"YAHAPALANAYA" on Overdrive: Notice on several commercial bank heads to resign likely to be challenged

From Adaderana

A certain group is currently considering whether there are possibilities of taking legal action challenging the Finance Ministry ‘request’ for the heads of several private commercial banks to resign, www.adaderanabiz.lk learns from very reliable sources.

The Finance Ministry had recently informed several higher ups appointed to private commercial banks where the government is a stakeholder to resign from their respective posts.

Following this notification, Sunil Wijesinha resigned as Chairman of National Development Bank and Dr. Rani Jayamaha resigned as Chairperson of Hatton National Bank.

However, it is learned that the Finance Ministry has requested several other prominent private commercial bank heads to also resign.

A veteran in the banking sector who remained to be anonymous toldwww.adaderanabiz.lk that it was not ethical to attempt to control any private commercial bank while amalgamating the shares owned in the organization by various government institutions.

He pointed out that the Securities and Exchange Commission should first clarify whether or not the Finance Ministry has the authority to request the heads of these private commercial banks to resign before they retire.

Under such circumstances, a certain group is considering whether there are possibilities of taking legal action challenging the Finance Ministry ‘request’ for the heads of several private commercial banks to resign after the Ministry having amalgamated the shares in these banks owned by various government owned institutions.

Nearly 33 per cent of shares in the National Development Bank and nearly 28 per cent shares in the Hatton National Bank are owned by the government.

Ravi Karunanayake seems to be going berserk

Ravi Karunanayake seems to be going berserk. Could some body tell him that he is not running the Empire he inherited from Leslie Vandersay & Shelton Perera - Roton-Vander Shipping!!

Ravi seeks permission for another bond issue

From SL Mirror

Finance minister Ravi Karunanayake has sought cabinet approval for the sale of bonds worth 2,000 million US dollars through the Central Bank.

The government intention is to earn Rs. 270 billion through this.

The cabinet has not given approval, and told the minister to present it to parliament.

The Central Bank, however, is looking for buyers these days.

හිටපු ජනපතිගේ වියදම් හෙළි කිරීමට සුදානම්

මහින්ද රූබසිංහ

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මහජන මුදල් වියදම් කර ඇති ආකාරය ඉදිරියේදී කරුණු සහිතව සනාථ කරන බව මුදල් අමාත්‍ය රවි කරුණානායක මහතා පවසනවා.

මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා සඳහන් කරන්නේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙනුවෙන් රුපියල් කෝටි 10,000කට ආසන්න මුදලක් වෙන්කර නොතිබුණේ යැයි කිසිවෙකු පවසන්නේ නම් එය හාස්‍යයට කරුණක් බවයි. හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙනුවෙන් එවැනි මුදලක් අවශ්‍යව තිබුණේ ඇයි දැයි යන්න ගැටලූවක් බවද රවි කරුණානායක මහතා සඳහන් කරනවා.

මෛතී‍්‍රපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත් වීමෙන් අනතුරුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙනුවෙන් වෙන් කෙරෙන මුදල රුපියල් කෝටි 250 දක්වා අඩු කිරීමට උපදෙස් ලැබුණු බවද අමාත්‍යවරයා සඳහන් කර තිබෙනවා. 

ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ එක්සත් ආරබි එමීර් රාජ්‍ය තානාපතිවරයා අද හමුවීමෙන් පසු රවි කරුණානායක මහතා මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ මෙම කරුණු දැක් වූ බවයි මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශය නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනයක දැක්වෙන්නේ.

කෙසේ වෙතත් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය වෙනුවෙන් තම රජය මගින් වෙන් කළේ රුපියල් කෝටි 375ක මුදලක් බව හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඉකුත්දා මාධ්‍යයට නිකුත් කළ ලිපියක දැක්වුණා.

Dinesh asks Ravi to apologise to country

From The Daily Mirror

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) leader Dinesh Gunawardane said yesterday Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake should apologise to the country for making a false statement about a bank account maintained by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Mr. Gunawardane told Parliament that the media had been manipulated under the new Government to spread falsehoods against the leaders of the previous Government.

He said there was a sinister media campaign about a coup hatched at Temple Trees on the day after elections.

"It is total fiction. I know the Prime Minister is aware of what happened. Therefore, I am asking the Government not to load people with false news. It does not help the good governance that you proposed," Mr. Gunawardene said.

Referring to the news item about a floating armoury in the sea off Galle, he said it was part of maritime security arrangements to protect the transnational ships and other naval activities to prevent sea piracy.

"This security arrangement has been recognised by the United Nation. Yet, the Government twists news stories. They are playing with the media. I kindly request you to allow the media to engage in impartial and accurate reporting rather than loading them with falsehoods," he said.

Mr. Gunawardene said nobody could forget the fact that it was former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who defeated separatist terrorism in this country.

"We all know Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa played a pivotal role in this effort. Today, there are accusations against him about running a bank account with a balance of eight billion rupees. This news has been vehemently denied even by the new Defence Secretary," he said.(Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera

Sri Lanka Looks to IMF for Help as Debt Burden Climbs

By Asantha Sirimanne and Anusha Ondaatjie From Bloomberg News

Sri Lanka’s two-week-old government plans to start discussions with the International Monetary Fund on reducing a debt burden that grew under the previous administration, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said.

Karunanayake, who will meet IMF officials today, said in an interview late yesterday that President Maithripala Sirisena wanted to reduce interest costs on the island nation’s 7.2 trillion rupees ($55 billion) in total debt. He ended Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 10-year rule in a Jan. 8 election.

“We are initiating discussions on a new program,” Karunanayake, 51, said in his Colombo office yesterday. He declined to give further details, only saying that “we will not be dictated to by any of these multilateral agencies.”

Sirisena is seeking to clean up Sri Lanka’s finances and review the nation’s growing ties with China, which has provided funding for large infrastructure projects. He plans to maintain fiscal discipline and eliminate corruption while taxing the “super rich” to benefit the poor, Karunanayake said.

About 40 percent of government revenues go to repaying interest on borrowings, one of the highest among countries rated by Moody’s Investors Service. Sri Lanka’s debt burden of 78 percent of gross domestic product also remains higher than similarly rated peers such as Vietnam and Kenya, in which the median is 41 percent of GDP, the company said this month.

Sirisena is reviewing all investment projects to ensure that they are done at a cheaper cost, Karunanayake said. That includes several China-backed projects, he said, adding that Sirisena and others have been in touch with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the investments.

China Review

China became Sri Lanka’s largest investor, top government lender and second-biggest trading partner under Rajapaksa. Projects include a proposed $1.4 billion complex the size of Monaco on reclaimed land in Colombo port.

“What we are telling the Chinese is nobody is prevented from doing projects here,” Karunanayake said. “But basically we cannot be told to endorse projects where costs are inflated.”

Sri Lanka is seeking to expand trade ties with the European Union, Karunanayake said. The bloc denied the island nation preferential trade access in 2010 due to human rights abuses during a 26-year civil war.

The EU’s proportion of Sri Lanka’s total trade fell to 14 percent in 2013 from 23 percent a decade earlier, while China’s grew to 12 percent from 3 percent in that time, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

‘Real Situation’

Sri Lanka last turned to the IMF after the civil war ended in 2009 to bolster its international reserves. It received the final tranche of a $2.6 billion IMF loan in 2012.

The IMF projected that Sri Lanka’s $67 billion economy would grow 6.5 percent in 2015, compared with 7 percent the previous year. It had averaged more than 7 percent growth since 2009, one of the fastest rates in South Asia.

Karunanayake, a former Sri Lankan commerce minister, said the finance ministry was also “collating the real situation” on Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product and debt. He had previously served in the cabinet in 2001 under a government led by the United National Party, the largest in Sirisena’s disparate coalition.

Karunanayake is scheduled on Jan. 29 to announce an interim budget that’s in line with Sirisena’s campaign pledges. The president is expected to dissolve the current parliament in April and call for general elections.

Budget Deficit

Sirisena’s backers, including free-market capitalists, hard-line Buddhist parties and the island’s main Tamil and Muslim groupings, may prompt changes in fiscal and economic policies that could erode Sri Lanka’s credit standing, Standard & Poor’s said after the vote.

“The overall budget deficit will not be increased,” Karunanayake said. “We will not burden the people. We are reducing costs, eradicating corruption.”

He said the government hasn’t decided yet on whether to privatize more companies, a policy endorsed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during two previous stints in the role.

“We will have a transparent environment for foreign investors,” Karunanayake said. “We will maintain macro-economic fundamentals conducive for investors.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Asantha Sirimanne in Colombo at asirimanne@bloomberg.net; Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at anushao@bloomberg.net

Defence Secretary verifies Gotabaya’s claims

From Ada Derana

The newly appointed Secretary of Defence, B.M.U.D. Basnayake, today confirmed that the account held with the Bank of Ceylon’s Thapprobane Branch, containing nearly Rs 8 billion, is not under the name of his predecessor and that it belongs to the Ministry of Defence.

In a press conference yesterday (18), Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake had claimed that a sum of Rs. 7,500 million was found in a bank account under the name of the former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and that the money has been transferred to the Treasury.

However, Rajapaksa has rejected the allegations leveled against him as “grossly misleading” and an attempt to discredit his reputation with “ulterior motive.”

In a statement released to media earlier today, he stated that it is an Operational Account dedicated for the use of financing the construction of Army Headquarters building at Pelawatta.

Rajapaksa also said that the account was created with the approval of the Cabinet from the revenue from the sale of land at Galle Face, Colombo where the Army Headquarters was previously located.

New Defence Secretary Basnayake confirmed these claims while also refuting Karunanayake’s allegation that it was used by the former Defence Secretary as a personal account.

Sri Lanka finance minister likely to be Ravi Karunanayake

COLOMBO (EconomyNext) - Ravi Karunanayake, a senior United National Party official is likely to be appointed finance minister in Sri Lanka's Sirisena administration and H Samaratunga finance secretary, sources said.

Karunanayake has been a former trade minister.

Samaratunga is an experience senior career public servant.

Sri Lanka is to appoint a new cabinet next week, not exceeding 30 persons former fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

The subjects will be decided on a scientific basis, he said.