News

IMF extends helping hand to SL, but warns of worse crisis unless …

Published

3 years ago

2022/09/2

By Sanath Nanayakkare

The Staff-Level Agreement on an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement worth USD 2.9 billion for Sri Lanka would serve as a credible device in its negotiations with multiple creditors for receiving financing assurances to make its debt restructuring process a success, but the country had to move expeditiously with all other good-faith moves to avoid the crisis becoming worse, Peter Breuer, Senior IMF Mission Chief for Sri Lanka said in Colombo, yesterday.

“The IMF staff-level agreement is a signal from the Sri Lankan authorities of their commitment to implement comprehensive economic reforms; a package now they have committed to the IMF, which will be monitored by the IMF going forward, once the programme is in place. So, this is a credible device for Sri Lanka to show to its creditors that Sri Lanka is serious about engaging in reforms and the country is preparing the ground for economic recovery and is promoting sustainable and inclusive growth,” he said.

” The country can, in fact, refer to the IMF’s EFF programme in its discussions with its creditors because it will show them that Sri Lanka is doing everything it needs to be doing to restore its payment capacity to the international community, through this programme,” he noted.

Breur observed that Sri Lanka was in a special situation because much of its official debt is outside of the Paris Club which is a well-established process that has evolved over many years, and has routines in terms of how to deal with a situation where one sovereign defaults on its debt to other sovereigns.

“However, in the case of Sri Lanka, all of its creditors are not from the Paris Club, and therefore, one needs to think about how to deal with the rest of the debt. A common framework was put in place by the IMF during the course of the Covid crisis because it was thought there would be more defaults in situations like that, but it was limited to low-income countries and Sri Lanka, being a middle-income country, didn’t belong to that common framework. This is why Sri Lanka is a special case to some extent. So solutions appropriate to this situation need to be found. From our perspective, it’s important to move expeditiously from this point onwards. That’s the key here because we want to avoid the crisis becoming worse. So having some kind of forum is important where the debtor and creditors can discuss where the debtor can explain how it got into this situation, and what it is doing to get out of it. At such a forum, creditors would be able to listen and see how other creditors are being treated in the process of debt restructuring. That really is an important step in moving forward and we encourage that process to move forward expeditiously.”

Responding to a question from the media, the IMF said that it had prescribed Sri Lankan authorities to implement major tax reforms including higher personal Income tax and a Wealth Tax – which is generally levied from wealthy asset owners, based on the market value of their assets, minus liabilities.

IMF’s tax prescription includes broadening the tax base for corporate income tax and VAT to reach a primary surplus of 2.3 percent of GDP by 2024. The IMF highlighted the critical need for implementing and expediting major tax reforms to raise fiscal revenue to support fiscal consolidation, Sri Lanka being a country with one of the lowest revenue levels in the world. The IMF said it was looking forward to continuing their engagement in support of Sri Lanka and its people.

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News

Financial contributions received for ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

The Government’s ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund, established to provide relief and support to communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, continues to receive financial contributions on a daily basis.

Accordingly, the Containers Transport Owners Association made a financial contribution of Rs. 1.5 million, while the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers contributed Rs. 1.35 million to the Fund.

The respective cheques were formally presented to the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday (19).

The occasion was attended by W. M. S. K. Manjula, Chairman of the Containers Transport Owners Association, together with Dilip Nihal Anslem Perera and Jayantha Karunadhipathi.

Representing the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers were Deshan Rajapaksa, Samudika Perera and Devshan Rodrigo handed over the cheque.

News

UNICEF representatives and PM discuss rebuilding schools affected by the Disaster

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

A meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a delegation of UNICEF representatives was held on Saturday, (December 20) at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister explained the measures taken by the Government to ensure the protection of the affected student community and to restore the damaged school system, as well as the challenges encountered in this process.

The Prime Minister stated that reopening schools located in landslide-prone areas would be extremely dangerous. Accordingly, the Government is focusing on identifying such schools and relocating them to suitable locations based on scientific assessments.

The Prime Minister further noted that financial assistance has been provided to students affected by the disaster, enabling parents to send their children back to school without an additional financial burden. Emphasizing that school is the safest place for children after their homes, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the school environment would help restore and improve students’ mental well-being

The Prime Minister also highlighted that attention has been given to several key areas, including the relocation of disaster-affected schools, restoration of school infrastructure, merging and operating certain schools jointly, facilitating teaching and learning through digital and technological strategies, and providing special transportation facilities. She emphasized that the Government is examining these issues and is committed to finding long-term solutions.

The UNICEF representatives commended the Government’s commitment and the initiatives undertaken to restore the education sector and assured their support to the Government. Both parties also discussed working together collaboratively on future initiatives.

The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives to Sri Lanka Emma Brigham, Lakshmi Sureshkumar, Nishantha Subash, and Yashinka Jayasinghe, along with Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, Director of Education Dakshina Kasturiarachchi, Deputy Directors Kasun Gunarathne and Udara Dikkumbura.

(Prime Minister’s Media Division)

News

NMRA laboratory lacks SLAB accreditation

Published

4 hours ago

2025/12/22

Thilina Walpola

Dr. Sanjeewa

Drug controversy:

“Setting up state-of-the-art drug testing facility will cost Rs 5 billion”

Activists call for legal action against politicians, bureaucrats

Serious questions have been raised over Sri Lanka’s drug regulatory system following revelations that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) quality control laboratory is not accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB), casting doubt on both the reliability of local test results and the adequacy of oversight of imported medicines.

Medical and civil rights groups warn that the issue points to a systemic regulatory failure rather than an isolated lapse, with potential political and financial consequences for the State.

Chairman of the Federation of Medical and Civil Rights Professional Associations, Specialist Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, said the controversy surrounding the Ondansetron injection, which was later found to be contaminated, had exposed deep weaknesses in drug regulation and quality assurance.

Dr. Sanjeewa said that the manufacturer had confirmed that the drug had been imported into Sri Lanka on four occasions this year, despite later being temporarily withdrawn from use. The drug was manufactured in India in November 2024 and in May and August 2025, and imported to Sri Lanka in February, July and September. On each occasion, 67,600 phials were procured.

Dr. Sanjeewa said the company had informed the NMRA that the drug was tested in Indian laboratories, prior to shipment, and passed all required quality checks. The manufacturer reportedly tested the injections against 10 parameters, including basic quality standards,

pH value, visual appearance, component composition, quantity per phial, sterility levels, presence of other substances, bacterial toxin levels and spectral variations.

According to documents submitted to the NMRA, no bacterial toxins were detected in the original samples, and the reported toxin levels were within European safety limits of less than 9.9 international units per milligram.

Dr. Sanjeewa said the credibility of local regulatory oversight had come under scrutiny, noting that the NMRA’s quality control laboratory was not SLAB-accredited. He said establishing a fully equipped, internationally accredited laboratory would cost nearly Rs. 5 billion.

He warned that the failure to invest in such a facility could have grave consequences, including continued loss of life due to substandard medicines and the inability of the State to recover large sums of public funds paid to pharmaceutical companies for defective drugs.

“If urgent steps are not taken, public money will continue to be lost and accountability will remain elusive,” Dr. Sanjeewa said.

He added that if it was ultimately confirmed that the drug did not contain bacterial toxins at the time it entered Sri Lanka, the fallout would be even more damaging, severely undermining the credibility of the country’s health system and exposing weaknesses in health administration.

Dr. Sanjeewa said public trust in the health sector had already been eroded and called for legal action against all politicians and public officials responsible for regulatory failures linked to the incident.

by Chaminda Silva ✍️