Latest news with #RanilWickremesinghe
Kuwait Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Sri Lanka raises electricity price in line with IMF bailout
COLOMBO: A train arrives at a station in Colombo.- AFP COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced a 15 percent increase in the electricity price to shore up revenues for the state-run utility, in line with conditions imposed by an IMF bailout. The Public Utilities Commission said it allowed the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to charge the higher rates from Thursday, six months after a controversial reduction that pushed the utility into the red. The government had forced a 20 percent price cut on the CEB in January, despite fears that it would cause the government-owned company to lose money and undermine the national budget. Ensuring cost-recovery and doing away with subsidies is in line with the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund, which granted a four-year, $2.9 billion loan to help salvage Sri Lanka's economy. The country had declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022, having run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, such as food, fuel and medicines. Months of protests over shortages led to the toppling of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July 2022. His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, secured the IMF bailout and proceeded to cut subsidies and raise taxes. Wickremesinghe lost the September election, but his successor, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is pushing ahead with the IMF-backed reforms. Inflation, which peaked at nearly 70 percent in September 2022, has dropped sharply, and the country has been experiencing deflation since September. The IMF says Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from its worst meltdown and that the economy has turned around, although risks remain.- AFP
Qatar Tribune
12-06-2025
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
Sri Lanka raises electricity price
Agencies Cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced a 15 percent increase in the electricity price to shore up revenues for the state-run utility, in line with conditions imposed by an IMF bailout. The Public Utilities Commission said it allowed the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to charge the higher rates from Thursday, six months after a controversial reduction that pushed the utility into the red. The government had forced a 20 percent price cut on the CEB in January, despite fears that it would cause the government-owned company to lose money and undermine the national budget. Ensuring cost-recovery and doing away with subsidies is in line with the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund, which granted a four-year, $2.9 billion loan to help salvage Sri Lanka's economy. The country had declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022, having run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, such as food, fuel and medicines. Months of protests over shortages led to the toppling of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July 2022. His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, secured the IMF bailout and proceeded to cut subsidies and raise taxes. Wickremesinghe lost the September election, but his successor, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is pushing ahead with the IMF-backed reforms. Inflation, which peaked at nearly 70 percent in September 2022, has dropped sharply, and the country has been experiencing deflation since September. The IMF says Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from its worst meltdown and that the economy has turned around, although risks remain.
The Sun
11-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Sri Lanka raises electricity price in line with IMF bailout
COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced a 15 percent increase in the electricity price to shore up revenues for the state-run utility, in line with conditions imposed by an IMF bailout. The Public Utilities Commission said it allowed the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to charge the higher rates from Thursday, six months after a controversial reduction that pushed the utility into the red. The government had forced a 20 percent price cut on the CEB in January, despite fears that it would cause the government-owned company to lose money and undermine the national budget. Ensuring cost-recovery and doing away with subsidies is in line with the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund, which granted a four-year, $2.9 billion loan to help salvage Sri Lanka's economy. The country had declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022, having run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, such as food, fuel and medicines. Months of protests over shortages led to the toppling of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July 2022. His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, secured the IMF bailout and proceeded to cut subsidies and raise taxes. Wickremesinghe lost the September election, but his successor, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is pushing ahead with the IMF-backed reforms. Inflation, which peaked at nearly 70 percent in September 2022, has dropped sharply, and the country has been experiencing deflation since September. The IMF says Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from its worst meltdown and that the economy has turned around, although risks remain.
The Print
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Print
Government, opposition trade barbs over luxury vehicle auction in Sri Lanka
The second phase of the auction to sell luxury and decommissioned vehicles owned by the presidential secretariat concluded on Thursday during which 17 of the 26 listed vehicles were sold. The vehicles put on the auction list included one BMW car, two Ford Everest SUVs, two Land Rover SUVs, one Mitsubishi Montero and one Porsche Cayenne. Colombo, May 17 (PTI) A public auction of luxury vehicles from the fleet of former presidents has caused a stir with the Sri Lankan government and the opposition trading barbs over actual costing and amount recovered. As soon as the National People's Power (NPP) government was elected in November last year, it came out with a list of expensive high-end vehicles used by the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe's advisors, personal staff and some former ministers. The government said the vehicles would be auctioned as a means to cut down extravagance and save tax monies. A statement from the President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's office said Rs 200 million was recovered at the auction. However, the opposition claimed the sale prices at the auction had been well below the current market prices. On Saturday, opposition legislator Dayasiri Jayasekera said: 'This was not a public auction but a calling of tenders underhand.' 'This is a big loss to the state. We are hoping to lodge a complaint against this at the bribery and corruption commission,' Jayasekera added. Dissanayake's office statement said the vehicles were duly sold to bidders who had offered rates well above the government valuations of them. Nine of the vehicles sold had received bids below the government valuation, the release said. The government slammed the disinformation campaign carried out by the opposition and their agents to what it termed as 'discrediting the government' over the auction. The first phase of the such auction was carried out on February 28. As many as 14 luxury vehicles, six decommissioned vehicles, local media had reported then. Following the government announcement in November last year, the Cabinet of Ministers had on December 3 decided to study the government vehicle fleet and dispose of super luxury vehicles that incur high maintenance and fuel costs. PTI CORR NPK NPK This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Hindu
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Sri Lanka protests ‘genocide monument' in Canada ahead of civil war anniversary
Sri Lanka has conveyed its 'strong objections' to the opening of a 'Tamil genocide monument' in Brampton in Ontario, Canada, saying such actions 'complicate and undermine' the government's efforts towards reconciliation and national unity. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath on Wednesday summoned the Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo and conveyed the government's position on the 'unfounded genocide allegations' and the construction of such a memorial in Canada, which is home to a sizeable population of Sri Lankan Tamils who fled the island nation's long civil war. The monument, unveiled on May 10, is dedicated to the memory of Tamils killed in the war. On May 18, 2025, Tamils in Sri Lanka and elsewhere will commemorate 16 years since the civil war's end, when tens of thousands of civilian lives were lost, including in areas declared 'no fire zones' by the Sri Lankan authorities. Families of survivors have resolutely demanded justice for the killing of civilians — 40,000 according to UN estimates — in the final battle of Mullivaikkal, in Sri Lanka's northern Mullaitivu district, and the enforced disappearance of thousands of people, including those who surrendered to the army. Successive governments in Colombo have denied it was a 'genocide', but are yet to convincingly probe the grave rights abuses committed allegedly by the military, whose members are hailed as 'war heroes' in the island's Sinhala-majority south. In 2023, President Ranil Wickremesinghe's government 'condemned and rejected outright' the remarks of then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, marking the civil war anniversary as 'Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day'. Responding to Minister Herath's post on X, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Jaffna MP and Leader of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), challenged the government, and asked: 'If you truly believe that the allegations of Genocide against the Tamils by the Sri Lankan State are unfounded, then why do you demonstrate such fear at facing an international independent criminal investigation and proving the State's innocence? Why not sign up to the Rome Statute and allow the ICC to investigate?' 'The fact is, Minister, the State fears the truth! Truth is the only way to reconciliation, and your government, like the previous ones, will keep denying it,' Mr. Ponnambalam said. Amid their enduring demands for accountability, the release of military-held lands of the people, and meaningful revival of a much-neglected local economy, Tamils of the north and east gave President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's National People's Power (NPP) a huge mandate in the November 2024 general elections, signalling hope that the left-leaning leader, who promised to change the country's political culture, would address their wide-ranging post-war concerns. While Mr. Dissanayake has initiated the release of some land and repeatedly stated that his government will never resort to racism, many in the Tamil community are waiting to see swift and concrete action on the pledges made to them during his campaign. Weighing in on the recently held local government elections, in which Tamil parties outdid the NPP in the north and east, Tamil commentators blamed the government's inadequate action for its electoral losses in the area. They also hope that Tamils are allowed to remember their loved ones without fear or military surveillance. According to Human rights activist Ruki Fernando, 'A good test will be to see whether the NPP is willing to mourn and grieve with Tamils on May 18, or will it triumphantly celebrate it as a military victory'. Observing that the term 'genocide' has a specific legal definition, he said it is a matter of debate if what happened to Tamils in the last phase of the war, and since independence — 'multiple massacres, riots, colonisation of lands' —falls within the legal definition of a 'genocide'. 'Regardless of legal definitions, many in Sri Lanka believe what happened was a genocide against Tamils. A responsible government should patiently and sensitively listen to and engage with Tamil citizens on such concerns,' he added.
