. The price of a cancer drug had been brought down to Rs.144,000 from Rs.285,000. (Daily News 9.3.2017)
More than 1.2 million Sri Lankans have been affected by the prevailing drought, Disaster Management Centre (DMC) statistics says. Despite intermittent rains last week, 1, 215,084 people from 318,256 families in 16 districts including Trincomalee, Kalutara, Gampaha, Hambantota, Monaragala, Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Mulaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mannar, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Puttalam and Kandy have been affected by the drought and in addition over a million people are experiencing an acute water shortage, according to the DMC. The worst affected is the Western Province with 430,834 people suffering with 232,215 in Gampaha and 198,619 in Kalutara badly affected. Northern Province is the second worst affected with 414,302 victims recorded from Jaffna, Mulaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar. Over 94000 people in Trincomalee in the Eastern Province, while 77,417 in Sabaragamuwa Province, 60,985 in North Western Province have also been affected. About 12,978 people in Anuradhapura and 9234 people in Kandy District have also been affected. (Daily Island 11.3.2017)
The biggest ever operation, conducted by police from midnight Saturday till wee hours of yesterday, throughout the country helped arrest 1,246 criminals. The operation carried out under the direct supervision of IGP Pujith Jayasundara saw the participation of 11,792 policemen from 479 stations countrywide. Forty nine senior officers, 1,841 officers of the inspectorate, 2,250 sergeants and 7,108 constables had taken part in the12 midnight to 4.00 am operation, headquarters sources said. Among those arrested were suspects with warrants on them, those who were loitering with intent and errant drivers. Among those taken into custody were 110 IRCs, seven army deserters, 87 rapists, 45 persons with ganja in their possession, 26 heroin peddlers, 567 persons with warrants against their names, 609 criminals who were absconding, 383 persons who violated traffic laws including 76 drunk drivers, the police said. (Daily Island 13.3.2017)
Sri Lanka’s trade balance jumped 47.2% in November 2016 when compared with the same month in the previous year underpinned by a 3.4% drop in export earnings, which was marked by lower shipments of textiles and tea, reversing the year-on-year increasing trend in the previous three months as well as an 18.2% uptick in imports, the Central Bank said. Releasing its latest External Performance Report, the Central Bank acknowledged the deficit in the trade balance “widened substantially” to $ 922 million in November 2016 compared to $ 626 million in November 2015. The cumulative trade deficit during the first 11 months of 2016 increased to $ 8,133 million from $ 7,564 million recorded during the same period of 2015. Earnings from exports at $ 810 million in November 2016 declined by 3.4% from $ 838 million “Reversing the year-on-year increasing trend observed during the past three months. Agricultural exports, led by minor agricultural products, spices and tea and industrial exports led by textiles and garments and gems, diamonds and jewellery, mainly contributed to this contraction,” the Central Bank report said. Earnings from agricultural exports, which account for about 23% of total exports, declined by 8.3%, year-on-year, to $ 183 million in November 2016. Earnings from minor agricultural product exports declined substantially by 63.2%, year-on-year, mainly due to the decline in edible nuts owing to lower seasonal supply while spice exports contracted by 25.4% with significant decline in pepper and cinnamon exports. Earnings from tea exports declined by 6.6%, year-on-year, to $ 101 million, reflecting lower export volume, despite the increase in average export prices by 20.4% in November 2016, which has been increasing continuously since August 2016.
However, total earnings from seafood exports increased by 18.2%, year-on-year, in November 2016, continuing its impressive growth performance since the lifting of the ban on seafood exports from Sri Lanka to the European Union (EU). Seafood exports to the EU market grew substantially by 171.2%, year-on-year. (Daily Financial Times 13.3.2017)
A survey carried out by the Transparency International (TI) in the Asia-Pacific region has revealed Sri Lankans pay more bribes to police. They survey results showed Sri Lanka has a bribery rate of 15 percent among 17 countries and its citizens frequently pay bribes to Police. It also said people pay bribes to public schools, courts and utility providers. The report titled “People and Corruption: Asia Pacific”, has surveyed nearly 22,000 people in these countries about their experience with corruption and paying bribe during the last 12 months. The countries included India, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Myanmar, South Korea, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Governments in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, and Malaysia were perceived to be doing badly at fighting corruption by six in 10 of their citizens. However, around a half or more of people living in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand had said that their government was doing a good job. According to the results from the survey, Australia followed by Sri Lanka and Taiwan have done the best with the most positive ratings overall across the key corruption questions in the survey. “In these countries, few people felt that corruption was increasing, many people felt empowered to help fight against corruption and bribery rates were very or fairly low. However, even in these well performing countries, there were still areas for improvement such as poor ratings of government efforts to fight corruption (Australia and Taiwan) or a substantial minority of people who thought that the police were highly corrupt (Sri Lanka),” the survey said. (Daily Mirror 13.3.2017)
Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry has taken measures to eradicate rabies from Sri Lanka, while continuing with the No-Kill Policy on dogs, it says. Accordingly, a country-wide dog census will be conducted by the Ministry to determine the current dog population and provide a reliable understanding of how dogs are distributed in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas as well as an accurate and up-to-date man-to-dog ratio. Free sterilisation and rabies vaccination of dogs would be intensified across the country, targeting minimal population growth, non-emergence of ownerless dogs, and 70% rabies vaccination coverage of dogs towards achieving herd immunity would be carried out by the Provincial Departments of Animal Production and Health (P/DAPHs), Minister Mustapha said. Provincial Public Health Veterinary Units with the required manpower and resources to do this work are also being set up to provide an easily accessible de-centralised free service to pet owners to have their dogs sterilised and vaccinated against rabies, the Ministry has said. In a bid to ensure that pet owners get their dogs sterilised and to discourage dumping of dogs, a fine Rs. 25,000 and or a six-month jail sentence would be imposed on anyone caught dumping dogs and all owned dogs would be registered, the Minister said. A mechanism to accommodate the existing street and community dog population would be worked out with regard to registration, keeping in mind that the target would be ensure minimal-emergence of new ownerless dogs. All commercial dog breeders and pet shops would have to register provincially, according to the ministry. Meanwhile, the Ministry stated that a new tax would be imposed on commercial dog breeding and selling of dogs privately or via pet shops and the required legislation would be introduced. (Daily Island 15.3.2017)
Ninety four MPs have not passed their GEC (O/L) examination while there are only 25 graduates among the 225 legislators in the present Sri Lankan Parliament, former Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Prof. M O A de Zoysa said. He observed that MPs who have been elected to make laws on behalf of the people must conduct themselves with dignity. He said the conduct of the Joint Opposition MPs since the day the Yahapalana government came to power amounted to a contravention of parliamentary discipline. Parliament is a place that makes laws. Its members should be dignified, with a knowledge of their subjects, logical intelligence and of impeccable conduct. But, we cannot see these qualities in most of the MPs today,” he said. Taxpayers money is being spent for the welfare of all MPs and a Rs. 2500 Special Attendance Allowance, with the luxury meals, are provided to them for one sitting. Everyday, when parliament meets, JO members disrupt parliament proceedings for about one or two hours. So how can parliament pass laws on behalf of the people and the country? The conduct of certain senior members is not good and it is disgusting. (Daily News 15.3.2017)

Sri Lanka’s GDP expanded by 4.4% in 2016, slowing from 4.8% a year earlier, due to a severe combination of drought and floods, and posted its weakest performance since 2013, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) said yesterday. Releasing the estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other macroeconomic indicators for the fourth quarter of 2016 and for the year 2016, the department, however, noted the year ended positively with the fourth quarter reaching 5.3% growth driven by the industry and services sectors that grew 9.2% and 4.6% respectively. “Sri Lanka experienced inclement weather during the year 2016. Particularly, the severe flood experienced in the second quarter of 2016 and the drought prevailed during the year, which may have had an impact on the agriculture activities of the country,” the department said. Issuing a press release, DCS stated the economic growth rate for 2016 has been estimated at 4.4% while the economic growth rate for the fourth quarter of 2016 has been estimated at 5.3%. The Gross Domestic Product for Sri Lanka for 2016 (January to December) at constant (20I0) price has reached up to Rs. 9,0I2,026 million. The GOP value reported for 20I5 was Rs. 8,633,890 million. For the four major components of the economy – Agriculture, Industry, Services and Taxes – fewer subsidies on products have contributed their share to the GOP at current price by 7.5%, 27.1%, 57% and 8.4% respectively for 2016. During 2016, the highest growth rate of 6.7% was reported for overall Industrial activities. Meanwhile, services activities have grown by 4.2%, compared to the previous year. However, agricultural activities reported a 4.2% negative growth rate. Overall agricultural activities reported a negative growth rate of 4.2% in 2016. Among the sub-activities of Agriculture, most of the major agricultural activities have reported negative growth rates during 2016, when compared with 2015. Among them, the sub-activity of ‘Growing of rice’ has declined drastically by 31% during 2016. In addition ‘Growing of tea’, ‘Growing of rubber’ and ‘Growing of cereals’ have declined by 11.2%, 10.7% and 10.5% respectively. Further, ‘Growing of fruits’, ‘Growing of vegetables’, and ‘Growing of oleaginous fruits’, including coconut have declined slightly by 3.7%, 2.1% and 0.6% respectively. Meanwhile, ‘Freshwater fishing’, ‘ Growing of spices’ and ‘ Animal production’ have reported positive growth rates of 9.9%, 6.4% and 6.3% respectively during 2016. Industrial activities have recorded a significant growth rate of 6.7% this year. Among the industrial activities, the ‘Construction’ activity, which corresponds to a considerably higher share for the industrial activities, increased by 14.9%. In addition, the sub-activity of ‘Mining and quarrying’ recorded 14.4% of very high growth rate.
During 2016, the manufacturing activity, which comes under industrial activities, has grown by 1.7%. Among the manufacturing activities, specially the ‘Manufacture of basic metal and fabricated metal products’, ‘Manufacture of rubber and plastic products’ and ‘Manufacture of machinery and equipment’ have grown rapidly during 2016 by 28.7%, 17.9% and 14.1% respectively, when compared with 2015. However, the ‘Manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco’ and ‘Manufacture of textile and wearing apparel’ have declined by 2.5% and 0.2% respectively. The value added of ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ has increased by 8.4% over the period under consideration. Among the three major activities (Agriculture, Industries and Services), the Services activities gave the highest contribution (57.0%) to the GOP, recording a positive growth rate of 4.2% during 2016, when compared to the previous year. During the fourth quarter of 2016, agriculture activities have reported a negative growth rate of 8.4%. In the meantime, the overall performance of industrial activities has increased drastically during the fourth quarter of 2016 by 9.2% and services activities have recorded a positive growth rate of 4.6%. (Daily Financial Times 16.3.2017)
A decline in foreign investments and reserves has caused the government to face a rupee crisis. Last year foreign investments dropped to USD 444.5 million (34 per cent) and investment in Treasury bonds also declined. In 2016, the government lost USD 324.3 million due to withdrawals by Treasury bond investors and this year up to February 14 there had been a loss of USD 309 million in Treasury bonds withdrawal. As a result, investments made by foreigners in Treasury bonds had dropped to USD 4.4 million, Central Bank sources said. The net payments of the secondary market of the Colombo Stock Exchange up to Feb. 15, 2017 was USD 2 million, according to sources. (Daily Island 18.3.2017).
A multi million US dollar tender has been awarded to General Electric (GE), an American multinational conglomerate, for the purchase of 12 locomotives to service the upcountry routes. However, railway experts told the Sunday Observer, that the Sri Lanka Railway (SLR) will soon buy second-rate diesel locomotives at an exorbitant price without making use of this opportunity to acquire new generation engines. They point out that the locomotives are being sold to SLR for around 36-64% more than similar GE engines that were purchased by Indonesia in 2014. They point out that the purchase of new locomotives is certainly a necessity, as the only Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) engines capable of pulling trains over steep hills are the M6 models, which were acquired in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These machines are well past retirement age, and it is often necessary to use two of them at once to operate the trains, thereby limiting the availability of the locomotives for other tasks. According to documents, obtained by the Sunday Observer, the cost for twelve GE locomotives is about US $4.1 million each. The price for twelve locomotives is at least US $10 million more than several other bids that were disqualified during the tender process. The General Manager Railways, B.A.P. Ariyarathna also stated that the winning engine was the only technically feasible option. Another alleged issue with the tender technical specification lies in its requirement for medium-speed engines that operate between 900-1200 revolutions per minute (RPM). “It is my belief that the medium-speed engine specification was inserted to limit the number of eligible bidders. The Chinese and European companies that were involved were offering only high-speed engines, so they were disqualified immediately,” said yet another railway engineer familiar with the tender process. However despite the criticism the SLR and the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation are standing by the decision. “The losing party is free to lodge an appeal with the Tender Appeals Board,” said Ministry Secretary Somaweera. (Sunday Observer 19.3.2017)

The Japanese government is now in the process of assisting to introduce an Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB) system to Sri Lanka, which is a Japanese standard digital television radio used by the country’s television and radios, Director for International Digital TV Policy Global ICT Strategy Bureau Norifumi Yamaguchi said. ” This new system will replace the old analogue system to the latest digital system, which will assist the Sri Lanka government to transfer to this system. Japanese government will grant a soft loan of 13.7 billion yen to Sri Lanka with a ten year grace period to be repaid in 40 years. An ISDB-T Digital Broadcasting business matching seminar was held last Friday to enlighten the local stakeholders on this project. It was organised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan. He said the agreement was first signed on this project when Japanese Prime Minister Sanshu Abe visited Sri Lanka in 2014, with then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “But this got a new lease of life after President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent visit to Japan in 2015, he said. ISDB replaced the NTSC J analog television system and the previously used MUSE Hi-vision analogue HDTV system in Japan, and will be replacing NTSC, PALM and PAL-N in South America. (Daily Island 20.3.2017)
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan has alleged that over 150,000 Tamils had been killed during the nearly three decades long conflict. Veteran politician Sampanthan was addressing a counter terrorism conference in New Delhi on March 15. Claiming that about 50 per cent of the Tamil population had fled the country due to the conflict, Sampanthan said that fresh violence would result in more Tamils fleeing the country. The Opposition Leader said four resolutions had been adopted by the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The resolutions dealt with violations of International Human Rights Laws and International Humanitarian Laws by both parties to the conflict, the Sri Lankan State and the armed rebel outfit, MP Sampanthan said, adding: “The implementation of the resolution adopted in October 2015 is being currently reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. It deals with the Transitional Justice Process, issues pertaining to Land. Missing persons, detainees, and the evolution of Constitutional arrangements that will bring about a just and acceptable political resolution to this conflict.” (Daily Island 20.3.2017)
The Sri Lankan Government has made a policy decision to recruit 1,500 personnel as Mosquito Eradication Health Service Assistants to intensify the battle against dengue mosquitoes. Already 500 Mosquito Eradication Health Service Assistants have been recruited in the Western Province. President Maithripala Sirisena, at a ceremony organised by the National Dengue Eradication Unit of the Health Ministry, yesterday presented appointment letters to the new recruits. The Mosquito Eradication Health Service Assistants will be in service after two weeks of training, state TV reported. With the new battalion of health officers, the Government aims to minimise the number of dengue patients during the first six months. Sri Lanka is the third country which has appointed a permanent staff cadre to eradicate mosquitoes. Singapore and Cuba are at the forefront of mosquito eradication. According to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, so far this year 22,562 suspected dengue cases have been reported to the unit from all over the island. Approximately 42% of dengue cases were reported from the Western Province. (Daily Financial Times 20.3.2017)
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday that the government would never obtain loans on the sly unlike its predecessor. The government would inform parliament and the people of all the loans it was taking and how the funds so obtained would be utilised. “We have nothing to hide. We will always keep Parliament informed, because we respect parliamentary control over public finance.”The Prime Minister said: “The country’ total debt stood at Rs. 8503.2 billion as at Dec 31, 2015. Of that domestic debt accounted for Rs. 4959.2 billion while foreign debt amounted to Rs. 3,544 billion. The total debt at that time was 77.6 per cent of the GDP. The government had spent Rs. 1318 billion to service debt in 2015 and that amount was 91 per cent of GDP. During the last ten years National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Road Development Authority, Shipping Corporation, Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation, Srilankan Airline, Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board had obtained direct loans from the Hatton National Bank, People’s Bank and DFCC Bank, but those loans were not included in the total public debt percentage, the PM said. “In 2005 the total public debt stood at Rs. 2,222 billion. When the war was over in 2009 the amount increased to Rs. 4,361 billion. During that period the amount increased by Rs. 1,939 billion. At the end of 2014 it rose to Rs. 7,391 billion. Thus, the public debt has increased by Rs. 3,230 billion from 2009 to 2014. Nobody knew why debt had increased so much in peace time. “When the new government came to power in 2015, many hidden details pertaining to those loans came to light. We found that information on loans taken by the public institutions were not included in the public debt system. They amounted to Rs. 960.8 billion- the CPC had obtained Rs 365 billion, Ports Authority Rs 260 billion, Sri Lankan Airlines Rs 212 billion. There is a long list. “Sri Lanka Transport Board has not remitted Rs 13 billion it should have sent to the EPF and the ETF. Departments and Ministries owe further Rs 58.4 billion. Of that amount Rs 24 billion is owed by the Ministry of Highways. “The previous government never informed Parliament of the loans it had obtained. Nor did it record the loans properly. “The government has to pay Rs 11,000 billion between 2017 to 2026 as loan instalments. Our government is planning to strengthen state revenue mechanism by systematising the tax collection process. While maintaining the government income at expected levels we will take steps to prevent the recurrent expenditure from increasing. For that purpose we are introducing correct financial management methods. We are planning to bring down the budget deficit to 3.5 per cent of the GDP in 2020.” (Daily Island 22.3.2017)
Lankans consume 198,452 metric tonnes of meat of goat, chicken, lamb and beef annually and have to import 513 metric tonnes of meat as the country did not produce enough for the requirement, parliament was told. Sri Lanka imports goat meat (mutton), lamb meat and beef from Australia and New Zealand to meet the shortfall, said a document tabled in parliament yesterday by Chief Government Whip Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka in response to a question raised by UNP Matara District MP Buddhika Pathirana. Annually, 50,000 goats, 132,000,000 chicken and 167,000 cattle are slaughtered in the country to provide meat for the consumers, the document said. (Daily Island 24.3.2017)
All the forest reserves belonging to the Department of Forest Conservation, located in the northern part of Wilpattu National Park, have been declared as a single forest reserve. Accordingly, Mavillu, Weppal, Karadikkudi, Marichchakatti, Withthikulam and Periyamuruppu have been combined in terms of the Forest conservation Ordinance and President Maithripala Sirisena signed the Gazette Notification today. The President has advised to take necessary steps to preserve the adjoining forest reserves as well. (Daily Mirror 25.3.2017)
Sri Lanka has printed currency worth Rs.217 billion to service cash-strapped public finances during the period of January 1 to February 17, official data showed. The Treasury has found it difficult to maintain the cash flow for the payment of public sector salaries and other state expenditure as government revenue is far below present expenditure, official sources said adding that interest rates in Treasury bill sales have also been increased. An increase in money printing is normal during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period, Central Bank (CB) Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy at a media conference on Friday acknowledged a cash flow problem in January but that it has been effectively managed. Precautionary measures were taken against a build-up of adverse inflation expectations and the possible acceleration of demand side inflationary pressures through excessive monetary and credit expansion, he added. Gross official reserves were estimated at US$ 5.6 billion at end February 2017 compared to $ 6 billion at end 2016 while the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated by 1.2 per cent against the US dollar during the year up to March 22, Dr. Coomaraswamy confirmed. The aim of the Government is to build foreign reserves to $7.5 billion by end 2017 helped by $1 billion from a syndicated loan and $1.5 billion from a sovereign bond. (Sunday Times 26.3.2017)
Earnings from worker’s remittances and tourism last year and in the first two months of this year continued to cushion the adverse impact of the trade deficit. Worker’s remittances increased by 3.7 percent to US $7.2 billion last year and increased by 1.4 percent to US$ 571.6 million in January this year. Earnings from tourism grew by 18 percent to US$ 3.4 billion and by 6.4 percent to US$ 715.2 million in the first two months of this year. The number of tourists arrivals grew by 14 percent to 2,050,832 last year and increased by 6.4 percent to 416,877 during the first two months of this year. (Sunday Observer 26.3.2017)
There were more than 15,000 Tuberculosis patients in the country, Consultant Chest Physician at the Polonnaruwa Hospital Dr. Nandika Harischandra told a media briefing.. “More than 10,000 persons are diagnosed with TB in the country every year and in addition there are about 5,000 patients at large and not receiving treatment,” he said.
Dr. Harischandra said the patients who refrained from obtaining treatment endangered their life and crated a health hazard to others as well. He told the media that AIDS and TB were communicable diseases that caused the largest number of deaths in the world and that a large number of people in the developing countries die of TB every year although it was curable if treatment was taken properly. (Daily Mirror 27.3.2017)
Evidence of the existence of a thriving port city in Trincomalee more than 1,000 years ago has been uncovered by a group of archaeologists of the Central Cultural Fund. A large number of ceramic and clay potsherds of Chinese, Persian and Indian origin had been discovered from a surface survey conducted at the site of the ancient Gokanna Thiththa harbour in Trincomalee, Director General of the CCF Prof Prishantha Gunawardena told The Island yesterday. “We have many historical sources indicating the functioning of harbours in both Western and Eastern coasts of the island. The main harbour in the Eastern coast was in operation at a place referred in Chronicles including the Mahavamsa known as Gokanna Thiththa. We now have evidence to surmise that it was an ancient port city,” Prof Gunawardena said. Prof Gunawardena said that the surface survey, which commenced last week, in and around the McHeyzer Stadium in Trincomalee yielded some artifacts including potsherds and beads of foreign origin. “It is too early to assign scientific dates to the find. But, typological analysis could indicate that most of them belong to the 1st Century. Among the antiques were some locally made potsherds. We believe that the area was a trading hub and there should have been some system of transporting the goods coming from abroad to hinterland and vice versa. We are planning to commence several excavations within the next couple of weeks to unearth more evidence.” Archaeologists have found pieces of what is known as Blue and White Chinese Ceramic, widely used in the 13th Century in almost all the places in the world visited by the Chinese. There were greenware pieces, too besides some beads of foreign origin. These artifacts have to be further analysed to assign specific dates and places of origin. It would take some time but the Discovery of Chinese, Persian and Indian artifacts in the area help us surmise the operation of a port city there more than 1,000 years ago.”D/I 30/3