Health

Sri Lanka COVID positive number closes in on the two thousand mark as repatriation flights continue

RESCUE FLIGHTS: SriLankan Airlines is operating rescue flights for stranded citizens and other passengers.

Tuesday June 16, 2020 7:22 am

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s total number of people diagnosed with COVID 19 nudged closer to the two-thousand mark last night as more returnees to the country from overseas tested positive for the virus the Government’s Information Department said.

Patients diagnosed positive among returning Sri Lankans from the Maldives, Bangladesh and Kuwait and two more from the Navy cluster made up the 16 new patients bringing the total up to 1,905 on Monday night.

The end of May saw the highest number of COVID 19 cases being reported as two active clusters of patients produced large numbers of infected persons.

They are the Navy cluster – confined in most part to the huge Welisara Navy Camp – which has up to now produced 927 patients and the Kuwait cluster which saw 536 returnees who have been detected as positive.

The number from the Navy includes family members who were infected when personnel were permitted to travel to their homes outside of the Colombo District.

The epi-curve, the graph that tracks the number infected each day maintained by the Epidemiological Unit of the Department of Health Services has seen a gentle dip downwards in June.

DIPPING DOWN – Sri Lanka’s epi-curve is showing a downward trend

The Opposition yesterday June 15, accused the government of stopping flights bringing back migrant workers to keep the number of infected persons down.

The Cabinet Spokesman Minister Bandula Gunewardena has said that the government is going slow on the repatriation as it does not want to place any greater stress on the Sri Lankan Health Service particularly the number of hospital beds.

However, repatriation flights are continuing with around 200 passengers stuck in Pakistan brought back last night.

More flights from the UK, the Maldives and the Middle-East are expected.

Thousands of Sri Lankan migrant workers are stranded in Kuwait and other places in the Middle-East, many unable to travel as their documents have been seized by the authorities or held back by job agents or employers.

Some are staying in places provided by the job agencies or in deportation camps.

The situation in the Maldives is also dire as there are nearly 7,000 Sri Lankan workers stuck in the Male and Greater Male area where the government has declared a Red Alert and urged foreign governments to take their citizens back.

The Sri Lankan authorities dispatched parcels of food, sanitary items and essential medicines to these people late last week and the distribution of these parcels to families is now underway.

Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered police to return vehicles seized during the quarantine curfew to their owners.

Many residents have complained that they have observed police officers driving around in their cars, some of them upper range SUVs. (Colombo, June 16, 2020)

Reported by Arjuna Ranawana

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Economy

Sri Lanka to ramp up weekend fuel deliveries after petrol price cut

More deaths reported at Sri Lanka fuel queues

Friday June 2, 2023 5:52 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will be operating on the weekend to complete all fuel deliveries to end vehicle queues forming outside fuel stations after the price revision earlier in the week, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.

“Instructions have been given to CPC and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals to continue fuel deliveries on Saturday and Sunday this week to supply sufficient stocks to all fuel stations,” Minister Wijesekera said in a TWITTER.COM MESSAGE

“To reduce expenses on overtime, CPC and CPSTL have not been operating on Sundays and public holidays in the last 4 months,” Wijesekera said.

“Non-placement of orders by fuel stations from last Saturday, anticipating a price reduction, not maintaining minimum stocks, immediate increase in demand by consumers after the price revision, and quota increase have created shortages in the fuel stations.”

The Minister in April 2023 said all fuel stations would be required to maintain a minimum of 50 percent of stock tank capacity.

“I have asked CPC to review and suspend the license of fuel stations that had not maintained minimum stocks.” (Colombo/ June 02/ 2023)

Bonds & Forex

Sri Lanka bonds yield up at close, rupee at 291.75/292.50 against the US dollar

Friday June 2, 2023 5:21 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s bonds closed steady on Friday, dealers said, following the central bank’s decision to cut its main policy rate by 250 basis points.

The Spot US dollar closed at 291.75/292.50 rupees, dealers said.

The rupee opened at 290.25/75 to the US dollar Thursday and closed at 292.50/295.50 to the US dollar.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed at 24.70/90 percent up from 24.50/90 percent a day earlier, dealers said.

A bond maturing on 15.05.2026 closed at 25.75/26.25 percent up from 25.00/26.00 percent a day earlier.

A bond maturing on 01.05.2025 closed at 27.00/30 percent, up from 26.30/27.00 per cent at last close.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2032 closed at 20.25/21.00 percent, up from 20.00/40 per cent at last close.
(Colombo/ June 02/2023)

Markets

Sri Lanka’s shares edge up on positive macroeconomic sentiments

Friday June 2, 2023 5:18 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s shares closed higher in trade on Friday, over positive macro-sentiments encouraging investors to redeem their interest towards buying, an analyst said.

The main All Share Price Index was up 0.72 percent or 62.19 points to 8,753.80, while the most liquid index S&P SL20 was up 0.68 percent or 16.87 points to 2,487.29.

Sri Lanka’s inflation in the 12-months to May 2023 has eased to 25.2 percent from 35.3 percent a month earlier according to a revised Colombo Consumer Price Index calculated by the state statistics office.

Prior to the Monetary Policy investors were quite optimistic that inflation is to lower and interest rates will decrease and since exp, an analyst said.

Sri Lanka Central Bank is waiting for the government proposal on the domestic debt restructuring (DDR), the central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said amid uncertainty over DDR and speculations over instability in the banking sector.

“On debt restructuring, the borrower is the ministry of finance’s treasury. Certainly we will announce what the strategy will be. We are waiting for a government proposal,” Weerasinghe said.

Sri Lanka’s investors are waiting on assurances to be made on debt restructuring and optimization, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said, “It is up to the government to clear the uncertainty, because from our side we have done that part.”

The central bank cut the key policy rates by 250 basis points to spur a faltering economic growth as inflation was decelerating faster than it projected.

The speculation of DDR has hit the market and the risk premium has kept the market lending rates well above the central bank’s policy rates. The government has yet to present its plans on DDR.

Weerasinghe said the central bank has done its best to reduce the risk premium through bringing down the market lending rates while keeping the policy rates unchanged.

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has discussed progress of International Monetary Fund program and debt restructuring during a visit of Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura, statement said.

“The discussion primarily focused on the progress of the IMF program between Sri Lanka and the IMF,” a statement from President’s office said.

“Attention was also paid to the on-going debt restructuring negotiations.”

However Officials from IMF have said Sri Lanka has to focus on expanding taxes.

“We discussed the importance of fiscal measures, in particular revenue measures, for a return to macroeconomic stability,” Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura said in a statement.

The finance ministry this week issued rules requiring everyone above 18 year of age to register to pay income tax.

“I was encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to negotiate a debt strategy in a timely and transparent manner.

The market generated a revenue of 738 million rupees, while the daily average was 1 billion rupees.

Top gainers in trade were Vallibel One, LOLC Finance and Browns Investment. (Colombo/June02/2023)