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Sri Lanka’s Uprising Forces Out a President but Leaves System in Crisis – By Alan Keenan Source : crisisgroup.org Crowds of ordinary Sri Lankans stormed the presidential residence on 9 July, compelling President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Alan Keenan lays out the background of these events and looks at what the immediate future may hold. Sri Lanka has been through a tumultuous ten days. What exactly has happened? In a stunning display of “people power”, massive crowds overcame large deployments of police and soldiers and other obstacles to storm the official residence and offices of the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on 9 July, leading the former to flee the country and both to agree to resign. Gotabaya’s eventual resignation on 14 July constitutes a major victory for Sri Lanka’s unprecedented island-wide protest movement. But these events leave ...

Jul 19, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , , , ,
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SRI LANKA NEWS (JANUARY 2022)Compiled by Victor Melder. Export earnings from rubber, coconut and cinnamon are on the verge of exceeding $ 4 billion, creating history by recording the highest annual income generated from these crops in a year, Plantation Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said. He also said that the Plantation Ministry was committed to make the tea industry a profitable industry in 2022. He said despite not being able to reach the target export earnings, tea crop was estimated to be 305 million kg in 2021. He outlined that the tea industry was a key export crop which contributed significantly to the national economy. “If we want to build up the economy, then we must strengthen the planters. The COVID pandemic and fertiliser problems have caused some setbacks in the industry. But, amidst all these problems, we are working to strengthen the smallholders who contribute to the national ...

Jan 31, 2022 Posted by In Articles, Victor Melder Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
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Tourism earnings hit $ 500 m target for 2021 By Charumini de Silva Source:ft.lk Industry aims to springboard from recovery to resilience from 2022 onwards Govt. all set to declare 2022 as ‘Visit Sri Lanka Year’ along with Global Communication Campaign Tourism Ministry to set up Special Secretariat to coordinate 5-year GCC activities National Tourism Policy for Sri Lanka to be finalised and implemented from this month The COVID-hit tourism industry has managed to rebound with earnings of over $ 500 million in 2021. “Tourism holds a greater significance in the services sector and has been a driver of growth for the economy. The industry was the most vulnerable to COVID-pandemic, but it has proven again its resilience with remarkable resurgence. The year ended with 194,495 tourists, with earnings surpassing the target of $ 500 million,” Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Director-General Dhammika Wijayasingha told the Daily FT. As ...

Jan 15, 2022 Posted by In Articles, elanka Finance Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
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Sri Lanka gives $1 billion relief as anger grows over food costs Source:timesofindia.indiatimes.com COLOMBO: Sri Lanka unveiled a $1 billion relief package as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government seeks to temper growing public anger over the surging prices of essential food and medical items in a country that’s running out of foreign exchange to pay for imports. The government will raise civil servants salaries and pensions, remove some taxes on food and medicine and provide cash for its poorest citizens, a move critics say won’t help Sri Lanka’s state of finances and soaring inflation. The package accounts for 1.2% of gross domestic product, and will be re-allocated from the 3.9 trillion rupees budgeted to be spent in the whole of 2022, Rajapaksa’s brother and finance minister Basil Rajapaksa told a briefing in Colombo late Monday. There are no plans for new taxes, he added. The relief covers about 2 million people who are on ...

Jan 8, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , ,
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SRI LANKA NEWS – SEPTEMBER 2020 – By Victor Meldor Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100)1 decreased to 4.1 per cent in August 2020 from 4.2 per cent in July 2020. This was mainly driven by the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in August 2019. Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 12.3 per cent in August 2020 from 10.9 per cent in July 2020, whereas Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) decreased to 0.8 per cent in August 2020 from 1.5 per cent in July 2020, the Central Bank said in an announcement. The change in the CCPI measured on an annual average basis remained unchanged at 4.8 per cent in August 2020. The monthly change of CCPI was recorded at 0.0 per cent in August 2020. This was due to setting-off the price increase of 0.1 per cent in the ...

Oct 1, 2020 Posted by In Articles, Victor Melder Tagged , , , Comments 1
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