Page 32 - Sri Lanka

IMF board to consider approval of Sri Lanka's bailout package on March 20

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Sri Lanka has received financial assurances from all major bilateral creditors, Sri Lanka-based Daily Mirror reported

Sri Lanka secures China assurances to clear way for $2.9 bn IMF bailout

China has given assurances that it will support Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, clearing the biggest hurdle for the debt-ridden country to secure a much-needed USD 2.9-billion bailout package from the IMF, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday. In January, India strongly backed the island nation's efforts to secure a loan from the global lender to recover from its worst-ever economic crisis. Last night we received a new letter from the EXIM Bank of China. I and the governor of the Central Bank signed our letter of intent and sent it to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last night itself," Wickremesinghe, who is also the minister of finance, told Parliament. Wickremesinghe said, our part of obligations are now complete and we hope the IMF will do their duty by the third or fourth week of this month, this will enable us to receive funding from the world bank and the ADB, he added. The IMF bailout process made slow progress due to the need to restructure Sri Lanka's nearl

A suggestion to the IMF on inflation

Standard policies towards inflation have not helped. It is important to think out of the box

Sri Lanka to hold election after getting Treasury's guarantee on funds

Sri Lanka's election commission on Monday said that the new date for the cash-strapped country's local election will be announced after receiving a guarantee from the Treasury on the funds required to hold it. The local body polls scheduled for March 9 were postponed due to a plethora of reasons linked to the country's current economic crisis. We have asked to meet the Treasury Secretary, the inspector general of police and the government printer," the chair of the independent Election Commission Nimal Punchihewa said on Monday. The new date will be announced with a guarantee from the Treasury on the money required to hold it. The meeting follows last week's order by the Supreme Court on the Secretary Treasury to release the budgetary allocation made for conducting of the poll for 340 local councils in the 2023 budget. The election to appoint new administrations to 340 local councils for a four-year term has been postponed since March last year due to the ongoing economic crisis.

India, Sri Lanka mulling over using Indian Rupee for economic transactions

India and Sri Lanka are exploring the possibility of using the Indian Rupee for economic transactions and have discussed the initiative that will help in building a stronger and closer partnership through trade and investment-led measures between the two countries. The High Commission of India here organised a discussion on the use of the Indian Rupee (INR) for transactions between India and Sri Lanka on Thursday. "Representatives from the Bank of Ceylon, State Bank of India and the Indian Bank shared their experiences and informed the audience that they had started carrying out INR-denominated trade transactions through respective Vostro/Nostro accounts after the creation of enabling framework by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in 2022," the High Commission said in a statement. The participating banks also outlined the benefits of settlements denominated in INR which includes shorter timelines, lower exchange costs and easier availability of

EAM S Jaishankar, Ali Sabry discuss Sri Lanka's economic recovery

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday held wide-ranging talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart M U M Ali Sabry focusing on facilitating Sri Lanka's economic recovery as well boosting bilateral trade. India extended financial assistance worth around USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka, including lines of credit for purchases of food and fuel, last year when it was reeling under a severe economic crisis. New Delhi also provided guarantees to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the country secure a USD 2.9 billion bailout package. "Nice to catch up FM @alisabrypc of Sri Lanka. Thank him for his #RaisinaDialogue2023 participation," Jaishankar said on Twitter. "We took stock of our cooperation that is focused on facilitating Sri Lanka's economic recovery. Discussions covered investment, trade and development partnership," he said. Sabry described the meeting as "constructive". "I met with @DrSJaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India at Hyderabad House during my .

Sri Lanka's central bank ready to adopt IMF programme within March

There have been some differences between the CBSL and IMF staff on the inflation outlook, CBSL Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said

Lanka's central bank raises interest rates in anticipation of IMF bailout

Central bank Governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said with the rate increase all "prior actions" have been fulfilled and he was hopeful of the IMF bailout being approved within this month

State Bank of India completes first commercial trade in Sri Lankan rupees

The move comes as Sri Lanka grapples with its worst economic crisis since its independence, triggered by a shortage of dollars

World Bank assures support to Sri Lanka's development reform programme

The World Bank assured its support to development reform programme of Sri Lanka, which is going through its worst-ever economic crisis in the history

India, Sri Lanka review security cooperation at annual defence dialogue

Top defence officials of India and Sri Lanka have held the seventh edition of their annual dialogue during which the two sides reviewed the bilateral defence and security cooperation and identified new avenues for engagement. The two-day meeting of the 7th edition of the Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) between India and Sri Lanka, which began in New Delhi on Thursday was chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Armane and his Sri Lankan counterpart General Kamal Gunaratne. During the meeting which ended on Saturday, the two sides reviewed the defence and security cooperation, the Indian High Commission said here. Various ongoing defence cooperation initiatives were jointly reviewed and new avenues for engagement were identified during the ADD, it said. Sri Lanka's delegation included Air Marshal SK Pathirana, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force along with senior officers from the Sri Lanka Army and the Navy. The Indian delegation included officials from the Ministry of Defence, Headquarte

Sri Lanka's body approves renewable energy projects of Adani group

Sri Lanka's investment promotion body has approved two renewable energy projects of India's Adani group to be set up in the north and eastern regions of the island nation at a total investment of USD 442 million. The wind power plant in Mannar will operate at a capacity of 250 MW (megawatt) while the wind power plant in Pooneryn will operate at a capacity of 100 MW. The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka has issued a letter of approval to India's Adani Green Energy Limited, for the two wind power plants to be set up in Mannar and Pooneryn at a total investment of USD 442 million," a release said on Thursday. The two wind power plants of 350 MW are scheduled to be commissioned in two years and they will be added to the national grid by 2025. The new project will generate 1500-2000 new employment opportunities. Early this week, the Adani Group representatives met the minister of Energy Kanchana Wijesekara to check on the progress of the two projects. This was the first official meeti

CM Stalin writes to EAM, seeks intervention over attacks on TN fishermen

The Tamil Nadu CM highlighted the incident where six Tamil Nadu fishermen were allegedly attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy

India, Sri Lanka agree to increase 'complexity' of bilateral exercises: MoD

India and Sri Lanka on Thursday agreed to increase intensity of bilateral military exercises and vowed to avail maximum benefits from each other's experience and capacities, a move that came amid China's attempts to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region. The two sides reviewed their defence and security cooperation at the seventh India-Sri Lanka annual defence dialogue that took place in Delhi. "During the meeting, the ongoing defence cooperation activities between the two countries were reviewed, with both sides agreeing to increase the complexity of bilateral exercises," the defence ministry said. "In the context of training, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to avail maximum benefits from each other's experience and capacities," it said in a statement. The dialogue was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and his Sri Lankan counterpart General Kamal Gunaratne. The ministry said the armed forces of both countries continue to seek bilateral cooperation i

Sri Lanka okays two Adani Group power plants with investment over $400 mn

According to the BOI, the two wind power plants of 350 MW which are scheduled to be commissioned in two years, and would be added to the national grid by 2025

Sri Lanka investment board approves $442-mn Adani Green wind power plants

Sri Lankans have been struggling with rolling powers cuts for over a year as the country struggled to generate sufficient amounts of thermal and coal power

Pak, Sri Lanka close in on IMF deals after raising taxes to boost economies

Pakistan has taken all the measures needed to unfreeze a $6.5 billion credit line and expects to clinch the deal "any day now," Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said in an interview

IMF only option available to SL to overcome economic crisis: Wickremesinghe

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday emphasised that seeking the IMF bailout package was the only option available to the debt-ridden country to overcome the ongoing economic crisis. "When a country goes bankrupt, it has to go to the International Monetary Fund. Apart from that, there is no other organisation in the world that provides aid when a country goes bankrupt," Wickremesinghe said. Addressing a gathering in the central town of Kandy, he said that each nation that experienced an economic catastrophe recovered after engaging in talks with the IMF and cited the example of Greece which took 13 years to recover from the collapsed economy. "I have no hope of being President for 13 years," Wickremesinghe said, amidst opposition to his hard economic reforms which had triggered utility rate hikes and increased personal taxes. "There is only one way to rebuild this collapsed economy. That is the International Monetary Fund. Different political parties are presenting

Srilankans attacked Indian fishermen, took their catch & equipment: TN CM

Srilankans assaulted Indian fishermen, took away their catch and equipment, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin apprised the Centre on Monday and urged that the matter be taken up with Sri Lanka to ensure action against assailants and prevent recurrence of such attacks. Writing to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Stalin said while fishermen from Nagappattinam in Tamil Nadu were fishing east of Thopputhurai area on February 15, about "10 Sri Lankan nationals in three fishing boats surrounded the Indian fishing boat and beaten our innocent fishermen with iron rod, sticks and knives." The Nagappatinam based country craft sailed with a crew of six. In this attack, one fishermen sustained injuries in head and left hand and other five fishermen sustained internal injuries. The Sri Lankan nationals took away materials worth about Rs 2 lakh including walkie-talkie, GPS equipment, battery and about 200 kg fish. The injured were admitted in Nagapattinam government hospital for ...

Sri Lanka returns to non-stop power supply after a year, at higher cost

After a year of load-shedding, Sri Lankans will get continuous power from Thursday, albeit with a hike in tariff in line with the conditions set by the IMF. The Sri Lankan government's move comes as the debt-hit country aims to secure a much-needed USD 2.9 billion tranche from the Washington-based global lender. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has directed officials to ensure an uninterrupted power supply to customers after the tariff revision is implemented, a statement from the President's Media Division said. The state power entity said that the power cuts ranging from one to 14 hours from January last year would end on Thursday. A 66 per cent tariff hike would be in effect, the second in the last six months. A 70 per cent rate increase was introduced in August last year. The government opted for a cost-reflective tariff plan as dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said. This will be a giant step in securing the IMF facility, he