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SRI LANKA NEWS (JANUARY  2024) Compiled by Victor Melder Nearly a half of Sri Lanka’s households are adopting livelihood-based coping strategies to buy food, says a recent report published by the World Food Programme. The WFP’s ‘Sri Lanka – Household Food Security Survey: Preliminary Findings, December 2023’ says that 43 percent of households were adopting livelihood-based coping strategies to cope with the lack of adequate food. Borrowing money to buy food and purchasing food on credit were the most commonly adopted strategies, by 27 and 26 percent of households, respectively, says the report, adding that households remain vulnerable to future shocks and stresses. “According to the survey, a high proportion of estate households (80 percent) adopted livelihood-based coping strategies, followed by 50 percent of urban households. In the rural sector, 41 percent of households are resorting to coping strategies. In terms of household characteristics, 43 percent of male-headed households and ...

Jan 31, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Victor Melder Tagged , , ,
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SRI LANKA NEWS (APRIL  2023)  Compiled by Victor Melder Sri Lanka’s inflation, as measured by the change in the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI) marginally eased to 50.3 percent in March 2023 from 50.6 percent in February, the Department of Census and Statistics reported Friday. The CCPI for all items for the month of March 2023 marginally increased to 195.0 from 189.5 in February. The Year on Year inflation of Food Group decreased to 47.6 percent in March from 54.4 percent in February and the Year on Year inflation of Non Food Group increased to 51.7 percent in March 2023 from 48.8 percent in the previous month. For the month of March 2023, on year‐to‐year basis, contribution to inflation by food commodities was 14.93 percent and the contribution of Non Food items was 35.46 percent. The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) following internationally accepted guidelines, has revised the base ...

May 1, 2023 Posted by In Articles, Victor Melder Tagged ,
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 International Monetary Fund Source:Dailymirror The staff level agreement between Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was arrived at on September 1 last year, was to be approved by the IMF Executive Board yesterday and the government has expressed confidence that Sri Lanka will receive the first tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) under the agreement which is a 48-month arrangement.  The country which declared bankruptcy due to its inability to repay the foreign loans in April last year is totally depending now on the bailout package of the IMF for the economic recovery. In spite of the recent appreciation of rupee for a brief period in early March, the country is still facing a severe shortage of foreign exchange to repay its foreign loans which run into around US$50 billion and to import essential items such as fuel and life-saving drugs and ingredients for local industries.  ...

Mar 22, 2023 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , ,
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Upcoming Sri Lanka – By Dr harold Gunatillake Website: www.Doctorharold.com Transcript: * Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country, which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family. * Economy improves, and forex reserves rise for Sri Lanka, The Theme of the 2023 International Women’s Day Celebration in Sri Lanka– is “She is the pride of the nation.” International Women’s Day is observed annually on March 8th, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe promotes women’s empowerment and well-being. In Sri Lanka, the first Women’s Day celebration was held in 1978, and every year since then, the celebration has centred around different themes. Despite the current social and economic challenges Sri Lanka faces, its women continue to exhibit strength and resilience, earning respect ...

Mar 15, 2023 Posted by In Articles, Dr harold Gunatillake Tagged , , , , ,
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Prez insists on IMF approved new tax regime, warns of dire consequences unless fully implemented Source:Island President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in a televised statement yesterday (18), warned that Sri Lanka wouldn’t be able to obtain assistance of the IMF, or any other lending agencies, or countries, if tough new tax regime was not implemented. The President said: “If we withdraw from this programme, we will not receive assistance from the IMF. If we don’t get the IMF certification, we will not get the support of those international institutions, such as the World Bank, and Asian Development Bank, and the countries that provide support. If that happens, we will have to go back to the era of queues. “We may have to face even tougher times ahead. We have to obtain these loans and go for the debt-restructuring programme. We are not doing these wilfully. We have to take certain decisions, even ...

Oct 23, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged ,
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Needs, wants and destructive greed Source:Dailymirror Our country, in the words of no less a person than our president, is bankrupt. To use a colloquialism, we are ‘stone broke’. Our international debt which we are unable to repay and have defaulted stands at a staggering US$ 51 billion.  We have no foreign reserves to meet day-to-day expenses for basic needs, such as food, medicines, fuel or gas.  Thanks to our neighbour India, we are being supplied with limited quantities of all these basics. Not unsurprisingly the costs of these essential commodities have soared to unbelievable levels. However, we Lankans are not the only country facing rising costs and depreciating foreign reserves.  ...

Oct 11, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged ,
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Sri Lanka News September 06th September 2022 – 09th September 2022 brought to you by eLanka (1) The introduction of the Social Security Contribution Tax Bill to Parliament has been postponed until next Thursday. The reason was the opposition raised for it. Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who commented on this, said that although the VAT is 15%, the price of general goods and services through this social security tax increases by almost 20% when VAT is added, and no action has been taken by anyone who created this crisis. The central bank’s entire reserves were emptied. Has any decision been taken regarding Cabral or the Finance Minister? In January 2020, nearly Rs 654 billion was prevented from reaching the treasury. Have decisions been made about them? Due to the delay of the fuel ship, the petroleum corporation has to pay a lot of money to the company. Fertilizer ships have ...

Sep 28, 2022 Posted by In Articles, eLanka news Tagged , , , , , ,
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We are solving the economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka – By Dr Harold Gunatillake Transcript: America to help Sri Lanka get out of debt. Seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund through an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) being processed The United States, following its principles, stands ready to join other members of the Paris Community, sharing with Sri Lanka the common goal of accelerating financial assurance. The United States Treasury Secretary, Mrs Janet Yellen, has informed President Ranil Wickremesinghe that she will support debt restructuring in Sri Lanka. The Treasury Secretary has also informed that the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and American financial institutions are working to provide support following the financial rules to solve the economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka. Accepting President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal for a coordination platform for Sri Lanka’s official bilateral creditors, the United States Treasury requests action in this regard. The United ...

Sep 13, 2022 Posted by In Articles, Dr harold Gunatillake Tagged , , ,
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Sri Lanka’s president says IMF talks nearing successful end Image Source : washingtonpost Source : wtop COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president said Tuesday that his bankrupt country’s talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package have successfully reached final stages as he presented an amended budget that seeks to tame inflation and hike taxes. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, said in a speech in Parliament that his government will soon start negotiating debt restructuring with countries that provide loans to Sri Lanka. Declaring that Sri Lanka is on the “correct course in the short term for recovery,” Wickremesinghe warned the country must prepare for at least 25 years of a national economic policy, staring with the 2023 budget. An IMF team is visiting Sri Lanka and is expected to end the current round of talks on Wednesday. Prior to the visit, the IMF ...

Aug 31, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , ,
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Another round of talks between President, IMF Source:Dailynews Another round of discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with the aim of finding solutions to the financial crisis facing Sri Lanka, was held yesterday afternoon (26) at the President’s Office under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. President Wickremesinghe joined the meeting via zoom technology exchanged ideas in a positive manner. The IMF had made a request for additional information pertaining to electricity tariff revisions, the Excise Act etc and it was decided at this meeting to provide the requested information by next Monday. ...

Aug 28, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , ,
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