Parliament

Former President says SLFP aiming to form a government

Wednesday March 31, 2021 7:19 am

ECONOMYNEXT – Former President and leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Maithripala Sirisena has said that his party is working towards forming a government led by the SLFP.

Sirisena told reporters in Kandy on Monday that they would do so while “fully supporting the current government, we need to organize the party. We cannot stay silent.”

“As a party that helped make and build the government headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa we must tell you that that the support and dedication which we extended to give him the victory at the Presidential elections cannot be disregarded,” the former President said.

“In the past four or five months, our supporters, the general public, the educated and intellectuals have begun to ask us what is the SLFP up to? Are you not working towards strengthening the party, are you not working to raise up the party.”

“Our party has had less than the 14 Members of Parliament before. It was hard for the 13 directly elected MPs to win their seats as they had to face many unjust accusations and insults. We faced many challenges and had to make many sacrifices.”

“Even in terms of financial contributions we had issues and our candidates had to use their own resources as they did not get the support they needed,” Sirisena said.

“We have to work towards forming a government led by the SLFP. There are many things we need to do to achieve that goal,” he asserted.

“In politics, various parties come together to build alliances and fronts. We need to strengthen our party otherwise no other party would want to join us or come with us on our journey if we are weak,” Sirisena said.

Nimal Siripala de Silva, a senior SLFP leader and a Cabinet Minister in the current government said that the SLFP needs to keep its own identity and its reorganization is not aimed at being against anyone. (Colombo, March 31, 2021)

Reported by Arjuna Ranawana

FILED UNDER: Former President Maithripala Sirisena

Cancel reply

1 Sri Lanka's HNB, Commercial Bank, Sampath licensed by Colombo Port City

2 Sri Lanka official remittances up 40-pct in November as improved FX policy helps

3 Ahead of elections, Sri Lanka leader suggests 70% hike for plantation workers

4 Sri Lanka in blackout as power grid hit by cascading failure

5 Sri Lanka's Lotus Tower to open its revolving restaurant on Dec 09

Energy

Sri Lanka’s ousted utilities regulatory chief convinced he’ll be president

Monday December 11, 2023 11:42 am

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s former public utilities regulatory chief Janaka Ratnayake, who was removed in May following a parliamentary vote, has confirmed that he intends to run for president.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday December 11 in the wake of an hours-long island-wide power outage the previous evening, Ratanayake said he will be the definite winner at a future presidential poll.

“I announced [my intention to run] officially on December 07, my birthday. I’m definitely coming as a presidential candidate. That’s not all, I’m the definite president at a future presidential election,” he said.

Ratnayake, in his first media appearance in months, was responding to questions about newspaper advertisements published on December 07 announcing his future candidacy.

Sri Lanka’s parliament on May 24 opted to remove the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), with 123 members voting in favour. This marked the first time a head of an independent government commission was sacked by Sri Lanka’s parliament.

Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, who had been at loggerheads with the regulatory chief, said at the time that the official had acted obstinately without the concurrence of fellow commission members.

The minister levelled five charges against Ratnayake, the first twoof which were based on a February 10 verdict by the Court of Appeal rejecting an application filed by the offiical against an electricity tariff hike. Opposition legislators slammed the decision saying it undermined independent commissions.

Ratnayake’s presidential ambitions have been known for some time. A day before parliament voted to remove him, he told reporters: “If I can change the country, I will definitely join politics, because my intention is to serve the people and what is right.”

Ratnayake had blocked delayed a tariff hike in early 2023, resulting in losses to the state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Minister Wijesekara claimed at the time. The PUCSL had als onot enabled tariff hikes for nine years, requiring its governing law to be changed, Wijesekera said.

General Industry

Sri Lanka wants university research to lead to commercially viable products

Monday December 11, 2023 11:30 am

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s ministry of industries wants to ensure commercially-ready products and services are produced by university research, by facilitating partnerships with factories and entrepreneurs.

After a currency crisis, Sri Lanka’s government is in a drive to boost its trade balance by increasing exports.

“Our export basket hasn’t changed recently, partly because our small and medium entrepreneurs don’t have sufficient research and development facilities (like the multinationals) to innovate their products for the export market,” Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industries, Chaminda Pathiraja said.

“At the same time, state universities and research institutes produce a large amount of research findings yearly, which end up sitting in those institutions; they don’t reach the industry,” Pathiraja said at a press briefing to announce a program on commercialization of new products and research, to be held tomorrow at the Waters Edge.

The networking forum will bring innovators and manufacturers together to focus on the commercialization of research for the value added tea, coir, spice, dairy products, gem and jewellery and packaging products industries.

“We want to encourage collaboration, through programs like our University Business League etc, so that the research output can be commercialized, and what is produced by our factories can increase in quantity and quality. We must focus on the export market.”

The objective of this program, he said, was to reduce the gap in acquiring innovators’ ideas and skills by the investors, and ultimately boost the manufacturing sector’s efficiency in alignment with the export market.
(Colombo/Dec11/2023)

Bonds & Forex

Sri Lanka rupee opens at 327.00/50 to the US dollar

Monday December 11, 2023 9:35 am

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee opened at 327.00/50 to the US dollar on Monday, from 327.00/30 Friday, dealers said.

On the Colombo Stock Exchange, both indices opened up: The All Share Price Index 0.28 percent at 10,823, and the S&P SL20 0.35 percent at 3,113.85.

Bond yields were up.

A bond maturing on 01.08.2026 was quoted at 14.05/20 percent from 14.05/15 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.01.2027 was quoted at 14.05/20 percent from 14.10/25 percent.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2028 was quoted at 14.20/50 percent from 14.20/35 percent.
(Colombo/Dec11/2023)