Har tonight on first at 9 this Wednesday the 27th of December 2023 Sri Lanka first let’s collaborate for a prosperous and United Sri Lanka says the president special statement to be made on reconciliation in March high level visit Japanese Finance Minister sunsui Suzuki to visit Sri
Lanka next month talks to be held with the president on restructuring Sri Lankan debt curbing the spread surveillance strengthened across the island taking the spread of the J n.1 covid variant and the influenza into account reveals the health Ministry promising Outlook Financial experts says economic prospects for 2024
Are promising however points out risks with elections due next year there’s also the danger of politics and that we may exit an IMF program this is first at 9 live from Studio 24 in Columbo good evening and welcome to ad first at 9 I’m m sing joining you live
With the latest in Sri Lanka and around the world now in your top story tonight president vikr Singh emphasized his commitment to safeguarding the rights of all citizens and expressed a desire to swiftly resolve lingering issues related to reconciliation addressing the Centenary celebration of the the gutala
Muslim Central College the head of state revealed plans to make a special statement pertaining to the matters of reconciliation in February or March next year following his meetings with political and religious leaders speaking further president Vikram MinGa once again extended an invitation to all political parties calling them to join
Hands in achieving a solution to the matters of reconciliation and building the country setting aside party affiliations the Centenary celebration of the badulla gutala Muslim Central College was held this morning under the patronage of president S for for now meanwhile the Japanese Finance ministeri Suzuki will be visiting Sri Lanka next month for a two-day official visit during his visit aimed at strengthening bilateral ties the Japanese finance minister is expected to meet president ranal Vikram singha to also discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring efforts his visit comes
After the official creditor committee including Japan agreed to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt a month ago in a bit to strengthen the bilateral ties between Japan and Sri Lanka Japanese Finance Minister suuchi Suzuki will be arriving in Sri Lanka for a two-day visit on the 11th of January during his visit the
Japanese finance minister is expected to meet president and Minister Finance R wking to discuss matters pertaining to Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process further he’s also expected to meet key government officials including prime minister Danesh gardana last month the official creditor committee which includes Japan India France and Hungary
Agreed to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt the Assurance granted was instrumental for the island nation to complete the first review under the extended fund facility program and unlock its second TR worth nearly $337 million the successful conclusion of the debt restructuring process will help Sri Lanka gain access to funding by Japan’s
International cooperation agency o jaica enabling the completion of crucial development projects in the country such as the construction of the second terminal at the bandar NAA International Airport prior to his visit to Sri Lanka the Japanese Finance Minister will be visiting Cambodia on the 9th of January now another news secretary to
The Ministry of Health Dr pal mahip Pala says that surveillance against the spread of respiratory Ines have been strengthened islandwide following the World Health organization’s advis the spread of the j.1 variant of the covid-19 virus Dr mahipal further says the medical research institute currently has an increased number of samples being
Tested to detect covid-19 and the influenza in Sri Lanka meanwhile commenting on the increase of meil patients in the country Dr mahipa said a special program to vaccinate children between the ages of 9 months to 15 months will commence from January 2024 in a few handpick districts in the
Country even though the who declared that covid-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern in May it recently classified the j.1 variant of covid-19 as a variant of Interest as it spread rapidly around the world considering the limited available evidence the additional Public Health post by jn1 is currently valuated
As low at the global level however the who said all countries must continue to track the evolution of these viruses to tailor their response commenting on the current situation of Sri Lanka minister of Health Dr rames P and Health officials said all precautions have been taken and the country has strengthened
The health surveillance infrastructure to identify and mitigate respiratory illnesses fore for Foreign For meanwhile in order to confront the increased spread of measles in the country secretary to the Ministry of Health Dr pal mahipal further said a special vaccine program for children aged between 9 to 15 months will be implemented on the 6th of January next year in 9 districts where most meile
Cases were reported from foree Now 37 people were apprehended following a three-hour search operation as the Yuka special raid operations recomened today after it was temporarily halted for the holidays meanwhile in two separate incidents several suspects including a leading narcotics trafficker and a clu associate of another Infamous underworld figure were taken into
Custody by the police today the Yuka Special Operation executed to curb and control the island white distribution of narcotic substances which was temporarily halted due to Christmas and po commenced this morning in Pala and Pali area in V the police K9 unit also joined the rapid operation executed today come
Here the police revealed that drug addicts those who could not produce any form of identification and several other criminals were among the arrestes meanwhile 26 individuals were arrested along with narcotics during a raid operation carried out today the raid was conducted in Vala Colona and the Lux on
The 7A housing complex among them were one with an outstanding warrant against him and two other individuals who received one day warrants in the meantime 37 people were taken into police custody following a 3-hour search operation conducted in the P good area as such people possessing narcotics suspects evading arrest and several
Other wanted criminals who did not present any identification were apprehended by the police further the police Marine Division carried out special security patrols on the Kalia River in order to prevent the suspects from evading arrest following a tip off received by the warakapola police station several persons including a
Leading drug trafficker in the matak police domain Infamous under the Alias of kurur rushan was arrested by the police at a nearby hotel in the meantime a close associate of the notorious underworld figure hinana Mahesh was arrested during a raate conducted amidst the ongoing yukti operation at the bandar Nika International Airport
According to reports the suspect was plotting the murder of two local businessmen the officers of the katn police recovered five rounds of 9 mm live ammunition in the possession of the suspect at the time of arrest further a pistol and more rounds of live ammunition were recovered subsequent the
Interrogation carried out by the police and now taking your attention back to the recent islandwide power outage the salon electricity board denied the statements made by the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission that it had accepted responsibility for the major powerage on the 9th of December dismissing the statement as incorrect
The state-owned electricity supplier noted that investigations into the matter are still in progress its spokesperson engineer noyel prian said statements of in this regard can only be made following the conclusion of the investigation earlier today the pcl’s chairman Professor Mula Fernando citing the CB said the still on the state the
State owned electricity supplier rather had admitted that it was at fault for the most recent Island white power outage the CB said investigations into the incident are being carried out by two committees namely the internal investigation committee ched by an additional general manager of the CB and the external investigation committee
Appointed by the power and energy Ministry now in some political news State minister of provincial councils and local government janak kakum says that the government plans to offset the adverse economic impact caused by the tax hikes through economic relief to be granted early next year meanwhile several opposition and independent MPS
Made comments today on the upcoming presidential Election Fore fore For welcome back now with the government’s decision to hike the value added tax by 3% next year predictions are that inflation would rise to around 7% despite the rise in inflation chairman of advocat Institute murasa jaff claims that the overall outlook for 2024 is promising as the economy gains
Momentum however highlighting a key concern jafferi points out the risk of the country exiting the IMF program off the back of political changes next year for more on this let’s hear from mtasa Jai himself on our next segment understanding taxes in Sri Lanka the outlook for 2024 looks a lot promising
Than 2023 we are expecting in the early part of next year inflation to go up to to about 7% of which about 3% is coming from the one of increase in V8 which is not necessarily inflationary because it will be fiscally contractionary for the government they’re going to collect a
Lot more Revenue this year 2023 was supposed to be a primary balance deficit but we manage to have a primary balance Surplus which means that the government’s Revenue collection minus expenditure without interest rate was positive which allows it to only roll over the debt it doesn’t have to borrow
To fund primary EXP expenditure interest rates have been coming down and I’m expecting the prime lending rate to go below 12% there is room for further policy Cuts because the economy is contracted it’s operating about 15% below what it was the Sri Lankan rupe has continued to appreciate today the
Rate is 323 because the tourist dollars we are in the High season and also remittances have been coming in there’s an expectation that in January electricity prices be reduced there’s an expectation globally of a soft Landing which which has dampened oil prices which means that we can buy fuel at
Cheaper prices than we were buying last year there is a recovery in the economy economic activity has improved the biggest impacted sector has been construction it will take a little bit time and it probably never go back to where it was because it was highly heightened but all indications are that
Economic momentum is building up we also finalizing our private creditor external sector that work out and if that was to come through in the first quarter it is highly likely that Sri Lanka can regain a rating it is currently at selected default so all indications are that economic momentum and the macro
Stabilization has worked the concern is going to be growth expectations are taking a lot longer than anticipated because we have an election that is coming up and there doesn’t seem to be a clear winner in sight there’s a lot of posturing and conjecture going on there’s also a fear like previous years
That Sri Lankan elections are an ction of non-existing resources but we are now fiscally constrained because we have a new Central Bank law we are under IMF program the targets for next year also are very ambitious that Revenue has to go up significantly something like 30%
It’s highly likely it’ll have to come on the back of a recovering economy risk factors is that 2024 is a elino year we are starting the year on a high because we had this exceptionally good rain there’s also the danger of politics and that we may exit MF
Program now in other business news Sri Lankan shares were mostly unchanged today in lackluster trading as gains in John kill’s Holdings were offset by a drop in heavyweight expolanka Holdings the CSC all share index ended flat at 0.00% or 10,651 16 points after falling for two consecutive weeks while INRI Lanka 20
Edged high at 0.29% at 348.15 points Jon kill’s Holdings Rose 1.5% while expolanka Holdings fell 1.2% trading volume on the CSC all share index fell to 112. 7 million shares from 128.57 billion rupees from 4.72 billion rupees in the previous session Insurance sector was the top contributor to the
Market turnover today while the capital goods sector was the second highest contributor foreign investors were net sellers of fling stocks worth 44.5 million rupees while domestic investors were net buyers purchasing shares worth 1.02 billion rupees now let’s take a look at how the rupe exchange rates were during the day today Up next is Nan the Silva from Capital Alliance limited with some thoughts on the current status of the country’s economy on our next segment Sri Lanka’s economic Outlook Starting with the weekly average weighted prime lending rates experience a significant drop of 27 basis points settling at 12.19% in economic news the finance ministry is optimistic expecting gross official reserves to exceed $4 billion US doar by year end surpassing earlier projections thanks to substantial dispersements from the IMF
ADB and the World Bank totaling around $780 million us shifting years to government finances a treasury bill auction today successfully raised 77.5 billion rupees primarily through three and six months bills with rates decreasing by 6 and 8 basis points respectively additionally tomorrow’s Bond auction will see the issuance of
Treasury bonds worth 155 billion rupees on the tourism front Sri Lanka welcomed over 1.4 million tourist as of last week and there is still optimism about reaching the ambitious Target of 1.55 million arrivals by year end the resumption of charter flights and regular cruise liners played a crucial role in boosting arrivals particularly
In December in policy updates the cascading social security contribution Levy threshold was hared from 120 million rupees to 60 million rupees however Sri Lanka faces challenges in shipping being among the economies affected by higher shipping costs and delays due to vessels re roting around Africa followed Red Sea attack this
Introduces a new inflation risk to the economy finally in the Commodities Arena gold prices continue their surge reaching record highs at $275 per ounce as investors hedge against Global conflicts and anticipate rate cuts from the FED in 2024 meanwhile Brent crude prices stands at $8.38 per barrel Today now bringing to you the latest in the world of cooperate Affairs at the 25th National ICT Awards held recently trionics private limited has secured the NB qsa award for the ninth time for its innovative Tri exam platform in the education category meanwhile Bank of Sone announced the issue of 50 million
Debentures at par value of 100 rupees each to raise 5 billion rupees in capital now let’s take a look at some of the latest corporate updates in brief one of Sri Lanka’s most outstanding and reliable it service provider trionix private limited has secured its n9th mbqs award at the 25th National ICT
Awards recently for its innovative Trio exam platform in the education category the Journey of trial exam reflects a commitment to bridge the gap between traditional exams and modern education demands further the success of trial exam at MB qsa 2023 underscores its commitment to Quality Innovation and education meanwhile the bank of sonon
Announced an issue 50 million Bassel 3 complaint tier 2 listed rated unsecured subordinated redeemable debentures with nonviability written down features at 100 rupes each to raise sum of up to 5 billion rupees the bank further said that in the event of an no subscription
The bank has the option to issue up to a further 50 million debentures to increase the sum by up to a further 5 billion rupees in the meantime hmb Finance PLC announced the resignation of Dilan Rodrigo who served as a chairman and the non-independent non-executive director of the company effective from
The 22nd of December 2023 in its corporate disclosure the company stated that the resigned chairman of hmb PLC Bears 1 million voting shares of the company as at 22nd December this year further the resignation as such was made in terms of section eight of the Columbo Stock Exchange listing Rules now your sports news sports Minister Harin Fernando has issued a special gazed notification suspending the registration of the governing bodies for five sports in Sri Lanka accordingly the registrations of the governing bodies of the Sri Lanka Archery Association Sri Lanka cab Federation Sri Lanka Wrestling Federation Sri Lanka
Bridge Federation and Sri Lanka roller skating Association have been suspended through the new communicate dated the 22nd of December 2023 the sports Minister published the gazed notification by virtue of the powers vested in him under the section 33 and 32 of the sports law additionally Professor RI Admiral shamal Fernando the
Director general of Sports Development Department has been appointed as the competent Authority with effect from the 21st of December 2023 as a temporary measure to proceed with the administrative and other required activities of these Sports governing bodies and to call and conduct relevant elections and that’s it for tonight
Thank you for watching ad24 I’m ad sing have a great Night
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