News
‘Entrusting govt. with task of managing economy is like handing over a smartphone to a cobbler for repairs’
by Saman Indrajith
The SJB says the government is unable to steer the country in the right direction, even on the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it is incapable of managing the economy. Entrusting it with economic management is like handing over a smart phone to a cobbler for repairs.
Addressing the media at the Opposition leader’s office in Colombo on Sunday (27) SJB MP and former State Minister of Finance, Eran Wickremeratne, said that the time had come for another group of internationally recognised competent people to take control of the country’s economy as the international community has no confidence in the country’s rulers and that the country should be handed over to those who can handle the economic and financial management, professionally.
Wickremaratne said that people would not be able to recover from this crisis as long as those who mismanaged the economy and made wrong decisions were still in positions of power. “Especially the cronies of the government who had made it worse, and the government is still keeping them in the same places even though they have done great harm to the country and the people.”
MP Wickremeratne said that many government MPs had no understanding of the economy. “They are trying to justify the government’s incompetence by claiming that there was a decline in the GDP during the previous government. The economic development of a country cannot be measured by a single factor such as the GDP growth. The economic development of a country and its benefits can be accurately measured by the progress in a number of sectors such as foreign reserves, exchange control, assets and liabilities, fiscal deficit, government revenue etc., MP Wickremeratne said.
The report of the International Monetary Fund on Sri Lanka, which the government claimed it had not received, had now been published, Wickremeratne said. “The 95-page report reveals several matters that repeatedly pointed out by the SJB for more than a year in Parliament and elsewhere.”
The report clearly states that the root cause of the current crisis in Sri Lanka is the decrease i government revenue due to tax cuts. “The IMF says there is no scientific basis for such a tax cut, which reduced the country’s income by Rs. 600 billion being one-third of the total state revenue,” MP Wicremeratne said.
The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) on Friday said the largest groundwater source discovered in Sri Lanka so far had been identified during tube-well drilling near the Pitabeddara Police Station.
Indrajith Gamage, geologist in charge of the Southern Province, said the source recorded a continuous flow of about 10,000 litres (10 cubic metres) per minute, marking the first instance in the country where a groundwater source of that magnitude had been found.
He noted that the previous largest groundwater source was discovered in the Madhu area, which recorded a flow of about 7,000 litres per minute.
According to the NWSDB, the tube well was drilled following geological studies of rock layers and the identification of underground water through fractures in rock strata using specialised technical instruments.
The Board said steps would be taken to distribute water from the newly discovered source to residents facing shortages in Pitabeddara, Morawaka and surrounding areas.
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has formally handed over its historical records to the National Archives Department, entrusting over a century of the nation’s commercial history to the country’s official custodians of heritage.
The archive, spanning from the CCC’s founding in 1839 to 1973, includes correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, ledgers, and publications that chronicle the development of trade, enterprise, and industry in Sri Lanka. Together, the records provide a rare and detailed account of the island’s economic evolution and the role of its business community in shaping national progress.
The Ministry of Defence said on Friday (13) that arrangements had been made to repatriate to Iran the bodies of 84 sailors who died aboard the IRIS Dena, which sank in the southern seas off Sri Lanka.
A special aircraft carrying the bodies departed from Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport on Friday, the Ministry said, adding that the repatriation was carried out in coordination with the Embassy of Iran in Sri Lanka.
The remains had been kept in two mobile cold-storage units at the Galle National Hospital before being transported to Mattala by lorry following a court order. Forty-five bodies were moved in the morning, while the remaining 39 were transported later in the day.
Earlier this month, the Iranian naval vessel suffered an incident about 40 nautical miles off Port of Galle while carrying around 180 personnel. Thirty-five rescued sailors were admitted to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, while 84 bodies were subsequently recovered.
Following the incident, Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Iranian vessel had been sunk in international waters by a torpedo fired from a submarine of the United States Navy.
Showers will occur at several places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western and Uva provinces and in Galle, Matara, Mannar and Anuradhapura districts after 2.00 pm.
Lanka discovers largest groundwater source
Lanka’s commercial legacy preserved in National Archives
Bodies of 84 Iranian sailors flown home
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