News
Banks in crisis due to govt. hoodwinking country on local debt restructuring, says Udaya
The government had agreed to restructure domestic debt after it signed the staff level agreement with IMF representatives, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader, MP Udaya Gammanpila, said on Thursday, addressing the media in Colombo.
“When the government entered into discussions with the IMF, it insisted that it wouldn’t restructure domestic debt. We were told that the staff-level agreement, signed in September 2022, had no reference to domestic debt restructuring. But now the government insists that restructuring domestic debt is a precondition to restructure foreign debt. We were not shown the staff-level agreement, even though the government insisted that all documents with the IMF had been presented to Parliament. Why is this document still a secret? According to our sources, the government has agreed to restructure domestic debt, after it signed the staff-level agreement,” he said.
Gammanpila said that the document, the government presented to Parliament, was not the staff-level agreement. However, even that had vague references to restructuring domestic debt.
“Page 17 of the document given to us has this phrase: ‘The authorities and their financial advisors are weighing different options and their associated legal procedures to optimise the design of a Local Law Local Currency debt treatment while preserving financial stability.’ Instead of the word ‘restructure’, they use the word ‘optimise.’ Whom are they trying to fool? Now, all the bankers are freaking out because they don’t know how the government will go about restructuring domestic debt. They have not been consulted or their concerns noted,” he said.
The PHU leader said that local commercial banks had given large loans to the government. From 2019, the banking sector has been facing continuous crises, he said.
“A number of moratoriums were given. Due to the economic crisis, there are a lot of non-performing loans, too. According to the IMF, the loans given by commercial banks to the government is about 40 percent of total banking assets. Everything hangs in the balance. It would be ideal if the government could avoid restructuring domestic debt. But if it must, it must only be done following a serious discussion with all stakeholders,’ he said. (RK)
An Australian woman has given birth to rare, naturally-conceived identical quadruplets after a pregnancy described as “extremely high risk” by the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The four girls, who were delivered via caesarean section at 28 weeks and four days on 14 July, were monozygotic quadruplets – where a single fertilised egg splits into four embryos.
The hospital said the girls’ mother, 34-year-old Jenitar Na’amoana, and her husband Jortham, already had four children and were taken by “immense surprise” when told to expect quadruplets.
Dr Alexa Bendall, who cared for the mother from the start of her pregnancy, estimated identical quadruplets occur “at one in every 15 million pregnancies” and said “but to share the same placenta – this is unheard of”.
Bendall, who is a maternal foetal medicine specialist and obstetrician, said such a pregnancy was very high-risk, with the hospital admitting Na’amoana as an inpatient at 25 weeks so she could be monitored.
“We always said that if we could get her to 28 weeks, we would be doing well,” Bendall said.
“So the fact that we’ve got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible and we’re very happy to be a part of it,” she added.
“Jenitar has taken everything in her stride from day one… she has somehow dodged every complication and risk for both herself and her babies,” Bendall said.
The newborn girls have been named Emily, Harriet, Catherine, and also Alexa, after Alexa Bendall, who described it as “a beautiful tribute”.
The babies will stay in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit until they grow to full term and are “currently doing extremely well”, Bendall added.
The parents’ other children are between one and 10 years old and the mother has recently launched an online fundraising campaign to help buy a van with at least 10 seats.
In a message alongside the fundraiser, which has already received over A$37,000 (£19,261) in donations, Na’amoana wrote: “Our four precious miracles have arrived safely, and while our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, the reality of caring for four newborns at once has brought challenges we never could have imagined.”
Naturally conceived quadruplets are extremely rare, with doctors estimating the odds at about one in 700,000 births.
(BBC)
… bribe giver departs Colombo port
The Merchant Shipping Secretariat (MSS) is investigating a complaint received from the Captain of an Indonesian flagged vessel Sensho that he had to pay an official USD 5,000 bribe to facilitate what our sources called port state control inspection.
Sources said that the cement carrier arrived at the Colombo Port, on Friday, and departed after having passed the rigorous inspection. Responding to queries, sources said that after paying the bribe, the vessel’s Captain has lodged complaints with MSS and the Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
In spite of the government’s high profile anti-corruption drive there seemed to be fresh cases, sources said, adding that MSS had received a comprehensive complaint. The vessel had departed Colombo for Jeddah, sources said.
“The issue at hand is whether there have been unreported cases of MSS personnel receiving bribes,” sources said, acknowledging that the Captain, instead of immediately bringing the demand for USD 5,000 bribe to the MSS, had paid it and departed Colombo. (SF)
An opposition political group, styled as Dinana Dakuna, has accused the Committee of Public Finance (COPF) of protecting the masterminds behind the USD 2.5 mn theft from the Treasury.
Commenting on the recent COPF report on the theft, the group has alleged that the all-party parliamentary grouping made an attempt to shift the blame to the Central Bank as part of a cover-up. It has described the COPF report as a deliberate attempt to suppress the truth.
The group said that the COPF conveniently asserted that the theft took place due to the inexperience of officers concerned, thereby diverting the attention from those who perpetrated it.
An alleged attempt to portray the collapse of the administrative set-up that led to the USD 2.5 mn theft as a human resource problem, has also been questioned by Dinana Dakuna.
Rare identical quadruplets born in Australia
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts
Merchant Shipping Secretariat probes bribery scandal
Theft of USD 2.5 mn: Dinana Dakuna claims COPF trying to protect mastermind
COPF chief slams security sticker scam
CAA urged to protect soap users
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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