{"id":147137,"date":"2025-01-05T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T00:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=147137"},"modified":"2025-01-05T17:22:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T00:22:01","slug":"insider-trading-by-central-bank-officials-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/01\/05\/insider-trading-by-central-bank-officials-exposed\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider Trading by Central Bank Officials\u00a0Exposed"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e-Con e-News 29 December \u2013 04 January 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called newly \u2018independent\u2019<\/em> Central Bank\u2019s <\/strong>exclusive<\/em> Employees Provident Fund (EPF)<\/strong> is \u2018a blatant act of self-serving privilege\u2019: so says the United Federation of Labour <\/strong>(UFL<\/strong>).This \u2018exclusive\u2019 EPF \u2013 sanctioned by the Monetary Law Act<\/strong> \u2013 is \u2018a breeding ground\u2019 for (you guessed it!) \u2018corruption\u2019. For \u2018unlike other institutions, the Central Bank possesses \u2018privileged access to confidential economic data & policy decisions<\/strong> before they are made public<\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 so declares the UFL (a gathering of 9 trade unions). Meanwhile, \u2018informal sector workers\u2019 <\/strong>are \u2018gravely\u2019and unjustly excluded<\/strong> from \u2018essential social safety nets like the EPF & ETF\u2019. And then there are also other more lowly EPFs\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Central Bank has the highest number of registered PhDs per square foot in the country! And. It is no wonder. These PhDs are led by an eminence who the \u2018LMD<\/em>, a leading business magazine in the country, has named \u2018Sri Lankan of the Year for 2024\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     So say hello and goodbye then to CB Governor Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe, for we are now rushing headlong through Gregorian 2025. LMD<\/em> we can assure you is or was Lanka Monthly Digest, <\/em>though the M could more appropriately stand for Merchant <\/em>or Moneylender <\/em>or iMporter or Marketing Digest <\/em>or all 4 Ms if you are generous\u2013 as they also do these fake surveys and polls with Ceylon Tobacco\u2019s Co <\/strong>(BAT<\/strong>)\u2019s money, number and word spinner PepperCube<\/strong>. We usually encounter this glossed-out magazine, largely untouched like a heavily made-up virgin, at private dentists\u2019 or chiropractors\u2019 offices \u2013 midst a lot of pain. So these are the forces \u2013 a rentier carnival of non-smoking environmentally and health conscious virtue-signalling shills and clowns really \u2013 who celebrate now and shall later sacrifice the governor. As the economy is set to tank again. They call it dynamic disruption. Effervescence, even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     And worse: the IMF<\/strong> was allowed to make, or enabled \u2013 <\/strong>under the governor\u2019s imprimatur, with the <\/strong>former Government\u2019s acquiescence<\/strong> \u2013 a \u2018predatory raid\u2019<\/strong> on the (not-just-the-CBSL\u2019s) EPF, \u2018disguised as domestic debt restructuring\u2019<\/em><\/strong>. The UFL makes more startling allegations midst presenting 24 proposals for a more just and equitable economy via the 2025 Budget. The ULF statement in English seems to have been only carried \u2018mass-media-wise\u2019\u2019 by the Wijeya Group\u2019s Financial Times<\/em> (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, For a Working People\u2019s Budget in 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The ULF, perhaps unfortunately too-inconvenient or too-obvious to larger media \u2013 point to the \u2018Government\u2019s insatiable appetite for tax breaks for large corporations<\/strong> \u2013 a staggering Rs 978 billion<\/strong> in 2022 (4.1% of GDP) according to the Ministry of Finance & the IMF\u2019. \u2018Instead of squeezing the poor with regressive taxes on essential food in the guise of protecting local farmers\u2019, they \u2013 noting \u2018nearly 30% of paddy cultivation costs [are] tied to machine rent<\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 call for investment \u2018in a rental<\/em> program to drastically lower these exorbitant fees benefiting a machine-owning upper middle class<\/strong> in the rural economy\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     But what about making<\/em> these agricultural machines?<\/strong> \u2018Renters\u2019 of rural machinery like \u2018celebrated\u2019 NGO Sarvodaya and finance companies like LOLC, etc, \u2013 importers of multinational products \u2013 have minted billions. Yet the UFL proposals fail to even broach such a crying necessity for investment in modern industrial production, even as medium-to-long-term goals. Perhaps the UFL is merely making \u2018annual budget\u2019 proposals for \u2018trade unions.\u2019 But as Shiran Illanperuma highlights (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, NPP Needs to Get Serious about Industrialization to Avoid Another Crisis):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uplifting our large rural population requires industrialization<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong focus on value-added manufacturing has been the<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

only way for countries to sustain rapid growth levels, develop<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

indigenous technology, & uplift the living standards of the majority of people.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also pinpoints: With a population of 22 million \u2013 comparable to Syria, Burkina Faso, or Chile<\/em> \u2013 Sri Lanka is hardly a \u2018small country\u2019. <\/em>And he could of course have added that industrial & agricultural powerhouses like Holland & Spain, etc., have even smaller populations than Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 18 December, new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake pledged that under the leadership of his party, \u2018we will never allow a situation like 2022-23 to reoccur in our country\u2019. But as Illanperuma points out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If AKD & the NPP intend to keep this promise, they will have to get a lot more serious<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

about industrializing an <\/em>economy dependent on services & remittances<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, as the new government is finding out \u2013 much to the pique of a merchant-run media who are protesting political \u2018interference\u2019 in the sacred bureaucracy \u2013 an entrenched \u2018mafia\u2019, with their powerful sponsors, still rule the roost and run circles around them! (Who still run the ports? If not the multinationals like Unilever, etc?) A merchant media gives much more prominence to the safety of monkeys, elephants & leopards than they do to the occupational health, let alone upskilling, of farmers & workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     While there is much talk about \u2018transparency\u2019 and demands for declarations of politicians\u2019 private assets and funders, similar demands could be made from bureaucrats & media personnel (owners, editors & columnists): to declare their \u2018sponsors\u2019? As we often note, the media is packed with corporate & embassy & NGO press releases parading as \u2018news\u2019, no doubt given repetitive publicity with much \u2018greasing\u2019 of palms and other organs. And then there is the revolving door between public & private offices (this week, media reported how US Supreme Court judges & their children openly take bribes! see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>, Scalia), ee<\/em><\/strong> has noted before, how formerly sacred Chief Justices of Sri Lanka\u2019s Supreme Court have joined the worldly boards of banks like the Commercial Bank of Ceylon, etc. So see how they run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u2018Vallibel One\u2019s Dhammika Perera has appointed 4 new directors: Perera is supposed to be interested in the further privatization of Sri Lankan Airlines or the air space. One of the new directors is Anura Fernando<\/strong>, another Accountant, who cites breast-slapping Nestle Beverages<\/strong> and US aerial warmaker Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion<\/strong> among his credentials. Next comes another immaculate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JKH Board & University of Kelaniya & Monetary Policy Board<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the Central Bank\u2019s Manil Jayesinghe, who is also a member of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

several Chartered Institutes \u2013 of Public Finance & Accountancy etc., \u2013 has served<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernst & Young<\/strong>, SL & Maldives\u2026 As a resource person for Central Bank<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training Centre<\/strong>, he has conducted many training sessions on Accounting,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Financial Reporting Standards & Basel, and was the lead engagement<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

partner on Audits subcontracted to EY by the <\/em>Auditor General<\/em><\/strong> of SL<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jayesinghe is an \u2018Independent\u2019 Director of Diesel & Motor Engineering (DIMO),<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceylon Hospitals, CW Mackie, Lanka Milk Foods (CWE), JKH\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelaniya University Professor Ajantha Samarakoon, new Chairman at<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People\u2019s Leasing & Finance PLC<\/strong> has been the Chief Examiner for the GCE A\/L examination<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 since 2006 & is a member of Curriculum Development Comm<\/strong>ittees in government &<\/p>\n\n\n\n

private universities\u2026 coordinator of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program<\/p>\n\n\n\n

& Quality Control Reviewer for the University Grants Commission<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(see ee Finance<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you know why we cannot read or count. Or are functionally innumerate and illiterate. Indeed, as Illanperuma wonders in another essay in this ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> (Sri Lanka\u2019s New Government, Indo-Pacific Debt Trap, & Struggle for the 21st<\/sup> C), can the JVP, which has survived (but how?) 2 annihilations, and at much human sacrifice of successive generations, overcome the antics of these multinational agents who have leg-break-ed and bowled out many-a-previous popular government? The JVP apparently bravely and vociferously opposed many attempts to subjugate the country, like the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987<\/strong>, and the USA\u2019s MCC<\/strong>, SOFA<\/strong>, ACSA<\/strong> & other military encroachments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     A former foreign official, maybe wrongly seen as a diehard senior yankee doodle and anglomaniac, revealed this week that the 1978 Indo-Lanka Accord allows our beloved neighbor to take over the country\u2019s ports & habours at its will (see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)\u2026.So what about commodity prices?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 While there may be a new President & a slew of new faces in Parliament,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

officials in charge of the Treasury & Central Bank remain the same.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Illanperuma points out, \u2018in contrast to his fiery pre-election speeches, which lashed out at the corruption of establishment politicians\u2019, AKD has had to strike \u2018a measured tone\u2019, acknowledging \u2018the significant challenges that his government inherits, declaring \u2018I am not a magician<\/strong>. I am simply an ordinary citizen.\u2019 He notes, \u2018The risk of lapsing into neoliberal immobility<\/strong> remains ever present\u2019. Or perhaps, they, like the Russian Communist Party of Comrade Lenin in 1921, or Comrade Stalin in 1939, are simply mixing messages, buying time to gird their forces, learning about and gauging the enemy, before launching the final battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Contrary to the massive US & English propaganda in the media that China dominates Sri Lanka\u2019s economy \u2013 the supposedly nationalist Derana<\/em> and Island<\/em>\u2019s \u2018Foreign News\u2019 \u2018Category\u2019 is almost totally & unashamedly dominated by Unilever\u2019s English state media outlet BBC<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 the ULF unequivocally declares, \u2018The NPP inherits a state that is deeply in debt to Western finance capital<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Meanwhile, the UFL\u2019s proposes: the immediate<\/strong> nationalization <\/strong>of \u2018all<\/strong> large-scale paddy mills<\/strong>\u2019, which are profiting off the country. They then point to the Sri Lankan tea market<\/strong> being \u2018exploited by an oligopoly of estates, franchised export companies, tea brokers and the few conglomerates who own the entire apparatus. These oligarchs \u2018suppress prices by an average of 50% below the actual export price\u2019. They add, \u2018after packaging, the same kilo of tea fetches exorbitant prices in the domestic market, often exceeding Rs3,000. This reveals the enormous profits raked in by tea traders, profits that are not reinvested in the sector or shared with the impoverished workers.\u2019 By controlling the auction process, these interconnected conglomerates \u2013 encompassing regional plantation companies, franchised export firms, & tea brokers \u2013 have effectively suppressed wages.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The UFL does not state, how to appropriate, and where and in whom and what exactly the profits should be invested inside the country. Meanwhile, the national sweat and other liquids flow into the sea (or more precisely, the ports) uselessly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u2018Sri Lanka holds the distinction of paying the highest percentage of government revenue as domestic interest<\/strong> in the world \u2013 a staggering 80%<\/strong> in 2023, according to World Bank data.\u2019 This tax burden has \u2018plunged a quarter of our population into poverty, is squandered on enriching a counterproductive financial elite\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, as Nalliah Thayabaran details (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, As a US Vassal, Japan Can\u2019t Challenge China as a Superpower)<\/strong>,such financial forces in the US & EU combined <\/strong>to bring down the mightier Japanese economy<\/strong>. Japan \u2018was the biggest economic miracle in the 20th<\/sup> century after the USA\u2019 and this occurred after these forces signed what became known as the Plaza Accord<\/strong> \u2013 signed at \u2018a pivotal moment that led many to believe Japan was going to surpass the USA\u2019. These financial forces \u2018played a very significant role in Japan\u2019s slowdown\u2019 after \u2018Japan had established itself as a global manufacturing powerhouse, dominating industries such as automobiles, electronics, and machinery, conquering a huge portion of the semiconductor industry. So can the US & EU do what they accomplished against Japan, to China? Thayabaran believes not \u2013 though he does not provide much detail\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, however, believe the greatest economic miracles of the 20th<\/sup> century, despite the inevitable steps back, have been the industrialization of the USSR and the People\u2019s Republic of China. Russia\u2019s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed out this week (ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>) the US & English recipes \u2018to create wars and other forms of chaos to keep Russia and China from developing their potential\u2019 have their origins at \u2018the beginning of the 20th <\/sup>Century based on Alfred Thayer Mahan\u2019s theory of maritime power<\/strong>\u2019 which \u2018was married to Halford Mackinder\u2019s Heartland\/Rimland Geopolitical theory<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Sri Lanka, at the centre of the Lakdiva Sea (now known as the Indian Ocean), and at the base, holding up all of Asia, is indeed central to this planned chaos\u2026. Channelling and harnessing and expelling this chaos as another energy resource to serve the country may be a better plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

____________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/eesrilanka.wordpress.com\/2025\/01\/05\/insider-trading-by-central-bank-officials-exposed\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com \u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!\u2019 e-Con e-News 29 December \u2013 04 January 2025 The so-called newly \u2018independent\u2019 Central Bank\u2019s exclusive Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is \u2018a blatant act of self-serving privilege\u2019: so says the United Federation of Labour (UFL).This \u2018exclusive\u2019 EPF \u2013 sanctioned by the Monetary Law Act \u2013 is \u2018a breeding ground\u2019 for (you guessed it!) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}