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Tuesday May 30th, 2023

Sri Lanka president claims local polls not delayed, points to lack of consensus

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that the local government election that was scheduled for March 09 has not been delayed as there was “no election to be postponed”, pointing to an apparent lack of an official decision on when the polls should be held.

Addressing parliament on Thursday February 23, Wickremesinghe said the election commission was due to inform the Supreme Court later that day that the election cannot be held.

Criticism has been mounting against President Wickremesinghe’s administration for what opposition MPs claim is its relentless attempts to stifle democracy and delay the local government elections.

Opposition parties claim that the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) does not want the election to go ahead fearing a humiliating defeat.

“The election has not been postponed. There is no election to be postponed in the first place,” said Wickremesinghe, inviting laughter from the government benches.

“As far as we know, a date for the election still hasn’t been announced. Some people are talking about March 09. I cannot comment on that date. To my knowledge, there has been no official decision made to hold the election,” he said.

The president claimed that the five-member election commission was not unanimous on the conduct of the polls.

“I can even present evidence for that,” he said.

“There really has been no official decision made to hold the election. So if we go and give money, I’d have to remove the secretary and ask the police to take legal action against him. The same would happen to the government printer. They will all lose their jobs.”

Wickremesinghe said that there are no funds at present, but all stakeholders can discuss a possible solution.

“For now there is no money. But for now there is no election either. There is no money for an election, and even if there was, there is no election. So what do we do?” he said.

The president further said that he is compelled to address claims made by various quarters about alleged attempts to delay the polls as it would otherwise be unfair by the Finance Ministry secretary and other officials.

Quoting a statement by the election commission that said it had been informed by the secretary of the Treasury that it is unable to provide the necessary funds to conduct the election, Wickremesinghe said: “This is false.”

The president also criticised the commission, an independent body, for having President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris represent it.

“If you’re obtaining the services of a lawyer, get someone who is not affiliated with any political party,” said Wickremesinghe.

Peiris, he claimed, is a lawyer who has maintained that his government has no mandate nor authority.

“It would’ve been better to get a lawyer from the SJB or the JVP,” he said.

Wickremesinghe also took a swipe at the main opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). He said he had advised SJB member Mujibur Rahuman who had recently resigned from his seat in parliament to contest the local government elections as the SJB’s Colombo mayor candidate.

“I sent a message to Mujibur Rahuman telling him not to resign and that he would be thrown under the bus,” said Wickremesinghe, to the apparent amusement of government MPs.

“I’m the one who brought him to parliament. I wanted to keep him in parliament,” he said.

“I will not comment further on that,” he added. (Colombo/Feb23/2023)

Comments (4)

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  1. laksiri says:

    When the president of the country is a joker and a criminal, what else you expect other than this

  2. sam says:

    How can this man trust by IMF to give 42.9B when he lies to his people after doing every possible thing to stop the election and now acts like a mentally sick man?

  3. Channapr says:

    He is twisting words to confuse but his intent to scuttle elections is obvious. He is an Ethically Compromised Person.

  4. Mohamed A Hassen says:

    As responsible media, the views of the Election Commission should be sought and publicized on their decision to hold an election despite the utterances of a person of the calibre of RW.

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Comments (4)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. laksiri says:

    When the president of the country is a joker and a criminal, what else you expect other than this

  2. sam says:

    How can this man trust by IMF to give 42.9B when he lies to his people after doing every possible thing to stop the election and now acts like a mentally sick man?

  3. Channapr says:

    He is twisting words to confuse but his intent to scuttle elections is obvious. He is an Ethically Compromised Person.

  4. Mohamed A Hassen says:

    As responsible media, the views of the Election Commission should be sought and publicized on their decision to hold an election despite the utterances of a person of the calibre of RW.

Sri Lanka food producers on countdown; 6-months to reduce trans fat content

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lankan food manufacturers only have another six months to reduce the amount of trans fat in food items as the government plans to ban high trans-fat food from January 2024 onwards, an official said.

“A six-month grace period has been given to existing manufacturers, sellers and distributors whose products contain trans-fat,” an official of the Ministry of Health told EconomyNext requesting anonymity.

According to a Ministry of Health gazette issued on… a person shall not sell, offer for sale, expose or keep for sale or advertise for sale, any packaged food product containing trans-fat unless the total amount of trans-fat of such food product per 100 grams or 100 milliliters of the food product is declared on the label of such packaged food product.

However, these regulations will not be applicable for export oriented food products.

Trans-fat is a type of fat that has certain chemical properties and is usually found in processed foods such as baked goods, snack foods, fried foods, shortening, margarine, and certain vegetable oils.

Eating trans-fat increases blood cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has praised Sri Lanka for enacting a legislation on trans-fat to protect health and prevent premature deaths from coronary heart disease, a statement from the WHO said.

“Eliminating trans-fats from food supplies is a cost-effective measure with enormous health benefits,” the statement quoting Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia said.

“By enacting legislation on trans-fat, Sri Lanka has once again demonstrated its resolve to protect and promote the health of its people”.

The regulations are coming into effect as Sri Lanka is struggling with food insecurity as the country recovers from its worst economic crisis.

However, an improvement in food security across all provinces has been recorded, according to an assessment by a Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) of two UN agencies. (Colombo/ May 30/2023)

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India extends under utilized $1 bln credit facility to Sri Lanka by one year 

ECONOMYNEXT – India has extended a $1 billion credit facility to Sri Lanka by another year after the loan that was given to help the crisis-hit island nation to continue import of essentials was not fully utilized in the 12 month period originally agreed, officials said.

Sri Lanka faced with a looming sovereign default signed the credit facility in March 2022 for one year through March 2024. However, the full $1 billion had not been utilized yet.

The Facility has been used for urgent procurement of fuel, medicines, food items and industrial raw materials, as per the requirements and priorities of Sri Lanka.

“The initial agreement was signed in 2022 March and out of the 1000 million US dollars allocated materials were imported for $576.75 mil,” Shehan Semasinghe, State Finance Minister said in his official twitter platform.

“The agreement is extended for the remaining $423.25 mil. We will prioritize the import of essential medicines till March 2024.”

Indian High Commission in Colombo said the State Bank of India (SBI) has extended the tenure of the $1 billion Credit Facility provided to Sri Lanka in response to a request from the Government of Sri Lanka.  (Colombo/May 30/2023)

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Sri Lanka President cleared to discuss cancelled LRT after soured Japan relations

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by President Ranil Wickremesinghe discuss resuming a Japan funded. Light Rail Transit (LRT) project cabinet spokesman said, as the island nation is in the process of mending ties with Tokyo.

However, any such deals are likely to take place after the debt restructuring and Sri Lanka starts to repay its foreign loans to come out of default, analysts say.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa unilaterally cancelled the 1.5 billion US dollar LRT and East Container Terminal (ECT) projects in 2021. Japan agreed to fund the LRT project while it was one of the tripartite members of the ECT project along with India and Sri Lanka.

The abrupt cancellation hit the diplomatic ties between the two countries and Sri Lankan government officials have said Japan had given the project to Sri Lanka at a very lower financing cost.

President Wickremesinghe returned from Japan late last week after having met top officials of the Japanese government including its prime minister.

“In recent history, due to the stopping of several agreements and proposals suddenly, President Wickremesinghe went to Japan after creating the background to clear some of the worries we have,” Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told the weekly media briefing.

“Before he went, he got the approval from the cabinet to resume the discussion on the light railway project. He got the approval from the cabinet to get parliament approval for bilateral agreements signed or any other investments project. Any change or cancellation of a project could be done only with the approval of the parliament.”

Japan has backed Sri Lanka under Wickremesinghe’s presidency after the island nation declared sovereign debt default. (Colombo/May 30/2023)

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