Courtesy Adaderana

The Resolution on Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) was passed in Parliament with amendments a short while ago (01 July).

Accordingly, the DDO strategy was passed in Parliament with a majority of 60 votes, with 122 votes in favour and 62 votes against. 

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of Parliament Kushani Rohanadeera has informed the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, in writing, that the DDO strategy was passed in Parliament.

A full-day special parliamentary session took place today, during which lawmakers debated the restructuring of local debt, initially proposed in a bid to achieve debt sustainability and economic recovery.

On 28 June, the Cabinet of Ministers unanimously approved the proposed sovereign domestic debt restructuring strategy for restoring sovereign debt sustainability.

Following two days of extensive discussions on the strategy and its impact, the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), chaired by MP Dr. Harsha de Silva on 30 June, gave its approval for the proposed plan, with amendments binding the Finance Ministry to the proposed plan, ensuring adherence to the approved concept paper and addressing concerns about potential deviations.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Secretary to the Finance Ministry and its officials, creditors including banks, superannuation funds EPF/ETF and insurance funds were invited to the COPF sessions to discuss the matter at length and to hear their views.

In response to questions on the DDO’s impact on superannuation funds EPF, ETF and the guarantee given to ensure 9% interest rates, CBSL Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe assured that their calculations indicate no net present value loss to the EPF. However, COPF chairman has advocated for legislating a minimum return, as done in the 1958 EPF Act.

Further, concerns were raised about the burden falling on the EPF, the largest superannuation fund in the country, without the consent of the depositors.

The COPF chairman, Dr. Harsha de Silva said the committee members called for balanced burden sharing among all creditors, not entirely on the superannuation funds, in order to uphold equity in the DDO.

Meanwhile, COPF members also raised concerns about the government’s commitment to the proposed plan and adherence to the principles of the resolution. Finance Ministry officials acknowledging these concerns, pledged to strengthen the Fiscal Management Responsibility Act (FMRA) for compliance.

Domestic debt restructuring is a key condition in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, through which a bailout package of USD 3 billion was approved for Sri Lanka in March 2023. The IMF program unlocks more help from international funding agencies. Accordingly, the World Bank, earlier this week, approved USD 700 million in financing as budgetary and welfare support for Sri Lanka.

After defaulting on its foreign debt for the time in May 2022, Sri Lanka has been working to get the economy back on track and to meet the conditions set by the IMF. Sri Lanka aims to restructure its sovereign domestic debt before the second IMF review in September 2023 as the release of  second tranche of the bailout package due in October would require notable progress on debt restructuring. The island nation received the first tranche to the tune of USD 330 million in March soon after the IMF Board approved the 48-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

War is too important to be left to the generals. This quote is as relevant today as it was in the early 19th century, when French statesman and journalist Georges Clemenceau first said it to stress the importance of civilian control over the military and the war. If this is so with the generals, then where do mercenaries stand when it comes to decisions on war?

Given this all-important rule of civilian political leadership taking control of the war, last week’s events in Russia lead to two conclusions: Either President Vladimir Putin has not mastered his war studies as the commander in chief of Russia’s armed forces or he has taken a calculated risk by placing his country’s war against Ukraine—call it the war against NATO—in the hands of a mercenary group called the Wagner group. The second possibility appears to have more traction.

Contrary to reports the Western media churned out of last week’s events in Russia, with some viewing them as an unfolding coup, Putin and his military chiefs were well in control and knew of the Wagner rebellion well in advance. It may even be a red herring—a collaboration of sorts between Putin and Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to confuse the enemy. Who knows?

Reports say senior Russian General Sergei Surovikin knew of Prigozhin’s rebellion well in advance. He has since been arrested in what was seen as a thickening of the plot. Russia watchers said, however, the Wagner rebellion came as no surprise to the entire Russian leadership, as they were anticipating it and allowing it to happen to achieve political ends. There is much politics behind the plot. After all, war is the continuation of politics by other means. The drama started with Prigozhin launching a public criticism of Russia’s defence establishment, especially Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, claiming that the defence ministry, by holding back military supplies to the front, was putting his fighters, many of whom were convicts recruited from prisons, in harm’s way.

As the Wagner chief continued his ranting and began to act as though he were the boss, strangely, there was little or no censure from strongman Putin or the military top brass. The West began to see Prigozhin’s criticism with joy, concluding that Putin’s hold on power was being challenged. The West saw the episode as a fissure in Russia’s resolve to fight the war as a united front.

The rebellion happened at a time when the Wagner Group had emerged as a powerful military force. Its victories on the Ukrainian war front had made Prigozhin a national hero. Prigozhin, the presidential chef turned billionaire military contractor, was once a trusted friend of Putin. 
He remains so, notwithstanding last Friday’s rebellion and Putin’s description of it as a stab in the back. Prigozhin made it clear that his rebellion was not against Putin or a coup attempt but against the defence establishment, which had ignored his pleas for urgent military supplies to capitalize on the military gains he and his troops had made in the capture of Ukraine’s Bakhmut region. 

To assume that Putin was helpless in controlling the Wagner Group chief is political naiveté. Putin was in full control and knew when to strike and in what measure.
For Russia, the Wagner Group, which was registered as a company in 2022, is still useful to carry out its global operations.
The group is allowed to continue its military operations in Syria and Africa, including the war-torn Sudan, while Prigozhin himself was allowed to move into Belarus, which is pro-Russia and shares strategically significant borders with both Russia and Ukraine. His presence in Belarus is a serious concern for Ukraine and NATO, as it was only recently that Russia stationed its nuclear weapons in Belarus. Whether Prigozhin and his senior officers will play a military role in Belarus is a billion-ruble question, though Western critics say he is doomed.
It was Belarus that facilitated the deal between Putin and Prigozhin. The deal is too magnanimous to be true. No arrests were made. The Wagner troops were allowed to go to Belarus or join the military under a new contract. 

The Russian military, the police, the border guards, and the internal security force known as Rosguardia restrained themselves even in the face of the rebels’ march towards Moscow. Their non-intervention is unexplainable unless they have received orders from the top not to intervene and let the Wagner Group perform some stunts for the victory-starved West to cheer on.
It is interesting not note why Ukraine and NATO did not make use of the rebellion to gain a military advantage on the war front when the rebellion was ongoing. Their failure shows their weakness. On the contrary, rebellion-hit Russia is still calling the shots, as Wednesday’s missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, indicates.

The rebellion has, instead of weakening Putin, strengthened his hold on power and offered him an opportunity to show he could solve a serious crisis without bloodshed.
Last week’s developments in Russia are too good to be true. 
Whatever it is, a nation shall not rely on mercenaries to wage war on its behalf. In 1499, the Italian city state, Florence, depended on mercenaries in its war against Pisa. While the war was raging, Florence’s mercenary army made a retreat when victory was in sight and Pisa was about to discuss a surrender deal. The betrayal by the mercenaries was one of the main political developments that inspired Nicolai Machiavelli to write his famous book, The Prince. Mercenaries were not to be trusted, he said, and insisted the Prince must build on sound foundations and have its own loyal army.

Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous. If the Prince bases the defence of his state on mercenaries, he will never achieve stability or security. Mercenaries are disunited, thirsty for power, undisciplined, and disloyal,” he wrote.
However, Machiavelli did not outright dismiss the use of mercenaries. He advocated for caution and a nuanced approach. He proposed that a wise ruler should maintain a core standing army loyal to the state while judiciously supplementing it with select mercenaries when necessary. This is exactly what Putin has done. 
Many states in their fight against terrorism have worked with mercenary outfits which are no respecters of rules of warfare or human rights. It has happened in Sri Lanka during the 1988-90 insurrection and the separatist war against the LTTE. 

Over time, the role the mercenaries have played has become sophisticated. The Americans had Blackwater mercenaries to carry out their dirty work in Iraq. Britain has SAS – Special Air Service, a military unit comprising largely foreign fighters. Information regarding this secretive group is highly classified.
Though in the Western media, the Wagner group is portrayed as mercenaries, foreigners who fight alongside Ukrainian soldiers are glorified as volunteers who have signed up to fight Russian aggression.
In the end, it is all a game of nomenclature. Just as the saying ‘one’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter’ goes, one’s mercenary is another’s volunteer hero who ‘fights for a cause’.

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Topped off by a curious ‘coup’ attempt in Russia, June has been a fascinating month with new geopolitical economic developments, twists and turns on many fronts: As US President Biden wooed, wined and dined India’s Prime Minister Modi (who was once refused a visa to America), France’s Macron sought an invite to the BRICS summit to be held in August from South African President Ramaphosa although France is hardly an ‘emerging economy’!

Perhaps Macron’s visit in BRIC’s was due to India’s Foreign Minister Dr. Jaishankar’s recent comment that; ’Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems, having tired of lectures about India’s purchases of Russian oil and seemingly breaking Western sanctions.

‘Curiouser and curiousor’ cried Alice of the smiling cat in Wonderland as the US wooed the Indian Defense establishment with a promise of technology transfer and Macron seemed anxious to stay relevant vis-à-vis the BRICS and Global South in his complex pas-de-deux of corporation and competition with Biden.

Simultaneously, debt trapped Sri Lanka’s US Force” backed President Ranil Rajapakse tangoed at the colonial Club de Paris while attending Macron’s ‘Summit for a New Global Financing Pact’, where there was no mention of corruption, murder and other high crimes like the killing of a primary witness of a Court case on the 2015 Bondscam at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), in which President was a respondent before the case was dismissed.

The Club de Paris after all represents predatory Eurobond hedge funds like BlackRock which is Sri Lanka’s main private creditor, and their derivatives’ corruption rackets with networks of rating agencies, accounting, and legal firms that are part of the gravy train of the IMF’s ‘bailout business” as the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam termed it.  

Meanwhile the French Spring culture and soft-power charm offensive unfolded for Colombo’s talking classes and twitterrati on the lawn of at the Sri Lanka Foundation to the strains of Edith Piaf’s classic ‘quand il me prend dans ses bras’ as the IMF mission and mandate creep operation to restructure Sri Lanka’s internal or Domestic debt  (DDR) to impress the Club de Paris creditors got underway.

Clearly, with French fishing fleets extending their reach into the Central Indian Ocean, the Euro-American jazz ensemble would be playing as another postcolony sinks in debt. But is Macron’s pivot to the BRICs also due to recent setbacks received in Africa; Burkina Faso and Mali!

Need for a Balanced Foreign Policy to escape the Eurobond Debt trap

US ‘force’ backed Ranil Rajapakse however seemed oblivious of Macron’s pivot to the BRICS and the Global South. He persisted in promoting the myth that there is no alternative (TINA), to the IMF, the colonial club de Parise and Eurobond borrowing! He ignored calls from civil society and the Opposition for the strategic island nation to have a balanced Foreign Policy, work together with China and India which are not member of the Colonial Club to join the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB), in order to leverage its funds and avoid the fate of Argentina, which is caught in a vicious debt trap; dependent on, and pumped and dumped by predatory Eurobond hedge funds. [i]

Argentina is now on its 9^th Default and 22^nd International Monetary Fund (IMF), bailout package, again rocked by protests and has applied to join the NDB, but the Sri Lanka president, business community (captains of de-industrialization), and related think tanks and the local corporate media, journalists and bond traders seems to have not heard of the BRICS, NDB or Global South!

Gotterdemmerung: Regime Change in Nuclear armed Moscow?

Meanwhile, in the Russian theater, an exuberant President Zelenskyy claimed that Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short march to Moscow was the long awaited NATO-backed Ukrainian counter-offensive which had only ‘just started’ against Russia. That news item and visuals soon disappeared with the coup story fizzling out in less than 24 hours, while the global corporate media held a frenzy of speculation about the demise of Mr. Putin and the dissolution of Russia.

The curious ‘coup’ to take down Russian President Vladimir Putin was aparently checkmated by his friend President Lukashenko who appeared from nowhere to whisk off Prigozhin to exile in Belarus!

Wagner’s Prigozhin meanwhile sounded like a tragi-comic antihero in a Wagner Opera –Gotterdemmerung perhaps? He bewailed that the plan was never to unseat Mr. Putin or do regime change. Putin had helped his star to rise in the first instance. Nor was the plan to create civil war in beloved mother Russia, but to save his men. Putin’s approval ratings are after all are pretty high among the Russian public despite the United States and its NATO allies take on him.

Of course no one mentioned that Prigozhin’s Wagner Group followed in the distinguished tradition of US military contractors like Blackwater, storied in Scarhill’s  (2008) book the Blackwater: The Rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army” well known for dark deeds in Iraq and Afghanistan, that fought shoulder to shoulder with the US military.[ii] Blackwater has since been renamed Academi” of all things so that links to Black Rock and Black stone hedge funds are illusive.

Hardly surprising then that Macron’s request for an invite to the BRICS meeting in South Africa elicited a rather cool reply from President Ramphosa who replied that he’d consult the rest and circle back to Macron.

Meanwhile, in a script that read like a dystopian fairy tale, US President Biden who had been busy scenario mapping and modelling a post-Putin Russia and world order with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and other NATO supporters of the War Machine, then proceeded to deny that western intelligence agencies or Disinformation had anything to do with Prigozhin’s purported ‘coup’.

Cold War propaganda seemed to be part of the information war subsequently amplified by Kash Patel who suggested that Mr. Putin had staged the whole show — a new Wagner opera starring Prigozhin. Mr. Putin it seems had nothing better to do than stage own goals and black opera?

Playing with Fire? Regime Change in Nuclear Armed Russia

As events unfolded in Russia there were growing concerns about external attempts at ‘regime change’ which could endanger the planet by putting at risk Russia’s extensive nuclear weapons arsenal.

Regime change operations to divide and rule are designed to cause chaos also to unleash a cascade of violence’ and mask the external actors, behind apparently internal conflicts. This was evident in the playbook recently used in Sudan to destabilize the country and MENA region with the RSF paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese military, soon after the signing of a peace pact between Iran and Saudi Arabia to stabilize the region brokered by China.

Was the Sudan playbook used in Russia with the Wagner opera? It is hardly a secret that the intelligence agencies and Special Forces of the Empire’s military business industrial complex as President Dwight Eisenhower termed it, are past masters and experts at executing seamless Over the Horizon (OTH), Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) regime change operations while maintaining the ‘mask of democracy’ as happened amid Aragalaya protests in debt trapped Sri Lanka, caught in a hybrid economic war last year. This enabled staging the strategic island’s first ever Sovereign Default while everyone was distracted with the carnivaleque Aragalaya and the installation of Donald Lu’s Force-backed President Ranil Rajapakse to market the narrative that Sri Lanka is bankrupt and there is no alternative to the IMF!

This was done amid a propaganda operation blaming China for the Default which was however staged due to predatory Eurobond debt and the Hamilton Reserve Bank of St Kitts and Nevwi taking out a Court case in New York against the government of Sri Lanka

IMF Mission and Mandate Creep to DDR: Park of Macron’s New Global Financing Pact?

Upon his return from Macron’s Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact” Sri Lankan President Ranil Rajapakse following orders received embarked swiftly on internal or domestic debt restructuring (DDR), by declaring an extended holiday and closing the country’s banks.

Although the strategic island’s first ever sovereign debt Default was staged due to EXTERNAL dollar denominated debt listed at $ 26 billion by the External Resources Department in April 2022, last year at the time of default, the island is witnessing IMF mission and mandate creep into Internal or Domestic Debt Restructuring (DDR), This, purportedly to send a signal to the predatory colonial club de Paris creditors. While Sri Lanka civil society groups have called to ban further borrowing from predatory private creditors the IMF requires precisely this from debt restructuring!

The IMF is however, mandated to deal with External dollar-denominated debt and NOT domestic or internal (rupee) debt. Moreover, while Sri Lanka’s debt has mysteriously ballooned with the IMF’s experts, and related accountants and massaging of figures to $86 Billion in a country were debt data, veracity, authenticity and security is highly problematic!

The IMF’s latest conditionality in the wake of Macron’s New Global Financing Pact appears set to increase Sri Lanka’s Debt Numbers Game and debt trap, and lays the ground for the IMF Fire sale of strategic national assets – lands, transport, energy and telecom sector infrastructure.

Remarkably, these same strategic assets had been previously listed and targeted under the US Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC), that was rejected by the people of a strategic Indian Ocean island that is perpetually in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry.

To be continued: IMF Mission and Mandate Creep into Domestic Debt Restructuring

[i] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2019-09-11/one-country-eight-defaults-the-argentine-debacles?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg

[ii] https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blackwaters-dark-deeds-exposed/

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Banking crisis is not a sudden problem for the country. It has been a growing problem and the superannuation management has associated with the banking crisis. The banking crisis created because lack of capital in the system, when the bank management has been ignoring capital requirement as the bank’s ability to stay strong depends on the strength of capital support. Government, as the owner of banks, has not worked out a way to increase capital consistent with increasing risk. The bank management should have proposed the government to issue at least 50% of shares to private investors to reduce the burden. If the government allocates a large quantum of budget funds for capitalization of the Bank of Ceylon, Peoples Bank and National Savings bank, no money left for other purposes. The best option was giving share to private investors.  This was not done by the management.

To prevent the worse situation, the government should have not taken bank profits and allocate them for reserves. Each year, banks should have cutoff the accumulated loss from the capital and new capital should attract from the private investors. If it happened in 1970, and increased the volume of capital, banks would not face to the problem. The capitalization process has been implemented each year. If such practice has been done since 1970, Sri Lanka’s banking system would be the strongest banking system in Asia.

Since the 1978, capital requirement increased, but manak management did not advise the government, which scared to take right decision because of the threat of trade unions and opposition political parties.

Bank management was so corrupt and when they were granting credit, they did so many corrupt practices such as taking commission and other benefits.  The results of such behaviour were granted credits transferring to past due and keeping them as non-performing credits. Government knew this situation but didn’t take action to dismiss the management.

Many stupid actions were taken by the government, like recapitalization in the early 1990s.

Provident funds such as pension funds, employee provident Fund, Employee Trust fund should have operated open market and government did not allow for such efficient ways and make blind eye to the corruption. To get out these problems, the following actions are essential. (1) More than 50% private capital should attract with a condition for buying bank. (2) Investments of government and Central bank bonds should convert to bank shares. (3) Credit management of Banks should reform to grant quality credits. (4) Superannuation management should be on like superannuation management in other countries 

These actions will release the government. Banks and super funds will become powerful assets of the country.   

Insight By Sunil Kumar

(with courtesy and acknowledgements to Colombo Page News Desk)

A pointer towards those sources especially certain Tamil Organizations who from time continue to insist  that Sri Lanka’s history has no authentication relative to the Sinhala Race has surfaced.They have often attributed the history of Sri Lanka to myth and folklore towards their own ends and objectives while debunking their connections to reality, so this is a stabilizer to the real history of Sri Lanka and not in keeping with the contradictions thrown by these protagonists as Sri Lanka indeed has a proven history relative to the Sinhala Race as chronicled in the Mahavamsa not to be ridiculed or questioned by feeble minded so called Tamil and other similar theorists as it bears no credibility towards realty.

On June 27th in  Colombo,UNESCO (United Nations Education, and Cultural Organization) has inscribed Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka covering the period 6th century BCE to 1815 CE, on its Memory of the World Register among 64 new items of documentary heritage added to the list this year.

According to the description in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, Mahavamsa, one of the world’s longest unbroken historical accounts, is the first of its kind in South Asia, initiating a mature historiographic tradition, presenting Sri Lanka’s history in a chronological order from the 6th century BC.

Mahavamsa is known for its Sinlala origins and links to ancient Buddhist monks and scholars who chronicled events relative to Sri Lanka’s ancient history on Ola Leaf documents in Sanskrit and Pali the languages in use at the time and found preserved almost in their entirety through careful protection according to archaeological research and the work of many scholars over decades if not centuries of time.

The authenticity of the facts provided in the document has been confirmed through archaeological research conducted in Sri Lanka and India.

It is an important historical source in South Asia containing crucial information about the lifetime of the Buddha, the Emperor Asoka and the rise of Buddhism as a world religion.

The document played a significant role in popularizing Buddhism in Southeast Asia and contributed singularly to the identity of Emperor Asoka in the Indian history.

Existence of number of manuscripts of Mahavamsa in several countries as well as the transliteration and translation of the text to several Southeast Asian and European languages stand testimony to its immense historical, cultural, literal, linguistic and scholarly values,” the description added.

Mahavamsa also incorporates a period in time relative to Sri Lanka and the Sinhala race together with its companion text the Culavamsa.

The UNESCO recognition of its authenticity bears testimony to the origins of Sri Lanka as fact and not fiction.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

            මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කය  අතීතයේදී හැඳින්වූයේ මන්නාරමය කරඹවලානය හා නෙල්ලිවලානය යනුවෙනි.දහතුන්වන සියවසේ ලියැවුණා යැයි සළකන කඩයිම් පොත් වල මේ බැව් සඳහන්ය. ඊට අමතරව මඩු පෙදෙස මඩුවල්ලියා රට වශයෙන්ද දක්වා ඇත.මෙම පෙදෙස පැරණි පිහිටි රටට අයත් වැදගත් ඓතිහාසික ප්‍රදේශයකි. මෙම පෙදෙස පිහිටි රටින් වෙන්කොට මන්නාරම් නමින් වූ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයට එක් කරන ලද්දේ ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසිනි. එයට හේතුව ලන්දේසීන් විසින් 1766 ගිවිසුම මගින් මෙම ප්‍රදේශය උඩරට රජුගෙන් සහ රදළයන්ගෙන් ලබා ගෙන සිටීමයි. උඩරට රජු විසින් අත් හරින ලද කොටසේ මායිම අදටත් නුවර කලාවියත් මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයත් වෙන් කරන සීමාව වෙයි.එය කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් විසින් ඊළාම් සීමාව ලෙසටද ගෙන ඇත. මන්නාරම් තොට අතීතයේදී සිංහල රජවරුන්ට වැදගත් වූවා සේම ඉංග්‍රීසීන්ටද මහත් වැදගත්කමක් ඉසිලීය. එයට හේතු වූයේ මන්නාරමේ සිට කල්පිටිය දක්වා මුහුදු තීරයේ හමුවන මුතු බෙල්ලන්ය. මේ මුතු බෙල්ලන් කිමිදීම දුරාතීතයේ පටන් රජයේ ආදායම් මාර්ගයක් විය. වරින් වර අක්‍රමණිකයන් විසින්ද මේ මුතු කිමිදීම සිය පාලනයට ගෙන ආධිපත්‍ය පතුරුවා ගෙන සිටියහ. වරක් උඩුගම්පල විසූ සකලකලාවල්ලභ රජු මලවරායන් නමැති අක්‍රමණිකයෙකු පළවා හැර ඔහු ගේ නැව් ද පොඩිපට්ටම් කළ බවට ඉතිහාසයේ ලියැවී තිබේ.ඉංග්‍රීසීහු මේ මුතු කිමිදීම කාර්යක්ෂමව විධිමත්ව කරලීමට වාර්තාවක් සකස් කළහ. ඒ අනුව 1887 වර්ෂයේදී ඉන්දියාවෙන් සහ අරාබියෙන් මුතු කිමිදින්නන් ගෙන්වා වත්මන් මුසලි ප්‍රදේශයේ  නවත්වා ගෙන මුතු කිමිදීම ආරම්භ කළ බවට සාක්ෂි හමු වෙයි.ව්‍යවස්ථදායක මන්ත්‍රණ සභා වාර්තාවකට අනුව මුසලි හි මරිච්චකට්ටුව සහ මුල්ලිකුලම් අසල ඉංග්‍රීසීහු මේ මුතු කිමිදින්නන් ගේ කඳවුරු කීපයක් ඇති කළහ.

       මේ වාර්තාව අනුව දැන් අපට ඉතිහාසය පැහැදිලිය. දීර්ඝ සතුරු අක්‍රමණ වලින් පසුව විශේෂයෙන්ම ලන්ද්සින් මේ ප්‍රදේශ ස්ථීරව අතපත් කර ගැනීමෙන් පසුව ඉන්දීය සංක්‍රමණිකයන්ට මෙහි වාසභූමි ඇති වූ බවයි. ඉංග්‍රීසීහු එම පිළිවෙත ඉදිරියට ගෙන යමින් මුතු කිමිදින්නන්  ගේ කඳවුරු ඇති කොට ඔවුන් ගේ මුතු බෙලි ජාවාරම ඉදිරියට ගෙන ගොස් තිබේ.අවසානයේ මේ කඳවුරු වසා දැමූ පසු බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ඉන්දියාවට නැවත සංක්‍රමණය වූ අතර යම් පිරිසක් මෙහි ඉතිරිවූහ දෙමළ අය මේ දුෂ්කර පරිසරයේ වැව් ආශ්‍රිතව පැලපදියම් වූ අතර මරක්කලයන්ද යම් පිරිසක් මෙහි වෙළ හෙළදාමක නිරත වූහ.          1981 ජන සංගණන වාර්තාව අනුව මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මුවර් ජනයා(මරක්කල) 27717 ක් පමණ විය. එයිනුත් මුසලි ප්‍රාදේශීය උප දිසාපති කොට්ඨාශයෙහි 8665 ක ප්‍රමාණයක්  විය.යුද්ධයෙන් පසුව 2012 වර්ෂය වන විට  සමස්ත මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කය තුළම සිටි මුස්ලිම් ජනගහනයෙන් අවතැන් වූ ගණන 11281 ක් පමණය.එම නිසා ලක්ෂයක් අවතැන් වී යැයි බද්යුදීන් මහතා පවසන දේ මුසාවකි. 1981 වර්ෂය වන විට මුසලි බල පෙදෙසේ සිංහල ජනගහනය දක්වතොත්  එක්දහස් අට සිට අසූ දෙකකි.මුසලිහි  බෞද්ධ ජනගහනය 842 කි. යුද්ධ කාලයේදී මෙම මුසලි පළාතේ සිටි බොහෝ දෙනෙක් අවතැන් වූහ. මුස්ලිම් පිරිස පුත්තලම් පැත්තට සංක්‍රමණය වූ අතර සිංහලයන් අනුරාධපුරයටත් වෙනත් පළාත් වලටත් සංක්‍රමණය වූහ. 2009 යුද්ධය අවසාන වීමෙන් පසුව මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව නැවත පදිංචියට පැමිණ සිටි අතර ඔවුන් ගේ පැරණි කඳවුර  වන මුල්ලිකුලම් කරඩිකුලි පල්ලෙකුළි ආදී තැන් වල පදිංචි වූහ.1960 දශකයේ දී මෙහි ග්‍රාම වසම් හතක් විය. 1980 දශකය වන විට මෙම මුසලි පළාතේ ග්‍රාම වසම් 08 දක්වා වර්ධනය විය.

    ඒවා නම් මෙතැන්වැලි අරිප්පු සිලාවතුර අකාතිමුරුප්පු මරිච්චකට්ටි කොක්කුපඩයාන් මුල්ලිකුලම් වෙප්පල් සහ කරඩිකුලි වශයෙන් විය. මරිච්චකටුට්වෙන් ඔබ්බට ජනාවාසකරණය ආරම්භ කරන ලද්දේ 2010 වසරේදී පමණය. ඒ සඳහා ඉඩම් ඉල්ලා වන සංරක්ෂණ අධ්‍යක්ෂ වරයා වෙත යැවූ ලියුම් වලට අනුව ඉඩම් නිදහස් කළ බව පැවසේ. නමුත් ඔවුහු මෙලෙස ඉඩම් ඉල්ලා සිටින ලද්දේ මරිචිකට්ටුවෙන් හෝ කරඩිකුලි ගම්මානයෙන් නොව ඉන් ඔබ්බට යන මන්නාරම් මාර්ගයේ කල්ලාරු වනාන්තරයෙන්ය. රිෂාඩ් බද්යුදීන් අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ අනුදැනුමෙන් ජනතාව පදිංචි කරන ලද්දේ මේ වනාන්තරය හෙළි පෙහෙළි කරමින්ය.

    මුස්ලිම් සහ දෙමළ අනාථයන් සඳහා ආවරණය සැපයීමට මුස්ලිම් හෝ දෙමල දේශපාලනඥයන් සිටියද සිංහල ජනතාව නැවත පදිචි කරලීමට කිසිවෙකුත් ඉදිරිපත් නොවූහ.දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් සිංහලයෙකු වුවද ඔහුද ඒ වගකීම භාර නොගත්හ.විශේෂයෙන්ම යුද්ධ කාලයේ දී ජිනීවා වෙත පෙත්සමක් යැවූ අභාවයට පත් මන්නාරම් රදගුරු රායප්පු ජෝශප් සහ අනෙකුත් දෙමළ පූජකයන් සිංහල ජනතාව පදිංචි කරලීමට දැඩි ලෙසට විරුද්ධ වූහ. මන්නාරම යනු කතෝලික පෙදෙසක්ය යන මිථ්‍යාව වපුරාලමින් දේශපාලඥයන් ගේ භාර්යාවන් ගෙන්ද උදව් උපකාර ලබමින් මඩු පල්ලියට අක්කර 3000 පමණ ප්‍රමාණයක් ලබා ගෙන තිබේ යැයි දැන ගන්නට ඇත.1981 වන විට මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සිංහල ජනගහනය 8170 ක් පමණ ජීවත්ව සිට ඇත. 1989 වන විට ඒ ප්‍රමාණය විසිදහසකට ආසන්න වූ නමුත් යුද්ධයෙන් අනාථ වූ පසු අවතැන් වූවන් ලියාපදිංචි වී නැත.මුරුන්ගන් මඩු ගෝඨාබය ගම මහසෙන් ගම මුතු හලාවත සිලාවතුර කොන්ඩච්චි ආදී තැන්වල මෙම ජනතාව සිට ඇත. සිංහල පාසල් කීපයක්ද තිබුණු අතර මඩු පාසලේ පමණක් ළමුන් 300 ක් පඹන ඉගෙනුම ලබමින් සිට ඇත. නමුත් යුධයෙන් පසුව ඔවුන්ගේ ඉඩම් දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව අල්වා ගෙන තිබේ.එමම තත්වය මත අදවන විට මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සිංහල ජනතාව ජීවත් වනුයේ 1000 කට ආසන්න සංඛ්‍යාවක් පමණකි.

      අවතැන් වූ මුරුන්ගන් ජනතාව 2010  දී පමණ සිය වාසභූමි වලට පැමිණියද නානාට්ටන් ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් වරයා ඔවුන්ගේ මූලික උරුමය තම පොත්පත් වලට සටහන්ව තිබෙන බව හෙළි නොකළ බව ප්‍රකටය. ඒ නිසා මේ ජනතාවට නැවත පදිංචිවීමට ලැබුණේ සිමෙන්ති සංස්ථාවට අයත් නාරිකාඩු පෙදෙසේය. පොල් අතු සෙවිලි කරමින් පදිංචි වූ මේ පිරිසට නිවාස සෑදීම කරන ලද්දේ 542 බල සේනාවේ සිටි වත්මන් හමුදාපති විකුම් ලියනගේ මහතා විසිනි.පවුල් 55ක් පදිංචි කළ අතර අද වන විට  විවිධ හේතු මත  මෙම නිවාස වල සිටිනුයේ පවුල් 22 ක් පමණි.1950 වසරේ දී මුරුන්කන් හි කච්කිඩන්දකුලම් පැරණි පිළිම ගෙය ආශ්‍රිතව විහාරස්ථානයක් පැවත තිබේ. මේ විහාරය යුද්ධය නිසා අතහැර දමා ඇත. පසුව 2018 දී මෙම විහාරය කැණීමකට ලක් කර එහි පිළිමගෙයද බුදු පිළිම තුනක්ද මතු කරගෙන තිබේ.ඉන් දෙකක් හුණු ගලෙන් නිර්මිතය අනෙක කලු ලෙන් සාදා ඇත.ගෙඩිගේ සම්ප්‍රදායට තනන ලද මෙම පිළීමගෙය කැණීමෙන් මැටි බඳුන් මැටි පබළු කොරල් වලින් කරන ලද නිර්මාණ කාසි ආදිය දකින්නට ලැබී ඇත.මෙම විහාරයට කි.මී. අටක් දුරින් මාළිගා පිටිට පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථානය දක්නට ඇත. එසේම මුරුන්කන් රෝහලේ ශිලාලේඛනයක්ද දක්නට ඇත. නමුත් අවාසනාවකට අද වන විට මෙම පැරණි විහාරය ආසන්නයේ මුරුන්කන් සිංහල බෞද්ධයන්ට නව විහාරයක් ඇති කර ගැනීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලැබී නැත. ඊට හේතු දෙකක් ඇත. එකක් නම් මුරුන්කන්හි දැනට පිහිටා තිබෙන විහාරස්ථානයේ ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ විසින් ඒ ස්ථානය වැඩි දියුණු නොකිරීමයි. දෙවැන්න නම් දැනට මෙම ස්ථානය පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථානයක් බවට පත්ව සිටීමයි. මුල් කාරණය අනුව විහාරස්ථානය වැඩි දියුණු නොකරනුයේ  දෙමළ පූජකවරුන් ගේ  බලපෑම මත බව   දැන ගන්නට තිබේ.

ඒ අනුව නරිකාඩු හි ගොඩනන්වන ලද විකුම්පුර සිංහල ගම්මානයේ බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යස්ථානය යම් පිරිසක් විසින් ගිනිතබා විනාශ කර දමා ඇත.  මඩු රක්ෂිය ආසන්නයේ තිබෙන තවත් වැදගත් ස්ථානයක් වන්නේ පොක්කර වන්නි නම් පැරණි විහාර සංකීර්ණයයි. දැනට මහ කැළයට යටව තිබෙන මෙම ස්ථානය කැණීමකට ලක් කිරීමට දැනට යෝජනාවක් පවතින අතර එම පෙදෙස පුරාවිද්‍යා රක්ෂිතයක් බවට පත් කරලීමට බාධාවක් ලෙසින් පවතින්නේ වන සංරක්ෂණ නිළධාරීන්ගේ විරෝධයයි. එයට ප්‍රධන හේතුව නම් මෙම පෙදස තුළ පැරණි විහාරයක් නැවත ගොඩ නැන්වුවහොත් ඒ ආසන්නය ජනාවාස වීම හේතු කොටගෙන වැලි ගොඩ දැමීම දඩයම් කිරීම සහ ගස් කැපීම වැනි ජාවාරම් නතර වේ යැයි තිබෙන බියයි. මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ හඳුනාගත් පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන 66 ක් පවතින අතර ඉන් බහුතරයක් බෞද්ධ ස්මාරක බැවින් වැඩි දියුණු කරලීමට ඉඩ දෙන්නේ නැත.අගෝස්තු වල ආරම්භ වන මඩු උත්සව කාලයට මෙම පෙදෙසේ  හෝටල් වල දඩමස් දක්නට ලැබේ. වන නිළධාරීන් ගේ අනුග්‍රහය මත දඩයක් කරුවන් ගේ තුවක්කු බටයට ගොදුරුවන අහිසංක වනසතුන් ගේ මස් මඩු උත්සවයට කළ එළි බසී.දෙමළ කතෝලික ප්‍රජාව මේවාට දායක වී සිටින අතර සිංහල ජනතාවට නිසි ඉඩම් ලබා ගැනීමට බාධා කරන්නේද ඔවුන් බව දැන ගත්තට ඇත. නමුත් මන්නාරමේ ජීවත්වන හින්දු ජනතාව සිංහලයන් සමග සහයෝගයෙන් වැඩ කරති. ඔවුන්ටද තර්ජනයක්ව තිබෙන්නේ අයථා ක්‍රිස්තියානිකරණයයි. මේවා මන්නාරමේ වත්මන් ඛෙදවාචකය හෙළි කරන ප්‍රධාන කාරණා අතර තිබේ.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya.

Treasury bills (T-bills) and Treasury bonds are both types of debt securities issued by the government to finance its operations and manage its cash flow. However, there are several significant differences between the two:

Maturity: Treasury bills have a maturity of one year or less, typically ranging from a few days to 52 weeks. On the other hand, Treasury bonds have longer maturities, typically ranging from 10 to 30 years.

Coupon Payments: Treasury bills are issued at a discount to their face value and do not make periodic interest payments. Instead, the investor earns interest by purchasing the bill at a discount and receiving the full face value at maturity. Treasury bonds, on the other hand, pay periodic interest (coupon) payments to the bondholder until maturity, in addition to returning the face value at maturity.

Risk and Return: Treasury bills are generally considered to be the safest form of investment because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the government. As they have shorter maturities, they are also less sensitive to interest rate fluctuations. Treasury bonds, with their longer maturities, carry more interest rate risk. While they are still considered relatively low-risk investments, their prices can fluctuate more in response to changes in interest rates.

Investment Horizon: Treasury bills are commonly used by investors with short-term investment horizons or those seeking a safe place to park cash temporarily. They are often used as a means of liquidity management for institutions and individuals. Treasury bonds, with their longer maturities, are typically used by investors with longer-term investment goals or those looking for fixed income over an extended period.

Marketability: Both T-bills and Treasury bonds are highly liquid and actively traded in the secondary market. However, due to their shorter maturities, T-bills generally have higher trading volumes and more frequent auctions.

Yield: Treasury bills typically offer lower yields compared to Treasury bonds due to their shorter maturities and lower risk. Treasury bonds, with their longer-term commitment, tend to offer higher yields to compensate investors for the added risk and longer tie-up of funds.

It’s important to note that the specifics of Treasury bills and Treasury bonds can vary by country, and do due diligence before investing in them.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.

Dilrook Kannangara

බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථාන පිළිසකර කිරීමට එරෙහිව දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු සහ අනෙකුත් දෙමළ පුද්ගලයන් කල්ලි ගැසී ඇත. ඔවුන්ගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් රටේ නීතියට සහ සංහිඳියාවට පටහැනි වෙතත් ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධව කිසිම දඬුවමක් ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවීම රටේම කරුමයකි. දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පවා අත නොතැබූ කුරුන්දි බෞද්ධ විහාරයේ නටබුන් වැනසීමට තැත්කිරීම සාපරාධී වරදකි.

මෙම බෞද්ධ විරෝධයට වක්‍රාකාරයෙන් දායක වන පිළිලයකුත් සිටියි. එම පිළිලයේ අරමුණ අතීතයේ නොසිටි ලංකා දෙමළ බෞද්ධ ප්‍රජාවක් මනංකල්පිතව නිර්මාණය කර ඒ මතින් බෞද්ධ විහාර බිම් කෝවිල්කරණය සඳහා දෙමළ ජනතාවට පැවරීමය.

ලංකාවට ඉන්දියානු භූමියේ තමිල් නාඩුවෙන් පැමිණි බෞද්ධයන් ගැන ඉතිහාසය සාක්ෂි දරයි. බුද්ධඝෝශ එවැන්නෙකි. ඔවුන් ඉන්දියාවේ තමිල් නාඩුවේ ඉපිද, එහිම හැදී වැඩී ලංකාවට අමුත්තන් ලෙස පැමිණ ඇත. මෙලෙස බුරුමයෙන්, තායිලන්තයෙන්, ජාවා දූපතෙන්, කාම්බෝජයෙන්, කාලිංඝ දේශයෙන් (ඔරිසා ප්‍රාන්තය), චීනයෙන් සහ වෙනත් බොහෝ විදේශයන්හි සිට බෞද්ධයන් ලංකාවට පැමිණි බවට සාක්ෂි ඇත.           

එහෙත් ලංකාවේ බිහිවූ එකදු දෙමළ බෞද්ධයෙකු ගැන ඉතිහාසගත සාක්ෂි කිසිවක් නැත.

එසේම ලංකාවේ බිහිවූ එකදු බුරුම හෝ වෙනත් බෞද්ධයන් ගැනවත් ඉතිහාසගත සාක්ෂි කිසිවක් නැත.

මෑත කාලීන පුද්ගලයන්ගේ මතිමතාන්තර ඉතිහාසගත සාක්ෂි නොවේ. ඒවා හුදෙක් පුද්ගල අදහස් පමණකි.

තමිල් නාඩුවේ සිටි දෙමළ ජාතිකයෙකු විසින් රචනා කල මණිමේඛලා ග්‍රන්ථය ඉතිහාසගත සාක්ෂියක් නොවේ. එය අදහාගත නොහැකි සිදුවීම් සහිත සුරංගනා කතා සමුදායක් පමණි. එහි එන සියල්ල මනංකල්පිතය. කතා කරන සතුන් නැතුවා සේම දෙමළ බෞද්ධ ජනපද ද ලංකාවේ එකල නොවීය. එහි ලේඛකයාවත් එය ඉතිහාසගත  සිදුවීම් ලෙස නොතකයි!

අශෝක අධිරාජ්‍යයා ලංකාවට බෞද්ධ ධර්මය වැඩම කල ගොඩබිම් හෝ මුහුදු මාවත ඉන්දියාවේ තමිල් නාඩුව හරහා නොවීය. තමිල් නාඩුව (එකළ තමිලාකම්) අශෝක අධිරාජ්‍යයට අයත් නොවීය. ලංකාවට පමණක් නොව වෙනත් දුරස්ථ දේශයන්ටත් ධර්ම දූතයන් යැවූ බවට ඉතිහාසගත සාක්ෂි ඇත. සාපේක්ෂව ලංකාවට අශෝක අධිරාජ්‍යයේ සිට පැමිණීම ඉතාම පහසු කාර්යයක් විය. විජිත, අනුරාධ ඇතුළු අති විශාල පිරිසක් උතුරු ඉන්දියාවේ සිට ලංකාවට පැමිණියේ මිහිඳු හිමියන්ට වඩා සියවස් ගණනාවකට ඉහතය.
    
අද ලංකාවේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයන් ස්වල්පයක් වාසය කරයි. ඒ ගැන විවාදයක් නැත. තමිල් නාඩුවේ මිලියන 73 ක දෙමළ ජනතාව අතර දෙමළ බෞද්ධයන් 15,000ක් පමණ වාසය කරයි. ඒ ගැනද විවාදයක් නැත. ලංකාවේ දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ ආගමික, සංස්කෘතික, කලාත්මක සහ අනෙකුත් අනර්ඝ නිමවුම් සහ වටිනාකම් ගැනද කිසිම විවාදයක් නැත. ඒවා සැමගේ ගෞරවාදරයට බඳුන් වේ.

එහෙත් පුරාතන ලංකාවේ බිහිවූ එකදු දෙමළ බෞද්ධයෙකු ගැනවත් ඉතිහාසගත සාක්ෂි කිසිවක්ම නැත.

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya.

භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් (T-බිල්පත්) සහ භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර යනු රජය විසින් සිය මෙහෙයුම් සඳහා මූල්‍යකරණය සහ මුදල් ප්‍රවාහය කළමනාකරණය කිරීම සඳහා නිකුත් කරන ලද ණය සුරැකුම්පත් වර්ග දෙකකි. කෙසේ වෙතත්, දෙක අතර සැලකිය යුතු වෙනස්කම් කිහිපයක් තිබේ:

කල්පිරීම: භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වල කල්පිරීම වසරක් හෝ ඊට අඩු කාලයක් ඇත, සාමාන්‍යයෙන් දින කිහිපයක සිට සති 52 දක්වා පරාසයක පවතී. අනෙක් අතට, භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කරවල දිගු කල්පිරීමක් ඇත, සාමාන්‍යයෙන් වසර 10 සිට 30 දක්වා පරාසයක පවතී.

කූපන් ගෙවීම්: භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් ඒවායේ මුහුණත වටිනාකමට වට්ටමක් සහිතව නිකුත් කරනු ලබන අතර වරින් වර පොලී ගෙවීම් සිදු නොකරයි. ඒ වෙනුවට, ආයෝජකයා බිල්පත වට්ටමක් දී මිල දී ගැනීමෙන් සහ කල් පිරෙන විට සම්පූර්ණ මුහුණත අගය ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පොලී උපයා ගනී. අනෙක් අතට, භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර කල්පිරීමේදී මුහුණත වටිනාකම ආපසු ලබා දීමට අමතරව, කල් පිරෙන තෙක් බැඳුම්කර දරන්නාට කාලානුරූපී පොලී (කූපන්) ගෙවීම්.

අවදානම් සහ ප්‍රතිලාභ: භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් සාමාන්‍යයෙන් සුරක්ෂිතම ආයෝජන ක්‍රමය ලෙස සැලකෙන්නේ ඒවාට රජයේ පූර්ණ විශ්වාසය සහ ණය ආධාර ලැබෙන බැවිනි. ඔවුන්ට කෙටි කල්පිරීමක් ඇති බැවින්, පොලී අනුපාත උච්චාවචනයන්ට අඩු සංවේදී බවක් ද දක්වයි. භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර, ඒවායේ දිගු කල්පිරීමත් සමඟ, වැඩි පොලී අනුපාත අවදානමක් දරයි. ඒවා තවමත් සාපේක්ෂව අඩු අවදානම් ආයෝජන ලෙස සලකනු ලැබුවද, පොලී අනුපාතවල වෙනස්වීම් වලට ප්‍රතිචාර වශයෙන් ඒවායේ මිල වැඩි වශයෙන් උච්චාවචනය විය හැකිය.

ආයෝජන ක්ෂිතිජය: භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් සාමාන්යයෙන් භාවිතා කරනු ලබන්නේ කෙටි කාලීන ආයෝජන ක්ෂිතිජ සහිත ආයෝජකයින් හෝ තාවකාලිකව මුදල් ගාල් කිරීමට ආරක්ෂිත ස්ථානයක් සොයන අය විසිනි. ඒවා බොහෝ විට ආයතන සහ පුද්ගලයන් සඳහා ද්‍රවශීලතා කළමනාකරණයේ මාධ්‍යයක් ලෙස භාවිතා වේ. භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර, ඒවායේ දිගු කල්පිරීමත් සමඟ, සාමාන්‍යයෙන් දිගුකාලීන ආයෝජන ඉලක්ක ඇති ආයෝජකයින් හෝ දිගු කාලයක් පුරා ස්ථාවර ආදායමක් අපේක්ෂා කරන අය විසින් භාවිතා කරනු ලැබේ.
අලෙවිකරණ හැකියාව: ටී-බිල්පත් සහ භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර යන දෙකම ද්විතීයික වෙළෙඳපොළ තුළ ඉහළ ද්‍රවශීලතාවක් ඇති අතර සක්‍රීයව වෙළඳාම් කෙරේ. කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඔවුන්ගේ කෙටි කල්පිරීම හේතුවෙන්, T-බිල්පත් සාමාන්යයෙන් ඉහළ වෙළඳ පරිමාවන් සහ නිතර නිතර වෙන්දේසි වේ.

අස්වැන්න: භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් ඒවායේ කෙටි කල්පිරීම සහ අඩු අවදානම හේතුවෙන් භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කරවලට සාපේක්ෂව අඩු අස්වැන්නක් ලබා දෙයි. භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර, ඔවුන්ගේ දිගු කාලීන කැපවීම සමඟ, ආයෝජකයින්ට එකතු කරන ලද අවදානම සහ දිගුකාලීන අරමුදල් සඳහා වන්දි ගෙවීම සඳහා ඉහළ අස්වැන්නක් ලබා දීමට නැඹුරු වේ.

භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් සහ භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කරවල විශේෂතා රට අනුව වෙනස් විය හැකි අතර ඒවාට ආයෝජනය කිරීමට පෙර නිසි සැලකිල්ලක් දක්වන්න. සැලකිල්ලට ගැනීම වැදගත්ය.

Dinesh Gunawardena Prime Minister Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

The cooperative movement, which originated in Europe in the 19th century, was introduced to Sri Lanka in 1906. The Sri Lankan people, with their past precedents of thrift and mutual help that transformed their human qualities into a strong program procedure, easily adapted to the cooperative concept.

Since then, the cooperative movement was able to boost the rural economy by empowering the people. During the First and Second World Wars as well as in times of epidemics and calamities, exceptional relief was provided to the people through the cooperatives.

Through every economic era, the cooperative has been the lifeblood of our country. It is truly an example of conveying the mutual friendship and bond of its entire membership to the society and the entire country.

Later the People’s Bank, started with the initiations of Ministers Philip Gunawardena and T.B. Ilangarathna added enormous strength to the cooperative movement. It was the time when the cooperative movement has become closer to the masses.

In 1956, the People’s Government passed the Multi Services Cooperative Societies Ordinance, which further revitalized the cooperatives from village to village and became a new economic hub. Various societies including thrift societies, credit-facility societies, farming societies, handicraft societies, textile societies, etc. have flowed into new fields in terms of production and sales.

The cooperative movement, which contributed to uplift the economy of rural people in every province, contributed excessively to the sustainable development of the country. The theme of the International Cooperative Day of this year, ‘Cooperative movement for Sustainable Development’, is most appropriate.

There are many examples that can be taken from the cooperative movement in using the country’s wealth and human resources for national development.

Today, as we celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives, we shall work together with this economic organization which is essential to overcome the current day challenges, and its membership and different levels of government to continue its invaluable service.

Dinesh Gunawardena

Prime Minister

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන (පා.ම) අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදි ජනරජය

දහනව වන සියවසේ යුරෝපයේ බිහි වූ සමුපකාර ව්‍යපාරය 1906 දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට හඳුන්වා දුනි. සකසුරුවම හා සම උපකාරය පිළිබඳ අතීත පුර්වාදර්ශයන් ඇති ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයා මිනිස් ගුණාංග ශක්තිමත් වැඩපිළිවෙළකට පරිවර්තනය කොට එම සමුපකාර ව්‍යාපාරයට අනුගත විය.

එවක් පටන් ජනතාව සවිබල ගන්වමින් ග්‍රාමීය ආර්ථිකය නැංවීමට සමුපකාර ව්‍යාපාරයට හැකි විය. පළමුවන හා දෙවන ලෝක යුද සමයන්හී, රෝග ව්‍යසන අවස්ථාවන් හී මේ තුළින් ජනතාවට සුවිශේෂී සහන සැලසුනි.

සෑම ආර්ථික යුගයක් හරහා අප රටට සමුපකාරය ජීවයක් වූයේ එහි සමස්ත සාමාජිකත්වයේ අන්‍යෝන්‍ය සුහඳතාවය හා බැඳියාව තම රට මෙන් සමාජයට ලබාදීමේ ආදර්ශයයි.

පසු කළෙක පිලිප් ගුණවර්ධන හා ටී. බී ඉලංගරත්න අමාත්‍යවරුන්ගේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් ඇරඹුණු මහජන බැංකුව සමුපකාර ව්‍යාපාරයට දැවැන්ත  ශක්තියක් එක් කළේය. සමුපකාර ව්‍යාපාරය ජනහදට වඩාත් සමීප වූ වකවානුව එය විය. 1956 ජනතා රජයේ විවිධ සේවා සමුපකාර සමිති ආඥා පනත තුළින් තව ද පුනර්ජීවනය වූ සමුපකාරය ගමින් ගමට නව ආර්ථික කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් බවට පත් විය. සකසුරුවම් සමිති, ණය දෙන සමිති, ගොවි සමිති, හස්ත කර්මාන්ත සමිති, පේෂකර්ම සමිති,ඇතුළු විවිධ සමිති නිෂ්පාදනය හා අලෙවිය අතින් අලුත් ක්ෂේත්‍රවලට ගලා ගියේය.

සෑම පළාතකම ග්‍රාමීය ජනතා ආර්ථිකය නගා සිටුවීමට දායකත්වය දැක්වූ සමුපකාර ව්‍යාපාරය රටේ තිරසර සංවර්ධනය සඳහා වඩ වඩාත් දායක විය. මෙවර ජාත්‍යන්තර සමුපකාර දින තේමාව වන්නේ ද ‘තිරසර සංවර්ධනයක් සඳහා සමුපකාරය’ යන්නයි.  රටේ ධනය, ශ්‍රමය ජාතික සංවර්ධනයට යොදා ගැනීමේදී සමුපකාර ව්‍යාපාරයෙන් ගත හැකි ආදර්ශයන් බොහෝය.

ජාත්‍යන්තර සමුපකාර දිනය සමරන අද දිනයේ ඇති අභියෝග ජය ගැනීමට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ආර්ථික සංවිධානයක් ලෙස අප රට තුළ කටයුතු කිරීමට සාමාජිකත්වය විවිධ පාලන තලයන්ද එක්ව කටයුතු කිරීමට කැපවෙමු.

දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන (පා.ම)

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදි ජනරජය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

බහුකාර්ය සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යාපන පෙරපුහුණු අභ්‍යාසලාභී කාල පරිච්ඡේදය සම්පූර්ණ කළ  සංවර්ධන සහායකයින් කාර්යාල සේවයට බඳවා ගැනීමේ පත්වීම්  ප්‍රදානය සහ එක්දින පුහුණු සැසිය ආරම්භය අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් 2023.06.30 දින ස්වදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ දී සිදු කෙරිණී.
මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා –
මහජන සේවය,  අභියෝග රැසක් හරහා ගමන් කරන්නේ. ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා මේ අවස්ථාව  ලබාදුන්නා. අද මේ කටයුත්තට ඉතුරු වෙලා ඉන්නේ  කී දෙනාද. අඩකටත් වැඩිය ප්‍රමාණයක් අතහැර ගියා. ඉවසන දනා රුපු යුදයට ජය කොඩිය කියලා පුංචි කාලේ ඉඳන් ඔබ අපි ඉගෙන ගන්නවා. හැර ගියපු අය එය ඉගෙනගෙන නැහැ. ඉවසීමෙන් ජීවිතයේ කොයිතරම් ජයග්‍රහණ වලට පිවිසෙන්න පුළුවන්ද. ඒක ජීවිතය සම්බන්ධව විතරක් නෙමෙයි රටක් සම්බන්ධවත් එලෙසමයි. විනයක් ඇති රටවල් ලෝකයේ ඉදිරියටම ගිහිල්ලා තියෙනවා. විනයක් ඇති සමාජයන් ලෝකයේ දියුණුවට පත්වුණා. විනයක් නැති ප්‍රදේශයක්, සමාජයක්, රටක් අවුලෙන් අවුලට පත්වෙනවා.
 රටට සේවය කරන්න තිබෙන ප්‍රධාන සේවය රජ්‍ය සේවයයි. ඒ නිසා රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ ගෞරවය,  විනය, බලාපොරොත්තු, ඉලක්ක, සාක්ෂාත් කරගන්න ඔබ හැම කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි.  රටක් හැටියට අප බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ එයයි. ඔබ අමාරු ස්ථානයක සේවය කරන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ වගේම පහසු ස්ථානයක සේවය කරන්න පුළුවන්. කොතන සේවය කරත් වගකීමක් කරට ගන්න. වගකීම, යුතුකම තිබෙන අවස්ථාවලදී  තීරණ ගැනීමේ අභියෝගය ඔබ හමුවේ තිබෙනවා. ඔබට තිබුණු අධ්‍යාපනික සුදුසුකම් මත රාජ්‍ය සේවයට ලෙහෙසියෙන් ඇතුල් වෙන්න බාධාවක් තිබුණා. ඒ වෙනුවට නිර්මාණශීලීව රජය ඇති කළ සුදුසුකම් ඇති  කරගැනීමෙන් අධ්‍යාපනික සුදුසුකම්   සමාන පුහුණුවකට පරිවර්තනය කරපු අවස්ථාව භාරගෙන එලෙස පුහුණු වී ඉහළට ගමන් කළ හැකි තත්වයට පැමිණ තිබෙනවා. සමහර විට පළමුවරට වෙන්න පුළුවන් මේ අත්දැකීම ලැබෙන්නේ. මේ මාර්ගයෙන් ඉහළට යන්න  අපේ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතියට වෙනම විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක් එකතුවෙලා තියනවා.  උසස් පෙළ නොමැති වුණයි කියලා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයට යන්න මාර්ගයක් නැහැ කියලා හිතන්න එපා.  මේ වගේම මාර්ගයෙන් තමන්ගේ සුදුසුකම හදාගෙන රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ ඉදිරියටම යන්න  පුළුවන්කම තිබෙනවා. හොඳම උදාහරණය ඔබයි.
 
රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අශෝක ප්‍රියන්ත, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ගාමිණී ලොකුගේ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක යන මහත්වරුන්  මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක් වූ  අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන, කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් කේ.ජී. විජේසිරි, බහුකාර්ය සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අතිරේක අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් මේජර් ජෙනරාල් මහින්ද මුදලිගේ සහ පත්වීම්ලාභීන් මෙම අවස්ථාවට සහභාගි වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය.  

ජර්මානු-ලංකා දේශගුණ තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය නුදුරේදීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ දේශගුණ තාක්ෂණ පුහුණු ආයතනයක් පිහිටුවීමට සැලසුම් කරයි. ජර්මනියේ සන් ෆාමින් ගෘප් ඒජී (SunFarming Group AG) හි සභාපති පීටර් ෂ්‍රම්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් යෝජිත ආයතනයේ කණ්ඩායමක් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන සමඟ මේ පිළිබඳව සවිස්තරාත්මකව සාකච්ඡා කරන ලදී.

ජර්මානු-ලංකා දේශගුණ තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තිය, නවීන කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සහ විද්‍යුත් සංචලනය කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු කරමින් තිරසාර සහ දේශගුණික හිතකාමී තාක්‍ෂණයන් සඳහා ශක්‍යතා ගොඩනඟන්නක් සහ තාක්‍ෂණ හුවමාරු වේදිකාවක් බව ස්ක්‍රම්  (Schrum) මහතා අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාට පැහැදිලි කළේය. යෝජිත ව්‍යාපෘති පහසුකම තුළ න්‍යායික සහ ප්‍රායෝගික දැනුම, කාර්මික පුහුණුව මෙන්ම පර්යේෂණ සහ සංවර්ධන අවකාශ ලබා දීමෙන් පුළුල් කුසලතා සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන් සඳහා ව්‍යාපෘතිය සැලසුම් කර ඇත.

පාරිසරික ප්‍රතිලාභ සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති උත්පාදනය සඳහා ප්‍රමුඛත්වය ලබා දෙන බවත් පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති තාක්ෂණය පිළිබඳව ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය තරුණ තරුණියන් පුහුණු කිරීම සඳහා වන එවැනි ව්‍යාපෘති සඳහා රජයේ සහයෝගය ලබා දෙන බවටත්   අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාට සහතික විය. ජර්මන් කණ්ඩායම ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය සහ පරිසර අමාත්‍යවරයා සමඟ තවදුරටත් සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

සන් ෆාමින් ලංකා  ප්‍රයිවට් ලිමිටඩ් ( Sunfarming Lanka (Pvt) Ltd) හි උපදේශක විනෝද් මුණසිංහ මහතා, අධ්‍යක්ෂ/ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී සහ  ජයන්ත ජයමාන්න මහතා  මෙම සාකච්ඡාවට සහභාගී විය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය.  

By Sugeeswara Senadhira/Daily News

Colombo, June 30: In the last few days there were hectic activities on Sri Lanka’s foreign relations front. They included President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to Paris and London, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s meetings with the Romanian State Minister for Foreign Affairs as well as with the envoys of two regional powers China and India. There were also simultaneous visits of warships of those two countries to the Port of Colombo.

All the above activities have proved Sri Lanka’s strict neutrality.

We are a neutral country, but we also emphasise the fact that we cannot allow Sri Lanka to be used as a base for any threats against India,” President Wickremesinghe said, during an interview with France24, responding to a question about China’s perceived military presence in Sri Lanka.

He pointed out that the Chinese have been visiting Sri Lanka for about 1,500 years and, so far, there has been no military base”.

There won’t be any military agreements,” the President stressed, We are a neutral country. He clarified that there were no issues of military use by the Chinese of the Southern port of Hambantota, which Beijing took over on a 99-year lease as a debt swap in 2017.

He assured that even though the Hambantota Harbour has been given out to China’s Merchants, its security is controlled by the Sri Lankan Government. The Southern Naval Command will be shifted to Hambantota, and we have got one brigade stationed in Hambantota in the nearby areas,” he added.

Political analyst Neville Ladduwahetty said Wickremesinghe’s statement on the neutral foreign policy of Sri Lanka would end negative speculations in some quarters. He clarified that since neutrality is a defined policy that has a legal basis and a history that precedes Non-Alignment, there is a need for the Neutral State to conduct its relations with other States according to recognized codified norms with reciprocity.

On the other hand, Non-Alignment was essentially a commitment to a set of principles by a group of countries that had emerged from colonial rule and wanted to protect their newly won independence and sovereignty in the context of a bipolar world.

Prime Minister Gunawardena also elaborated on the foreign policy of neutrality spelt out by President Wickremesinghe. The Premier explained this position during his recent meetings with the Romanian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and the envoys of India, China, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

He briefed the visiting Romanian Minister Traian Hristea about Sri Lanka’s position with regard to international and regional issues as well as the measures taken to solve the issues related to the current economic crisis. He stressed the need for the continuous support of the European Union.

The Romanian Minister assured that his country would support Sri Lanka’s request for the continuation of GSP Plus duty concessions for Sri Lankan exports.

The outgoing High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, Sarah Hulton met the Prime Minister on the day the UK announced the decision to include Sri Lanka as a beneficiary country under the UK GSP Scheme Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS)”. Through this scheme, duty concessions will be given for 92% of Sri Lankan exports.

Premier Gunawardena said Sri Lanka hopes that new investment projects will be initiated by the UK following the conclusion of the debt restructuring process and the unlocking of the IMF fund facility. He added that Sri Lanka encourages UK investment in sectors such as education, banking and financial services, IT/BPM, pharmaceuticals, hospitality and tourism.

Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay met the Prime Minister last week to discuss furthering bilateral cooperation. India and Sri Lanka agreed to work on a Road Map for cooperation between the two countries. Premier Gunawardena thanked India for the support to obtain a suitable IMF Program for Sri Lanka, for which financing assurances from creditors to make Sri Lanka’s debt sustainable are required as well as for the assistance during the economic crisis.

High Commissioner Baglay, referring to the increase of tourism, said India would take steps to increase flights between the two countries. He said the public sector as well as private airlines are willing to operate flights to destinations in Sri Lanka. Alliance Air wants to increase operations and extend current flights from South Indian destinations to the Jaffna to Ratmalana Airports as it has been opened for passenger flights.

The Prime Minister urged for more Indian investments in the sectors such as digitalization, alternative energy and agriculture.

Two days later Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong met the Prime Minister at Temple Trees in Colombo to discuss bilateral relations. The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka looks forward to direct investments from China as well as investments in agriculture, renewable energy, IT, education and water supply sectors to provide long-term solutions to economic issues.

The areas covered during the discussion included issues relating to new investment projects, furthering trade with China, the Colombo Port City, the Hambantota Port, poverty alleviation, education, agriculture, cultural exchanges, high-level exchanges and assistance to the underprivileged. The Prime Minister made a special request to support to the Sri Lankan rice-growing rural population to increase production by introducing high-yielding rice varieties developed in Yunnan Province in China.

Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said he was pleased to see the resilience of Sri Lanka to overcome difficulties and assured China’s continuous support to Sri Lanka’s efforts to meet the current efforts at debt restructuring and meet economic challenges. The Prime Minister thanked him for the assistance provided by China to alleviate the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister made a special mention of the Chinese stand in support of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty at the international forums including the UNHRC.

The discussion was initiated with a reference to the historical bilateral relations between the two countries. Stressing the importance of further strengthening the longstanding cultural ties, the Chinese Ambassador said the Chinese Buddhist Associations will continue to help temples and set up internationally important Theravada Buddhist Centre in Sri Lanka. The Prime Minster agreed to set up a Coordinating Committee to expeditiously implement these proposals.

On Wednesday (June 28) New Zealand High Commissioner Michael Appleton called on Premier Gunawardena to discuss bilateral relations, economic challenges, debt restructuring, trade and investment, electoral reforms and regional issues. The Prime Minister called for an increase in bilateral economic cooperation between New Zealand and Sri Lanka and also enhanced support under the Colombo Plan.

The New Zealand envoy said that his country is also planning to provide expertise for Sri Lanka’s public sector reforms program. A team headed by the former Public Service Commissioner of New Zealand would come to Sri Lanka shortly to assist with this process.

The Prime Minister also asked the High Commissioner to share New Zealand’s experience in solving the land-holding issue of indigenous people as Sri Lanka plans to amend the outdated Lands Ordinance.

During the visit of Foreign Minister Ali Sabry to Beijing, China announced additional financial support to the Colombo Port City project. The Port City is expected to attract investments from the US, Europe, India, Saudi Arabia and many others in addition to the growing regional power of China.

These can be ensured by Sri Lanka’s strict adherence to the neutral foreign policy. Many experts pointed out that it is difficult to expect all States to respect Lanka’s neutrality as there will be attempts to influence Sri Lanka because of its unique strategic location as an important link in the international shipping route. Hence, it is essential to keep those pressures at bay by not taking sides in global or regional power games.

By Feizal Samath Courtesy TTG Asia

Sri Lanka’s decision to enact a compulsory minimum rate policy for Colombo hotels has led to a row between hoteliers and travel agents in the country.

Set for implementation from August 1 this year, the policy requires five-star hotels to charge at least US$130 per room, excluding taxes; four-star at least US$100 and three-star at least US$80.

Travel agents are inflamed, saying that the policy is a poor decision as tourism is still slowly recovering from multiple crises.

Nishad Wijetunga, president of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), told reporters on June 27 that the move would result in Sri Lanka being portrayed as an expensive destination and discourage event planners from choosing the country for their meetings.

He added that Sri Lanka’s minimum rates were higher than the average room rates for hotels in competing destinations. Citing examples, he said Thailand’s average rate for five-star hotels was US$80 including taxes; Vietnam was US$105; Delhi US$95; Malaysia US$80.

He expects the policy to fail, and emphasised that market forces should determine prices.

A similar minimum rate policy was in force in 2009, and was later discontinued as hotels took to undercutting one another.

The government has defended the new policy. Tourism minister Harin Fernando said at a media conference on June 26 that the current room rates were not sustainable for hotels.

Hotels Association of Sri Lanka’s president, M Shanthikumar, has hailed the viability of the policy, saying that it would help improve the financial health of city hotels, save jobs, and boost industry earnings.

Hotels battling a string of crises in the country, including the pandemic, have been given a moratorium on loan repayments.

Shanthikumar added that the policy was necessary for Sri Lanka to overcome perceptions that Colombo was a cheap destination.

In response, SLAITO vice president Nalin Jayasundera said it was unfair to make tourists bear the financial burden of hoteliers.

By Sanath Nanayakkare Courtesy The Island

Banks, which pay taxes over 50%, least affected

If the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and other pension funds did not wish to participate in the proposed domestic debt restructuring process, there will be an application of higher annual income tax of 30%, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said yesterday. The EPF is currently taxed at the rate of 14%.

Dr. Weerasinghe said so, addressing the media in Colombo.Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. R. Samaratunga, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena were also present. Dr. Weerasinghe said, Banking sector has already borne a significant burden of the fiscal adjustment and the economic crisis in several ways. The banking sector has been paying higher tax rates than other corporations.

The total tax burden on the banking sector, which is serving 57 million customer deposits, is more than 50%. Through high tax payment, the banking sector is helping the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts. Further, banks gave moratoriums and faced the brunt of non-performing loans during the Covid-19 pandemic. So, any disturbance to financial system stability could be costly. And disruptions to the banking system will adversely impact the effective transmission of monetary policy. So, the main effort is preserving the 57 million customer deposits in the banks and letting no room for a bank run.

In contrast, superannuation funds are subject to a tax of 14%. It has been proposed for superannuation bonds to be exchanged for longer term maturity T-Bonds at a coupon rate of 12% until 2025m which will be 9% minimum beyond 2025. So, there is at least 9% return on EPF funds ensured on a long-term basis while there will be no reduction on the current balance of any individual’s EPF. In the event it has to be lowered below 9%, the Treasury has agreed to fill the balance.

If superannuation funds don’t want to take part in this process, they will be liable to be taxed at 30% instead of the current 14%.”

The minimum participation requirement for EPF is set at 50% for outstanding bonds maturing in 2023 and 100% of bonds maturing between 2024 and 2032, according to CBSL.

 Speaking further the CBSL Governor said:

 What we expect from this is to bring the government debt stock to a sustainable level within 10 years as per the agreement with the IMF. The number one benchmark in this context is reducing the public debt to GDP to 95 % from 128%. Secondly, the Gross Financing Needs (GFN) of the government needs to be reduced to below 13% of GDP from 34.6 % of GDP between now and 2032. Thirdly, Foreign Debt Servicing needs to be reduced to below 4.5 % of GDP from the current 9.4 % of GDP within the same period. If these targets are achieved, it should help close external financing gaps of USD 16.9 billion. For this, we need to restructure loans obtained from official bilateral creditors such as Japan and China.

Then there is the need for restructuring international sovereign bonds (ISBs) and negotiations are underway for these two elements. Our foreign exchange debt service target is set at 4.5% max. of GDP in 2027-2032. Thirdly, it is important to restructure domestic debt in some form and that is why we are presenting a plan to execute it. One available option in optimizing government debt is to increase taxes and improve the Primary Account Balance. These measures have already been taken. So, the remaining option is restructuring government debt stock through optimization of Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds. At present Treasury Bill stock is worth LKR 4.1 trillion. 62.4 % of it is owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). CBSL has already agreed that its holdings of Treasury Bills would be converted to Treasury Bonds because this will help reduce gross financing needs of the government. And there are

Treasury Bonds worth of Rs. 8.7 trillion of which 20.5% is from superannuation funds including the Employee Provident fund (EPF); 36% from the banks and the balance from insurance funds and other private funds. So, we are looking at the best solution which can protect the banks, depositors and the EPF. That’s why CBSL has agreed to take part in these domestic debt optimization negotiations,” Dr. Weerasinghe said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has approved an overall 14.2 per cent of electricity tariff reduction from tomorrow (July 01), subject to conditions, the PUCSL Chairman said.  

The category with consumption of less than 30 units will be reduced by 65% of the cost.

Consumers that come under the category of above 31 units and below 60 units will be charged 51.5% of the total cost. 

Those who use between 61 and 90 units of electricity will get a 24.5 percent reduction.

A 26.3 percent reduction will be imposed on hotel sector.

The other conditions relating to the 2023 electricity tarrif revision are as follows:

Nine percent reduction on Industry category;

Five percent reduction on Commercial Buildings; 16 percent overall reduction on religious purposes category & 0.8 percent reduction on government institutions.

The PUCSL requests the CEB and LECO to take prompt action to ensure that residents of all condominium properties are billed according to their respective tariff categories.

The Commission also said streetlight consumption too should be metered or estimated, and the Local Authority or Road Development Authority be billed.

Security deposits obtained from consumers shall be invested and interest shall be paid out of the return on the investments.

The interest on any security deposits obtained for the supply of electricity shall be paid/deducted from the monthly bill of all consumers.

Also the PUCSL directed to execute fuel supply agreements with CPC and Lanka Coal Company and establish Power Purchase Agreements between CEB transmission and CEB generation plants, Power Sales Agreements between Distribution Licensees and CEB Transmission Licensee.

All due payments to Renewable Energy based electricity generators (including small scale roof top solar) to be settled as soon as possible. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) has given its approval for the proposed Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) program.

Chaired by MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, the COPF met today for the third consecutive day for constructive talks on the domestic debt restructuring strategy.

During its discussions on the Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) plan on Thursday, the committee looked into the concerns about the impact of the DDO plan on the superannuation funds.

The banking system is excluded from the DDO plan taking as it already contributes to the Treasury and the economy through taxes of over 50%. The government said the move aims to safeguard the Treasury and to ensure the safety of the 57 million public and private bank deposits in the country.

For its discussions on the DDO program, the COPF had invited all creditors including banks, superannuation funds, and insurance funds to hear their opinions and concerns.

Concerns had been raised about the burden falling on superannuation funds, especially the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) without considering the consent of depositors.

Although banks are excluded from the DDO plan due to existing stress and non-performing loans, the COPF chairman said the EPF and the ETF, which carry most of the burden, face potential opportunity loss and lacks a say in the decisions impacting people’s life savings.

The COPF earlier said the EPF and ETF are exposed to additional burden without alternative solutions as there is no contingency plan in the event foreign debt relief and primary targets are not met.

Meanwhile, a full-day debate on the proposed domestic debt restructuring strategy will be held in the parliament tomorrow (July 01) after which the lawmakers will cast their votes for the adoption of the program.

 Earlier today, the party leaders decided to convene the parliament from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. tomorrow.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s headline inflation, as measured by the Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), eased to 12.0% in June 2023, compared to the previous month.

The CCPI-based inflation was calculated as 25.2% for the month of May 2023.

According to the latest report issued by the Department of Census & Statistics (DCS), the Y-o-Y inflation of Food Group dropped to 4.1% in June 2023 from 21.5% in May 2023.

The Y-o-Y inflation of Non-Food Group decreased to 16.2% this month from 27.0% in March 2023.

For the month of April 2023, on Y-o-Y basis, the contribution to the inflation by food commodities was 1.42%. The contribution of Non-Food Group was meanwhile recorded as 10.59%.

The department said this decrease in the contribution of Food and Non-Food groups to the inflation was mainly due to the increases in value change in groups of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, restaurants & hotels, clothing & footwear, furnishing household equipment and routine household maintenance, health, miscellaneous goods and services, education, recreation and culture, communication, education, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco.

Courtesy Adaderana

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena says that despite the Western countries continuing to smear the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a debt trap,” China is focusing on its own development path by ‘moving forward step by step’ while helping other countries to create success stories of their own.

Joining a discussion with the CGTN news agency, the PM further mentioned that China has proven to the world that many developmental challenges can be solved.

Meanwhile, he also expressed that China is a major contributor to global economic growth, and the BRI has provided solid foundations for the lives of billions of people worldwide.

Responding to a question on his take on the Western countries’ accusation against China of using debt to gain influence, Gunawardena stated that this debate has been going on over the years, adding that China is a nation economically powerful, which cannot be ignored by any country in the world today.

Of course, this debate has been going on over the years. But China, in my mind, is a great nation, a nation economically powerful, which cannot be ignored by any country in the world today.”

China has invested even in the US, the Sri Lankan PM emphasized, stating that the Belt and Road development plan was an important role in new economic development for the whole of Asia.

He said China has shown that it can deliver to overcome many other issues prevalent in the world such as poverty, adding that millions in China, in the last few years, have been brought out of poverty.  It was not just a change, but a historic change that contributes to all others, and also as a model for others to see this can be done”.

China has been helping all countries across the continents”, Gunawardena said, expressing that they have been working with key countries of the Western world.

There was a time when those countries were reluctant to [make] deals with China. But things changed”, he added.

Despite the ongoing debates, China is moving forward step by step on the development path, and also helping other countries of the world to make their countries and economies a success story.

To make countries success you need investment.”

In addition, PM Gunawardena asserted that China is a great contributor to this new world economy that is growing, highlighting that the BRI is a strong base for covering the life of few billions of people in the world.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed confidence that Sri Lanka would overcome its bankruptcy status by this September.

He has also called for collective efforts supporting the government’s ongoing initiatives, particularly the Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) plan.

The Head of State made these remarks addressing the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) today.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Kurundavashoka Monastery area was declared a protected archaeological site by Gazette number 7981 published on May 12th 1933. On 16th August 2013, this are area was again declared a protected archaeological site.

The Department of Archaeology   started conservation work at Kurundi in September 2018. On 4 September 2018 when we first commenced work, TNA MPs arrived at the site, held a demonstration and demanded that the work be stopped, said Ven. Galgamuwe Santhabodhi, the incumbent bhikkhu of Kurundi.  They threatened the Archaeology Department officers and the two Buddhist priests who had visited the site to see the ruins

TNA obtained a temporary restraining order from the courts by saying that the conservation efforts may cause  unrest in the area.  In October 2018, the Mullativu courts gave permission for the Archeology Department to proceed with the conservation work.

Conservation work of the Kurundi site re-started on 11 May, 2021.  TNA MPs promptly arrived at the temple and demanded that the work be stopped. They filed a case in Supreme Court on August 2021.   This seems to have been settled in favor of the Department of Archaeology.

 Then in 2022, The Department of Archaeology signed a MoU with Bauddhaloka Foundation to excavate and conserve the ancient Kurundimale temple and adjoining sites of archeological importance.Bauddhaloka Foundation was going to fund the project.

Work started and the conservation of the stupa was completed in 2022. A ceremony to enshrine relics in the Chaitiya was planned for June 12, 2022.   About 100 bhikkhus   arrived for the festival, representing the three Buddhist sects and including many venerable chief monks.

But the ceremony did not take place. Tamil National Alliance MPs and their supporters arrived in Kurundi,   staged a demonstration, and did not allow the    ceremony to take place. They claimed that Kurundi was an ancient Kovil and Kurundi was in their homeland.Ven. Santhabodhi   said that this group had insulted the bhikkhus present, they had abused them using bad language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1JVMDA3_1o

Sarath Weerasekera  complained in Parliament A week ago during the ceremony to deposit Sacred Relics at the Kurundashoka Chaitya in Mullaitivu, two TNA-MPs had come there with a group of thugs and sabotaged the whole event. Two TNA MPs Selvarasa Gajendran and Vinoradha Linghum had disrupted the event and had not allowed them even to offer a flower.

Tamil Separatist Movement filed a case against  Kurundi   and  on July 18.2022 Mullaitivu magistrate  R.Sarwanarajah ordered the removal of new constructions at Kurundi and no further construction work.  Department of Archaeology protested against the order to the Attorney General’s Department.

In September 2022 there was a demonstration in Colombo, regarding the behavior of the TNA MPs at Kurundi. Buddhist MPs participated. Buddhist leaders of Association are seen in the procession. There were speeches. Then a person came up to the demonstrators and told them that if they had handled this properly and got the mattered gazetted then this demonstration was not necessary.  He was shooed away.

 In 2023, TNA found    that despite their efforts, work was going on at Kurundi. Archaeology Department had surveyed the land and had taken over 229 acres as part of the Kurundi archaeological reserve.  Soon the boundaries will be set and Kurundi declared a huge archaeological reserve. 

TNA MPs asked the President to intervene in the matter and put a stop to Kurundi expansion. In March 2023 President instructed officials from the Archaeology Department to release the 229 acres.

 Then on June 8. 2023, President convened a meeting with the officials from the Department of Archaeology and the Ministry of Buddhasasana as well as Tamil National Alliance  MPs. He gave orders to the Archaeology department, with the TNA MPs  listening and intervening. 

 There was no objection to the 79 acres   already demarcated as   Kurundi historical site. But there was objection to the additional 229 acres’ said the TNA. We have asked for this land and they promised to release it  to us, but they have not done so,  they complained.

President Wickremesinghe was supportive.  Kurundi was a temple built by Tamil Buddhists, therefore it was important he said,  but Kurundi vihara could not possibly have stretched to three hundred acres. That was more than Maha vihara, Jetavana and Abhayagiri combined. Kurundi could not be larger than Maha vihara.

 The boundary stones put by the Archaeology Department must be removed. If the Department was not prepared to do that, the President was ready to do so.  Further, before the Archaeology Department took  decisions like this, regarding archaeological reserves they must inform the Cabinet and obtain its permission, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

This meeting received wide publicity, in the press and on YouTube. President Wickremesinghe challenged Dr. Manatunga’s decision to acquire land and treated him to a brief lecture on history and archaeological sites,” said the media.  President attracted fierce criticism from sections of the Buddhist clergy and some opposition politicians over remarks he made during a meeting held on June 8, said another report. A video clip of RW teaching history to AM was circulated on social media, said a third. The cartoon in Island on  18.6.23 made fun of the President’s comments on  history. 

Anura Manatunge Director –General of Archaeology, did not remove the boundary stones, instead he resigned. That was intended as a retort and it was recognized as such. We congratulate Anura Manatunge, said an NGO.Manatunga has shown that he has a backbone, and has refused to carry out an illegal order given by the President and has resigned instead, said Udaya Gammanpila.The action of President leading to the resignation of  Manatunge is viewed with revulsion and is strongly criticized said Jatika Nidahas Peramuna.

President  Wickremesinghe’s views on the subject of  temple  lands,  were soundly   squashed. Kurundi needed not be measured by Maha vihara, critics observed. The  Anuradhapura viharas were in the heart of the capital city.

 President Ranil Wickremesinghe orders were also  heavily criticized .Why should DG, Archeology, consult the Cabinet of Ministers when performing his legitimate duties,” MP Gevindu  Kumaratunga asked.

The Archaeology Department cannot take order from the Cabinet, there is no provision for that. The Archaeology Department has to follow the Antiquities Ordinance of 1940. Manatunga  refused to carry out President’s order, because  it was  not consistent with the Antiquities Ordinance..  The  amount of land that can come into  the Kurundi reserve has to be decided on  archaeological evidence, not personal opinion, said critics.

 In any case, the Cabinet had no authority to decide  on land matters. Analysts recalled that the  Cabinet of Ministers had  decided to grant President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga a plot of land near Parliament, as part of her retirement package, but the Supreme Court ruled that  such a decision was contrary to the law .  I would also add that  if  the  Cabinet  overrules  the Antiquities Ordinance that would  affect the Rule of law.

 Gevindu Kumaratunga  said that  President Wickremesinghe  was  giving into demands of Tamil members of Parliament representing the Northern and Eastern Provinces. MPs representing one community shouldn’t have been called for a meeting to discuss land-related issues.  A national issue couldn’t be discussed with a select group of MPs, he said.President’s action  will lead to the destroying of the  Sinhala Buddhist archaeological heritage of the north, said Jayantha  Samaraweera.

Due to this barrage of criticism and negative publicity,   it was announced on  16th June,  that President Ranil Wickremesinghe  has  decided to appoint an Expert Committee to investigate and submit a report on lands claimed  by Kurundi Temple in the Mullativu District  and Thiriyaya Temple in the Trincomalee District.

The Presidential Task Force on Archaeology established during the tenure of former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had allocated  lands belonging to the Department of Forest, Lands Department and Wildlife Department  for archaeology conservation.The committee must  examine  the  reasons for  granting such a large extent of land .

The committee must find out with scientific data and evidence why  a large extent of land  is claimed for the Kurundi Vihara and Thiriyaya Vihara when such a vast area of land has not been allocated for the Anuradhapura Maha Vihara and Sigiriya. This Committee must find out whether there is archaeological evidence that the first two  temples actually had such a large area of land in ancient times.

In addition the Committee must also investigate and show the land that belonged to the Maha Vihara,  as some  are making statements thinking that the area in which Vithulyawadin were living belonged to the Maha Viharaya. ( Continued)

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

ලංකාවේ ලොකුම සල්ලි බෙදන ව්‍යාපෘතිය, ජනසවිය ලෙස ඇරඹී සමෘද්ධිය නමින් දේශපාලනීකරණය වූවේය.  සැබෑ දිළින්දන්ට සහන මුදල වැඩි කර  නුසුදුස්සන් ඉවත් කිරීමට ගනු ලබන සෑම උත්සාහයකට නැවත නැවත විරෝධය පළ විය. අසාර්ථක විය. 

ජූනි මාසයේ සිට රු. 8,500 සහ රු. 15,000 ක දිළිඳු සහන දීමනාව ලබන පිරිස ලක්ෂ  12 කි.  එය අද ලැබෙන මුදල මෙන් තුන් ගුණයකි. ඔවුහු දැන් පස්වනක් ප්‍රීතියට පත්ව ඇත.

සෑම ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලයක් ඉදිරිපිටම උද්ඝෝෂණ සිදු කරන්නේ මේ ලක්ෂ 12 ට අයත් නොවන මේ දක්වා සමෘද්ධි ලැබූ ලක්ෂ 8 කි.  එයින්, තවත් ලක්ෂ 4 කට රු. 5000 බැගින් 2024 මාර්තු දක්වා ලැබේ. එය ඔවුන් අද ලබන මුදලට වැඩි ගණනකි.   ඔවුහු ද උද්ඝෝෂණයට එක්වන්නේ සදාකාලිකව තමන්ට සහන දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලමිනි.

මේ වසරේ අග දක්වා රු. 2,500 බැගින් ලැබීමට නියමිත පිරිස ලක්ෂ  4 කි. 

අස්වැසුමේ සහන ලැබීම වසර 3 කින් අවසන් වන්නේය.  විරෝධතාකරුවන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම වැඩි කළ සහනය සදාකාලිකව ලබා ගැනීමයි.      

මේ සියළු දෙනා සතුටු කරන්නට අවශ්‍ය නම් රජයට අයිස්ක්‍රීම් විකිණිය යුතු නැත.  දැන් දෙන සමෘද්ධි දීමනාව වැඩි නොකර,  ලක්ෂ 35 කට එම මුදල බෙදා දී, අවශ්‍ය නම් තමන්ගේ ඡන්ද ගොඩ ද වැඩි කර ගත හැකිය.  ජනතාට වක්‍ර  බදු ගසා උපයා ගන්නා මුදලින් අත පය යහතින් ඇති පිරිසකට දීම ‘දිළිඳු සහන‘ නොවේ. එය අල්ලසකි.

සටහන – සහන ලැබෙන ආබාධිතයින්, රෝගීන් ගේ ලැයිස්තුව තව සතියක් ඇතුලත ප්‍රසිද්ධ කිරීමට නියමිත ය. ආසන්න වශයෙන් තවත් ලක්ෂ 3  ඉක්මවූ පිරිසකට එමගින් සහන ලැබෙනු ඇත.

ඉද හිට උද්ඝෝෂණයේ දී දකින්නට ලැබෙන, මෙයට පෙර සමෘද්ධි නොලැබුණු, මෙවර ද සහන ලැබී නැති පිරිසක් ද වෙති.  රටේ අන්ත අසරණ, හිසට වහලක් නැති, රෝගී, වයෝවෘද මේ පිරිස සැබෑ ලෙසම සහන ලැබිය යුතු අයයි. මේ පිරිස ලක්ෂ 5 කට ආසන්නය.    

අර්බුදය ඇරඹෙන්නේ හොරට සමෘද්ධි ගත් පිරිස කපා දැමීමත් සමඟය. 

අද ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලය ඉදිරිපිට උද්ඝෝෂණය කරන බහුතරය (එනම් සමෘද්ධි ලාභීන්ගෙන් 51%) ක් ම වසර 15 කට වඩා සමෘද්ධි ලැබූ පිරිස ය.  තමන්ට මේ දක්වා මාසික දීමනාව මෙන් තුන් ගුණයක් වෙනත් පිරිසකට ලැබී, තමන්ට නොලැබීමත් එයට හේතුවයි. ( සමෘද්ධි ප්‍රතිලාභීන්ගෙන් 35% ක්ම  වසර 25කට වැඩි කාලයක සහන ලබා ඇත.)  වසර 25 ක් සහන ලැබීමෙන් පසුවත් ඔවුන්ගේ දිළිඳුකම තුරන් වී නැති නම් පැහැදිලි ලෙසම සමෘද්ධිය වැඩසටහන අසාර්ථකය. 

මේ දක්වා සමෘද්ධි රු. 3000  ක (සාමාන්‍ය අගය) ගෙවන්නට රටේ බදු මුදල් රු. 35,000 ක් වැය වන බවයි.  සමෘද්ධිය යනු දීමනාව පමණක් නොවේ.  තවත් ලොකු දේශපාලන පැකේජ් එකකි.

සමෘද්ධිය දේශපාලන වැඩසටහනකි.  මාසික වැටුප් ලබන සේවකයන් 30,000 ක් තෝරා ගත්තේ දේශපාලන පදනමකිනි. ඔවුන් දිගටම එක් එක් පක්ෂයට දේශපාලනය කළ, රැස්වීම්වලට සෙනග රැගෙන ආ පිරිස බවට ඇති චෝදනාව බැහැර කළ නොහැකිය.  ගමේ සමෘද්ධි ලාභීන් තෝරාගනු ලැබූවේ මේ නිලධාරි පිරිස විසිනි.  එහිදි බොහෝ තැන්වල ප්‍රමුඛත්වය ලැබුණේ දේශපාලනයට බව බැහැර කළ නොහැකි සත්‍යයකි. 

ජූලි මාසයේ දී ලක්ෂ 20ටක සමෘද්ධි සහන ලැබේ.  එයින් ලක්ෂ 4 කට රු. 15,000 ක් ද, ලක්ෂ 8 කට රු. 8,500 බැගින් ද, තවත් ලක්ෂ 4 කට රු. 5,000 බැගින් ද ලැබෙන්නේය.  සරළවම, සහනාධාර මුදල දෙතුන් ගුණයකින් වැඩිවී ඇත.  ඒ අනුව, සමෘද්ධි ලබන පිරිස අස්වැසුම නිසා ක්ෂණිකව අඩු වන්නේ නැත.

දුප්පත් නැතත් තනි පුජකවරුන්, විහාරස්ථාන, අනාථ නිවාස, වැඩිහිටි සහ දුප්පත් නොවන විශාල පිරිසකට සමෘද්ධි ගෙවීම් ද ප්‍රදානය කෙරිණි. ඔවුන් බහුතරය මේ උද්ඝෝෂණයන් ගේ නියමුවන් ය. සමෘද්ධි ලාභීන් බහුතරය  ඕනෑම රැස්වීමකට, උද්ඝෝෂණයකට දක්කා ගෙන යාමේ ඉතිහාසයක්, ව්‍යවහාරයක් ඉතිහාසය පුරාම තිබුණි. ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලය වටලව වැඩේ මේ උද්ඝෝෂණ කප්පිත්තන්ගේ වැඩ කි. ලංකාවේ දැවැන්තම දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරය නැතිනම් සමෘද්ධි බලකාය — රට හොල්ලන උද්ඝෝෂණ ව්‍යාපාරයක් සිදු කරමින් සිටී! සමෘද්ධි ලාභීන් දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරයන්ට හුලං ගැසීමට අති දක්ෂයන් ය.

සමෘද්ධි ලැයිස්තුව ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් කිරීම හේතුවෙන් මේ වන විට විරෝධතා 5,045 ක් සහ අභියාචනා 6383,232 ක් ලැබි ඇත. නියමිත කාලය අවසන් වන විට ලක්ෂ 10 කට වැඩි අභියාචනා ලැබෙනු ඇත!

අස්වැසුමේ මුදල් ප්‍රතිලාභියාගේ බැංකු ගිණුමට යැවීම තුලින් මේ දේශපාලන බැදීම කඩා බිද වැටීම සිදුවන්නේ ය. දුප්පත්කම හා දේශපාලන වහල්භාවය අතර දම්වැල කඩා දැමීම යුගයේ අවශ්‍යතාවයකි. 

සහන වැඩි කිරීම

රජය අස්වැසුම මගින් සමෘද්ධි සහනය දෙතුන් ගුණයකින් වැඩි කර ඇත.  රජයට අවශ්‍ය නම්, කිසිදු විරෝධයකට ලක් නොවී රු. 15,000 බැගින් ලක්ෂ  4 කට ලබාදීම වෙනුවට රු. 4500 බැගින් ඒ  ලක්ෂ 13 කට බෙදිය හැකිය.  රු. 8,500 යෝජිත ක්‍රමය වෙනුවට රු. 3,000 බැගින් තුන් ගුණයකට (ලක්ෂ 24 කට) සල්ලි බෙදිය හැකිය.   මේ නොමිලේ සල්ලි බෙදන ප්‍රමාණය ලක්ෂ 36 ක් දක්වා යෝජිත පවත්නා අරමුදල් මගින් කළමනාකරණය කළ හැකිය.  එවිට විරෝධය  සමනය වේ. (සමහරවිට ඡන්ද ද වැඩි කර ගත හැකි වනු ඇත)   නමුත්, කිසිදා දිළිඳු බව නම් නැති වන්නේ නැත. අන්ත අසරණයින් තවදුරටත් දේශපාලන වහළුන් වනු මිස ඔවුන්ට සහනයක් නොලැබෙන්නේය.

සමෘද්ධි ලබන අති බහුතරයක් අවු. 18 – 60 වයස් සීමාවේ එලදායී රැකියාවක නිතර විය හැකි පුද්ගලයින් වෙති. 

රජය ලක්ෂ 35 කට නිකං සල්ලි බෙදා දේශපාලන වාසියක් ගැනීම වෙනුවට, ඉදිරි මැතිවරණයක තීරණාත්මක සාධකයක් බවට ‘සමෘද්ධි බලකාය‘ පත් කර ගනිමින් නිකං සෙල්ලි බෙදිල්ල නැවැත්වීමට උත්සහ දරයි. දුප්පත්කම නඩත්තු කිරීම වලක්වන්නට උත්සහ දරයි.

අස්වැසුම සැබෑ ප්‍රශ්නය, සහන හිමි විය යුතු නමුත් වත්මන් ලැයිස්තුවට ද ඇතුලත් නොවන විශාල පිරිස සම්බන්ධයෙනි.  රට හමුවේ ඇති අභියෝගය මේ විදුලිය නැති, අතු පැලක, වැසිකිලියක් නැති, අධ්‍යාපනයක් ද, රෝග ආබාධ ද සහිත පිරිසට සෙත සැලසීම ය.  තනි තනි පුද්ගලයින් සොයා අසාධාරණයක් සිදුව ඇති නම් ඔවුනට සහන දිය යුතුය. 

එසේ නොවන්නේ නම්, සිදුවන මහා අනර්ථය දැන් වසර 10 ක් නැත්තම් 25 ක් සමෘද්ධිය ලැබූ නුසුදුස්සන් ගෙන් කොටසකටම දිගටම,  අද ලැබෙන ගානට වඩා තුන් ගුණයක් ජූලි මාසයේ සිට ලැබීම ය. මේ සහන ලැබිය යුතුම පිරිසට එය අහිමිවීම ය.

බඩු සල්ලි බෙදන දේශපාලනය අවසන් කළ යුතුය! බඩු බෙදිල්ල, සල්ලි බෙදිල්ල ට දුප්පත්කම නැති කළ නොහැකිය.  එය කාලයෙන් කාලයට දේශපාලනඥයින්ට ඡන්ද ගොඩවල් එක් කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘති පමණී.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

මේ දිනවල කරලියේ ඇති මාතෘකාව වන්නේ “දේශීය ණය  ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමයි” මේ තුලින් සිදු කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ රජයේ දේශීය ණය බර අඩුකිරීම හෝ ඒවා ගෙවීමට සඳහා සහන කාලයක් ලබාගැනීම යයි අපට අනුමාන කිරීමට සිදුව තිබේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය විදේශයන්ටත් ණය, දේශීය වශයෙන් මෙරට ජනතාවටත් ණයබරිත රාජ්‍යකි. මේ ණය බරිත රාජ්‍යට මෙරට ජනතාවගේ ශුභ සිද්ධිය උදෙසා සිදුකල හැකි කිසිවක් නැත. දැන් ණයකාරයා රජය බවට පරිවර්තනයවී ණය හිමියා මෙරට ජනතාව බවට පත්වී හමාරය. දැන් ජනතාවගෙන් ලබාගත් ණය වලට සිදුකරන්නට යනදේ  ජනතාවටද නොතේරෙන ආකාරයට කරන කටයුත්තට දී ඇති නාමය “දේශීය ණය  ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහ ගත කිරීම” යයි නම් කොට ඇත.

ණය බරිත වුවද අපට රාජ්‍යක් අවශ්‍යව ඇති බැවින් මේ ණයකාරයාව සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමට අපට සිදුව තිබේ. එවන් පසුබිමක් යටතේ,මේ “දේශීය ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහ ගත කිරීම ” යයි මුමුණමින් මේ සිදුකරන්නට යන දේ සම්බන්ධව ජනතාව දැනුවත් විය යුතුය.

රට බංකොලොත්ය. එය සිදුකරන ලද්දේ මෙරට රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරි පැලැන්තිය ප්‍රමුඛ දේශපාලන අධිකාරිය විසින් සිදුකරන ලද විනාශයන්ට අනුවය. දැන් රට විශාල වශයෙන් ණය උගුලේ පැටලවූ අය විසින්ම රට ගලවා ගැනීමට ඉදිරිපත්ව කටයුතුකරන බැවින් නරියා “කුකුල් කොටුව ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහ ගත කිරීම”ට සුදානම් වෙන බවක් අපි දකින්නෙමු.

මේ දේශීය ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහ ගත කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියේදීද පෙරමුණගෙන කටයුතු කරන්නේ, 2015දී සිදුකල බැදුම්කර වංචාව සිදුකල යාන්ත්‍රණයම වීම නිසා එවැනිම දුෂිත ගනුදෙනුවක් මෙවරද සිදුවෙයි අනිසි බියක් ඇතිකරගත යුතු නොවේ.නමුත් සිදුකරන්නට යන්නේ කුමක්දැයි ඔවුන් නොකියන බැවින්, අපි තේරුම්ගෙන එය අපට වැටහෙන ආකාරයට කුමක්දැයි පැවසීමට අපට සිදුව තිබේ.

ඉලක්කය වන්නේ වර්ෂ 2020දී රුපියල් බිලියන 2814ක්වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඇති අති දැවැන්තම අරමුදල වන  සේවක අර්ධසාධක අරමුදලයි. මේ අති දැවැන්ත මුදල අයිතිවන්නේ, එහි වත්මන් සාමාජිකයින්ට පමණක් නොවේ. වත්මන් සාමාජිකයින්ගේ සියලුම මුදල් ගෙවා දැමු පසුවද ඉතිරිවෙන මුදල අති විශාලය. එබැවින් කිසිදු බියක් නැතිව මහා බැංකු අධිපතිවරයාට “වත්මන් සාමාජිකයින්ගේ මුදල් වලට කිසිම හානියක් වෙන්නේ නැතැයි ” පැවසිය හැකිය. හානියක් වන්නේ, වසර 1960 ගණන් වල සිට මෙය ඉතා මැනවින් පාලනය කොට මේ අරමුදලට බැර කල ලාභාංශ වලටය.  වසර 63ක පමණ කාලයක් පුරා අතීත පරපුර විසින් වර්තමානයට උරුම කල ඒ ලාභාංශය සැබෑ ලෙසම රජයේ දේශීය ණය ගෙවීමට උපයෝගී කර ගන්නවාද? එසෙත් නැතිනම් ඒ මුදල 2015දී මෙන්ම දේශපාලකයින් හා නිලධාරින් බෙදා ගනීවිදැයි යන සැකය ජනතාව තුල ඇතිවීම සාධාරණය.ඒ වර්ෂ 2015 මහා බැංකු අධිපති අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්‍රන් ඉතිහාසයට එක කොට ඇති කළු පල්ලම හේතුවෙනි. අප “දේශීය ණය  ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහ ගත කිරීම” දෙස බලාගෙන ඉදිමු.

By Engr. Kanthar Balanathan DipEE (UK), GradCert (RelEng-Monash), DipBus&Adm (Finance-Massey), C.Eng., MIEE, Former Director of Power Engineering Solutions Pty Ltd, Consulting Electrical EngineersLeading Engineer of the World 2006, UK Authority Award

1. General         

The author, engineer (A) joined a thermal power station as a Senior Engineer in Sept 1998. The station had a combination of thermal, gas turbines, and combined cycle plants. After meeting the staff, the engineer went on a walk around the station to acquaint himself of the plant. The author has extensive experience on thermal generators, Gas Turbine generators and large HV motors and Transformers. As he was ging towards Unit one he observed a consultant who had a PhD doing a temperature rise test.

• Plant

The PhD said that he is testing the Unit for rotor short turns by doing the temperature rise test.

• Issues

We SriLankan engineers although we did not have sophisticated test gear in SL in the 70s, we had our own way of testing for vibration detection unless it requires advanced testing, then the owners will get down foreign experts with sophisticated equipment. The author decided his Sri Lankan method and found out the Unit had vibration. He checked the Bentley Nevada computer screen, and the vibration was above normal.

With some doubts the engineer checked the Pedestal on the excitation side of the generator. He was not satisfied because he thought that there was vibration on the pedestal and decided that it could be a soft Footing” issue. After analysing he decided to check the Unit file. The unit file had some interesting information. The unit had been installed with Flux Probe (FP). The flux probe is similar to the RSO test where the probe will detect a rotor short of turns. The Unit had the FB wired out to a rf TB.

The engineer then decided to download a series of samples at various loads the following days after the Consultant had finished his work. The flux probe was invented by Generatortech, Inc in Ohio. 

The engineer analysed the samples and found that there was no indication of rotor short of turn. The engineer called Ohio and discussed with Mr. David Albright (DA) who was the inventor of the FB. Those who are interested in knowing more please refer to site given below. After discussion the Director asked me to send samples at various loads and he will analyse and send a reply. The Technical Manager was a mechanical engineer with an additional mechanical engineer supporting him. The engineer attempted to explain the Station Manager, Tech Manager. None of them would agree and finally spoke to the Operations Manager who had a Physics degree (Special) and he agreed. Finally, all agreed to carry out a vibration test on the pedestal and based on the results came to conclusion that the pedestal has a soft footing”. BY this time the engineer (A) had decided what the real issue was. The previous year (Latter part of the year) the unit had undergone a rotor refit of rewedging, and the unit had new BN gear fitted. The engineer (A) concluded that one or two wedge may be tight fitted which may have caused minor thermal bowing and the soft footing has caused the vibration. The engineer (A) checked with EPRI reports and found out that in 1964 a generator in California had similar incident of vibration. The engineer was already given access to EPRI by the Station.

The company invited an engineer from Bentley Nevada who came and did the same temperature rise test. After all, the engineer invited the BN engineer for a meeting at midnight. The discussion was on pros and cons and the engineer (A) explained with refence to EPRI. Both agreed and the SM was conveyed. The Eng. (A) was asked to submit a report to the GM.

The rotor was sent to the workshops for refitting with the same rotor bars but with new insulation. The engineer wanted to be at site when the remove the bars. One bar was found to have foreign body which caused the tightness.

At site, they found the pedestal base concrete foundation breaking like biscuits.

The unit was repaired and reinstalled and was online with no vibration. The engineer (A) has photocopies of all related matters and was happy that he was correct. The engineer was allowed to practice as an Electrical and mechanical engineer by the professional body in the UK.  The engineer had published a book also on power systems. Also, the credibility and competency of the SriLankan engineers in Power Systems.

Contact: http://www.generatortech.com/B-Page2-Theory-Overview.html

Cause of pedestal vibration

Foundation degradation ・ Bearing pedestal stiffness ・ Natural frequency excitation.

https://turbolab.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Case_Study_11.pdf

Thank you,

Courtesy Aljazeera

Central bank of crisis-hit country outlines measures to restructure local debt as part of efforts to meet conditions of IMF bailout.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has unveiled a far-reaching domestic debt restructuring plan aimed at restoring stability in the crisis-hit country.

The move on Thursday comes as the government tries to meet the conditions of a $2.9bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout agreed upon in March seen as crucial to the economic recovery of the the island nation, which defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time last year.

The long-awaited restructuring is needed to help Sri Lanka reach the IMF programme’s goal of reducing overall debt to 95 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2032.

Last year, a foreign exchange crisis left the government unable to pay for imports of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials, leading to protests that brought about the removal of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The plan is not a choice but an inevitable course of action by the government given the fragile budgetary situation in Sri Lanka,” W A Wijewardena, former deputy governor of the country’s Central Bank, told Al Jazeera.

What does the plan include?

• Under the domestic debt revamp, holders of locally issued dollar-denominated bonds such as Sri Lanka Development Bonds (SLDBs) will be given three options, according to CBSL Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe.
• The first would be a treatment similar to investors in the country’s international sovereign bonds – a 30 percent principal haircut with a six-year maturity at a 4 percent interest rate.
• The second will be similar treatment to that being proposed to bilateral dollar creditors: no principal haircut, with a 15-year maturity and a nine-year grace period at 1.5 percent interest rate.
• The third will be to exchange their holdings for local currency-denominated instruments: no principal haircut with a 10-year maturity at the SLFR (Sri Lanka standing lending facility rate) + 1 percent interest rate.
• Sri Lanka currently has $12.5bn in international sovereign bonds. It also has $11.3bn in bilateral loans.

Local currency bonds

• Under the plan, local currency bonds held by superannuation funds, including pension funds, will be exchanged for longer maturity bonds (2027 to 2038), which will have 9 percent interest till maturity.
• CBSL holdings of treasury bills to be converted to bonds maturing between 2029 and 2038, with a step-down coupon structure. This will be implemented in the second phase of the domestic debt restructuring.
• Treasury bills and treasury bond holdings of the banking sector have been excluded from the domestic debt restructuring considering the significant stress on the banking sector at present due to increasing non-performing loans, impact of external debt restructure and high taxation.

Why is the domestic debt rework important?

• Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana said on Thursday the restructuring would cover part of the country’s $42bn in domestic debt.
• The move is likely to create momentum around foreign debt renegotiations on $36bn of external debt, including $24bn held by bondholders and bilateral creditors such as China, Japan and India.
• Sri Lanka has set a goal of finalising debt restructuring talks by September to align with the first review of its IMF programme.

What’s next?

• The domestic restructuring framework will now be presented to Parliament on Saturday for approval. CBSL hopes to finalise the bond exchange of superannuated funds by the of July.
• Sri Lanka declared a five-day holiday from June 29 to July 3 in a bid to contain any potential market volatility. The special bank holidays also allow any losses from bond sales to be recognised in the third quarter of the year, analysts said.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.578.0_en.html#goog_349310612Play Video

By Yin Yeping Courtesy Global Times

China has invested a lot in Sri Lanka in recent years and Sri Lanka looks forward to expanding the mutually beneficial partnership, Ali Sabry, Sri Lanka’s minister of foreign affairs, told the media during his visit to China.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon, Sabry reviewed the country’s relationship with China and how it has helped Sri Lanka to develop its economy and trade.

The foreign minister also refuted the hype in some Western media reports, which have claimed that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has pushed Sri Lanka into a “debt trap.”

“I think some media outlets use it to advance their agendas… Chinese investment was and has been very, very important to us. Sri Lanka had been depressed for 26 years. No investment was forthcoming. Everybody was adopting a vacant approach, but the Chinese investment came and propelled the growth in Sri Lanka. Therefore, we are very grateful for that,” Sabry told the Global Times at the press briefing.

“In Sri Lanka, across the party line, everybody has an excellent relationship with China,” the minister said.

Looking at the last decade or two, most of the investments in Sri Lanka have come from China, ranging from industrial facilities and technological support to agriculture and education, he said, noting that Chinese investment is very important not only for the growth of Sri Lanka but also for many other developing countries.

Regarding the country’s economic problems, the foreign minister said there were multiple factors including bad policies, the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“We are not going to blame somebody else for that and we need to take ownership of that. We had serious policy deficiencies. We are now addressing those issues, overcoming them, and getting back to a sustainable way forward,” Sabry said.

The foreign minister said that the country is stabilizing the economy and is now recovering. “The most important phase now is the growth phase,” for which Chinese investment is very important, he said.

China has a big role to play in helping Sri Lanka to address these issues, he added.

Sabry said that there is a lot Sri Lanka can do together with China, while learning from China’s growth. He also said what China has achieved in recent decades has been unbelievable, adding that taking 800 million people out of poverty is a great achievement.

“For me and my country, China has been a friend. China has been a partner in progress, and it will continue to be a partner in progress in the future,” Sabry said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said the banking system would not be burdened any further as it already contributes to the Treasury and economy through taxes of over 50%.

The President’s Media Division said the Governor assured that the 57 million depositors would be protected.

Meanwhile, the Governor assured that the EPF funds already accumulated would not be touched and also guaranteed a minimum 9% interest on the EPF.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Central Bank (CBSL) governor says the banking system is excluded from the Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) process, in order to safeguard the treasury, strengthen the economy, and ensure the protection of the 57 million public and private bank deposits in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe explained that the banking system already contributes to the Treasury and the economy through taxes of over 50%.

He made these remarks addressing a special media briefing on Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) held at the Presidential Media Centre this morning (June 29).

The governor highlighted the severe repercussions that would result from a collapse in the country’s banking sector. To prevent such a scenario, June 30 (Friday) was declared a bank holiday until the parliament approves the restructuring of local debt.

Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, reassuring the public that the existing Employee Provident Fund (EPF) would remain untouched, also he guaranteed a minimum interest rate of 9% for the EPF.

In attendance at the press conference were Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, the Senior Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs, Mr. Mahinda Siriwardena, the Secretary of the Finance Ministry, Mr. A.K. Seneviratne, the Deputy Treasury Secretary, as well as heads of media organizations and media representatives.

Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Governor of the Central Bank, further commented on the DDO;

In order to achieve a sustainable level of the government’s domestic debt, we must work towards stabilizing the current criteria within a 10-year timeframe, as agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). For instance, by the end of 2022, the public debt as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at 128%. However, our target is to reduce it to below 95% by 2032, which is the first criterion. The second criterion involves reducing the government’s total financing requirement, currently at 34.6% of the GDP annually, to an average level of 13% or lower during the 5 year period of 2027-2032.

The third criterion pertains to foreign debt servicing, which currently accounts for 9.4% of the GDP. Our aim is to bring it down to 4.5% during the period of 2027-2032. Achieving these goals will lead to a reduction of $16.9 billion in the relief required to bridge the external financing gap. Additionally, there are three other tasks that need to be accomplished in order to attain these three objectives.

There are three key aspects to address in the debt restructuring process. Firstly, discussions are underway regarding the restructuring of official bilateral debts. Secondly, there are on-going discussions regarding the money borrowed through sovereign bonds in commercial markets. Thirdly, there is a focus on optimizing domestic debt. The optimization of domestic credit plays a significant role in this overall process.

Through the restructuring of local debts, the aim is to reduce the government’s gross debt burden and meet its financial needs. If the proposed measures are implemented, it is projected that the gross financial need will decrease to 12.7, aiming for a value below 13. If successfully implemented, this would result in a reduction of public debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product, bringing it down to 90%.

Currently, there are 4.1 trillion in treasury bills, with 62.4% held by the Central Bank. Conversion of treasury bills into long-term treasury bonds has been proposed previously. However, additional measures are required, prompting consideration of treasury bonds to fulfil the remaining financial requirements. Presently, there are 8.7 trillion in treasury bonds, with 36.5% held by the superannuation fund and approximately 36% held by banks. The remaining portion is owned by insurance companies and private individuals.

As the Central Bank, our primary concern is to find the best solution to ensure the stability of the banking system and the well-being of the Employee Provident Fund (EPF). The Central Bank, being the custodian of the EPF, actively participates in discussions and supports the proposed measures to safeguard deposits and protect public funds such as the EPF from any potential harm.

According to the proposal, the banking system has already made a significant contribution to reducing the government’s indebtedness. Currently, banks pay over 50% of their income as taxes, including 30% as company tax, 18% as VAT and financial services tax, and 2.5% as social security contribution. Therefore, more than 50% of the banks’ earnings are already allocated to taxes and contribute to the government’s revenue. In comparison, superannuation funds have a lower tax rate of 14%.

Hence, the first point to note is that the banking system is already making a considerable contribution.

Secondly, the banking system has incurred losses due to non-payment of loans resulting from economic challenges and grace periods provided. In the past, grace periods with a value of 1.6 trillion were granted, indicating that the banking system has already contributed to the economy.

Protecting the banking system and ensuring the safety of depositors’ funds are crucial responsibilities. The banking system plays a vital role in the economy, as evidenced by the 57 million bank accounts holding deposits from a population of around 20 million. Any harm to these funds would have a severe impact on the banking system. As the Central Bank, our primary objective is to safeguard the banking system and the currency. Recently, there were rumours about bank collapses, and concerns were raised regarding the safety of deposits. Withdrawing deposits from banks would lead to an economic collapse.

Therefore, the foremost effort is to protect the funds of depositors in the 57 million accounts without harming the banking system, as it would have the greatest social impact. Consequently, the banks should not be further burdened.

Moving on to the superannuation funds, which include the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF), they are subject to a 14% tax rate, which is lower than the tax rate imposed on banks. The proposal suggests retrieving all existing treasury bonds from these funds and issuing new bonds in return. These bonds will earn 12% interest until 2025 and 9% interest thereafter. Importantly, the amount in the EPF will not decrease, as the government guarantees a future benefit of 9% interest. The government assures that if there is any deficit, the treasury will cover it.

Those who choose not to participate in the Treasury bond exchange have the option of paying a 30% tax instead of the standard 14% tax.

We aim to complete the bond exchange within a few weeks and finalize this process in July.

Courtesy Adaderana

One of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a leading global health body, according to two sources with knowledge of the process, pitting it against the food industry and regulators.

Aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars’ Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as possibly carcinogenic to humans” for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research arm, the sources said

The IARC ruling, finalised earlier this month after a meeting of the group’s external experts, is intended to assess whether something is a potential hazard or not, based on all the published evidence.

It does not take into account how much of a product a person can safely consume. This advice for individuals comes from a separate WHO expert committee on food additives, known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization’s Expert Committee on Food Additives), alongside determinations from national regulators.

However, similar IARC rulings in the past for different substances have raised concerns among consumers about their use, led to lawsuits, and pressured manufacturers to recreate recipes and swap to alternatives. That has led to criticism that the IARC’s assessments can be confusing to the public.

JECFA, the WHO committee on additives, is also reviewing aspartame use this year. Its meeting began at the end of June and it is due to announce its findings on the same day that the IARC makes public its decision – on July 14.

Since 1981, JECFA has said aspartame is safe to consume within accepted daily limits. For example, an adult weighing 60 kg (132 pounds) would have to drink between 12 and 36 cans of diet soda – depending on the amount of aspartame in the beverage – every day to be at risk. Its view has been widely shared by national regulators, including in the United States and Europe.

An IARC spokesperson said both the IARC and JECFA committees’ findings were confidential until July, but added they were complementary”, with IARC’s conclusion representing the first fundamental step to understand carcinogenicity”. The additives committee conducts risk assessment, which determines the probability of a specific type of harm (e.g., cancer) to occur under certain conditions and levels of exposure.”

However, industry and regulators fear that holding both processes at around the same time could be confusing, according to letters from U.S. and Japanese regulators seen by Reuters.

We kindly ask both bodies to coordinate their efforts in reviewing aspartame to avoid any confusion or concerns among the public,” Nozomi Tomita, an official from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, wrote in a letter dated March 27 to WHO’s deputy director general, Zsuzsanna Jakab.

The letter, reviewed by Reuters, also called for the conclusions of both bodies to be released on the same day, as is now happening. The Japanese mission in Geneva, where the WHO is based, did not respond to a request for comment.

DEBATE

The IARC’s rulings can have huge impact. In 2015, its committee concluded that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic”. Years later, even as other bodies like the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) contested this assessment, companies were still feeling the effects of the decision. Germany’s Bayer in 2021 lost its third appeal against U.S. court verdicts that awarded damages to customers blaming their cancers on use of its glyphosate-based weedkillers.

The IARC’s decisions have also faced criticism for sparking needless alarm over hard to avoid substances or situations. It has previously put working overnight and consuming red meat into its probably cancer-causing” class, and using mobile phones as possibly cancer-causing”, similar to aspartame.

IARC is not a food safety body and their review of aspartame is not scientifically comprehensive and is based heavily on widely discredited research,” Frances Hunt-Wood, the secretary general of the International Sweeteners Association (ISA), said.

The body, whose members include Mars Wrigley, a Coca-Cola unit and Cargill, said it had serious concerns with the IARC review, which may mislead consumers”.

Aspartame has been extensively studied for years. Last year, an observational study in France among 100,000 adults showed that people who consumed larger amounts of artificial sweeteners – including aspartame – had a slightly higher cancer risk.

It followed a study from the Ramazzini Institute in Italy in the early 2000s, which reported that some cancers in mice and rats were linked to aspartame.
However, the first study could not prove that aspartame caused the increased cancer risk, and questions have been raised about the methodology of the second study, including by EFSA, which assessed it.

Aspartame is authorised for use globally by regulators who have reviewed all the available evidence, and major food and beverage makers have for decades defended their use of the ingredient. The IARC said it had assessed 1,300 studies in its June review.

Recent recipe tweaks by soft drinks giant Pepsico demonstrate the struggle the industry has when it comes to balancing taste preferences with health concerns. Pepsico removed aspartame from sodas in 2015, bringing it back a year later, only to remove it again in 2020.

Listing aspartame as a possible carcinogen is intended to motivate more research, said the sources close to the IARC, which will help agencies, consumers and manufacturers draw firmer conclusions.

But it will also likely ignite debate once again over the IARC’s role, as well as the safety of sweeteners more generally.

Last month, the WHO published guidelines advising consumers not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control. The guidelines caused a furore in the food industry, which argues they can be helpful for consumers wanting to reduce the amount of sugar in their diet.

Source – Reuters
-Agencies