The Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) has approved, subject to conditions, the Recovery of Loans by Banks (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Bill which was amended to facilitate legal provisions for the suspension of Parate Law until December 15 2024. Accordingly, the banks’ practice of acquiring properties of whose loans are yet to be paid off will be suspended until December 15 and the Recovery of Loans by Banks (Special Provisions) Act No. 4 of 1990 will be amended to facilitate the necessary legal provisions.

The approval was given when the Committee on Public Finance met in Parliament recently (Apr. 30) under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha De Silva.

Officials representing the Ministry of Finance said that they hope to provide temporary relief to the creditors. Accordingly, the committee questioned the officials what action will be taken in this regard after December 15. Thus, the officials present failed to give a clear answer in this regard and the committee recommended to provide a road map for the actions to be taken after December 15 to those subject to Parate Law.

Also, the committee recommended that all the parties who have done business with the banks subject to Parate Law should be given a fair opportunity to negotiate with the banks.

The committee also questioned the officials about the distribution of loans under the Parate Law. The chair of the committee inquired about the manner in which the micro, small scale and medium scale enterprises in particular have received loans under this law and the criteria under which they are classified. The officials did not have the correct data about this and the chair of the committee instructed the officials to provide that data to the committee.

The committee also inquired the percentage of the sectors that were most affected. Furthermore, the committee asked the officials to provide data on the implementation of the Parate Law in other periods compared to the specific period in which there was an economic recession due to the impact of the corona virus in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The officials present mentioned that the data on this matter this will be presented to the committee in the future.

Meanwhile, the committee has also given its approval for the orders under the Foreign Exchange Act No. 12 of 2017 and the regulations under the Sri Lanka Securities and Exchange Commission Act No. 19 of 2021. Also, the committee approved the regulations under the Import and Export (Control) Act No. 1 of 1969.

State Minister. (Dr.) Suren Raghavan, Members of Parliament Hon. Premnath C. Dolawatta and Hon. Madhura Withanage participated in this committee.

Officials representing several government institutions including the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policy, the Auditor General’s Department, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka Customs were present.

The death toll in a highway collapse in southern China has risen to 36, as emergency teams continue efforts to recover cars from the scene.

“As of 5:30am on May 2,  36 people have died, and 30 people have been injured,” state news agency Xinhua reported, adding that the injured were not in life-threatening condition.

The road collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday morning as China began its major May holidays, traditionally one of the busiest times of the year on the roads.

Aerial photographs showed the left carriageway of the S12 highway between Meizhou city and Dabu county had fallen away as the earth beneath it collapsed, sending mud tearing down the forested hillside.

State broadcaster CCTV said the incident was a “natural geological disaster that occurred under the impact of persistent heavy rain”.

A 17.9-metre (58.7-foot) stretch of the road collapsed, it said, with 23 vehicles plunging into the muddy pit.

Rescuers used cranes to pull the cars from the mud (Aljazeera/ Xinhua)

Several people who witnessed the incident told local media they heard “sounds of cars falling” followed by “a huge explosion”.

“We stopped and got out of the car to check and had no idea the road had collapsed,” one told the Guizhou Evening News.

The highway was closed in both directions and some 500 emergency personnel including firefighters and mine rescue experts deployed to the site to help with the rescue operation. Photos from the scene show damaged cars being pulled from the mud by a giant crane, with excavators on standby.

The incident is the latest in a series of disasters linked to extreme weather events in Guangdong in recent weeks.

Massive downpours last month sparked floods in a different part of the province that killed four people and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 residents.

Last week, a tornado tore through part of the megacity of Guangzhou killing five people.

The downpours have been much heavier than would normally be expected this time of year and have been linked to accelerating climate change.

(Aljazeera)