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War drums dampen Sri Lanka`s tourism cheer
Tuesday, 21 December 2004 - 5:37 AM SL Time
Sri Lankas tourism industry is set to wrap up its best year ever thanks to a truce between troops and Tiger rebels, but fears of a return to war have made the flourishing sector jittery once again.
The number of foreign holiday makers visiting this teardrop-shaped island off India`s southern coast crossed half-a-million by the end of November, compared to the same figure for the whole of last year. Hotels, which had been reeling under the effects of two decades of intense guerrilla war, had come out of the woods after the truce in February 2002. Room rates have sky-rocketed, according to industry officials.
Five-star rooms which could not sell for even eight dollars 15 years ago are now being grabbed at over $100 and hotels are posting `House Full` signs. However, a bombing at a Bollywood concert here last week, killing two people and wounding 19, jolted the industry and reminded them of the ?bad old days? when deluxe rooms were thrown in free to attract diners to restaurants. The Tourist Hotels` Association said they regretted the blast at Indian star`s concert. ?We are sorry that this incident took place, but we are more worried about the peace process, association spokesman Hiran Cooray said, If the peace process collapses, we will be in very, very serious trouble.
But, with the ceasefire on, we are doing very well. In fact, in the 17 years I have been in the industry, this year is going to be the best, said Cooray, who is also the managing director of Jetwing, a chain of de luxe hotels.
The future, however, is not that certain. Scandinavian truce monitors have warned that increased violations and a 20-month deadlock in peace negotiations could undermine the entire peace process and return the country to civil conflict.
Last week`s bombing is also seen as blow to the island`s bid to emerge as an entertainment hub of South Asia and attempts to attract a larger number of high-spending Indian holiday-makers. The official Ceylon Tourist Board had picked up part of the bill to sponsor the show, hoping it would be a good advertisement for the palm-fringed nation of 19 million people known for their legendary smile.
The Board`s director general Kalai Selvam said he believed the concert attack might have affect the number of Indians visiting the island, but there were no immediate reports of cancellations from other countries. We should be able to end the year with about 570,000 visitors and that would be a historic high, Selvam said. Tourism has been the only bright spot in the otherwise troubled Sri Lankan economy. The country`s trade deficit has hit a record high, the country is officially facing a foreign exchange crisis and year-on-year inflation reached 15.2 per cent compared to 0.2 per cent a year ago.
The investment community is concerned that inflation and a looming foreign exchange shortage could damage economic recovery prospects despite the success of the tourism sector, which has also helped keep the stock market buoyant. The rupee has weakened by nine per cent against the dollar after remaining stable last year, leading to a record trade deficit of $1.7 billion in the first 10 months of the year on soaring oil prices.
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SB blames plea-bargain for woes
Monday, 20 December 2004 - 11:43 PM SL Time
Jailed frontline Sri Lankan opposition politician S.B. Dissanayake has blamed a plea-bargain that went wrong for his incarceration. He said that he now wants his lawyer to help him spill the beans of the negotiations that were held to get him off lightly.
Dissanayake, a one-time general secretary of the Freedom Party (SLFP), was sentenced by the Supreme Court to two years` imprisonment for contempt of court over a public speech he made last year as agriculture minister.
In his speech he had said that the president had asked the Supreme Court for an opinion on the responsibility of Defence Ministry, but that his party would not accept any `low-down` (the reference was to a dog) of the court.
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Millions squandered by ministers, deputies: JVP
Monday, 20 December 2004 - 12:17 AM SL Time
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Deputy Minister, the longest serving JVP MP, Nihal Galapatty has acknowledged that they get the lion?s share of the allocations. But unfortunately these funds were being wasted by both politicians and their henchmen.
The JVP runs four of about 40 ministries, some of them created to accommodate loyalists.
The Hambantota district MP made these observations at a recent function at the ministry where he proudly declared that the Fisheries Ministry had succeeded in saving Rs. 6.5 million from its allocations during the past six months.
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Politics
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Notice on SB to appear before court on Jan. 28
Monday, 20 December 2004 - 12:17 AM SL Time
Colombo High Court Judge Sisira de Abrew issued notice on former Minister S. B. Dissanayake to appear before Court on January 28, 2005, with regard to the bribery case filed against him by the Commission to investigate allegations of bribery and corruption.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption filed bribery charges against Dissanayake after he was unable to account for his cash and wealth amounting to Rs. 39 million amassed between March 31, 1995 and September 30, 2001.
According to the charges, the cash that former minister could not account for includes Rs. 2.5 million deposited in the Union Bank in 1997, Rs. 3.4 million spent to by shares between 1997 and 1998, Rs. 8.4 million paid to the Union Bank to settle an over draft between 1997 and 2000 and Rs. 2.3 million spent for the family expenditure between 1995 and 2001
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Tilvin: Drop ISGA, then talks can begin today
Sunday, 19 December 2004 - 3:54 AM SL Time
The JVP has no objection to President Chandrika Kumaratunga resuming peace talks with the LTTE `even today if the Tigers lay aside their demand that these talks are held on the basis of their ISGA proposals, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said yesterday.
He was responding to a question on where they stood on three of the four co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference labeling them as the chief obstruction for the resumption of peace talks.
`Like the majority of the people in the South and 98 per cent of the people of the North, we too want peace. Nobody wants to go to war. What we oppose is resuming talks on the basis of the ISGA because we think that`s a blueprint for a separate state, he said.
Asked whether they would meet with the three co-chairs (the fourth was Norway) who met the president last week to clear the air, Silva said that he did not think that was necessary now but they would certainly do so if the need arose or they were invited for a discussion.
`We`ve already had meetings with British and Japanese diplomats, Silva said.
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Bogollagama challenges expulsion from UNP
Saturday, 18 December 2004 - 12:47 SL Time
Rohitha Bogollagama, the UNP Member of Parliament for the Kurunegala District, who is also the recently appointed Cabinet Minister of the Peoples Alliance government, had challenged in the Supreme Court his purported expulsion from the UNP, dated November 18, 2004, and notified to him on December 2, 2004.
The petition said that the Working Committee of the UNP had failed to follow the prescribed procedure in deciding to terminate his membership in the UNP. The UNP working committee had alleged that the Petitioner had taken up a Cabinet Portfolio in the People?s Alliance government, without seeking the permission of the working committee of the UNP.
The petition said that the purported expulsion from the UNP is mala-fide since the Rules of Natural Justice had not been followed by the Working Committee of the UNP. The petitioner wanted the court to declare the expulsion null and void, and further to declare that the petitioner has not ceased to be a member of parliament, and will continue to be so in the future.
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| Security |
Tapes reveal LTTE training by Norway
Sunday, 19 December 2004 - 8:39 PM SL Time
Voice cuts from tapped telephone conversations purportedly between Norwegian officials and the LTTE were played, when panellists at the `Colombo conference` organised by the WAPS group of Sri Lankan Expatriates, and the `Sandsadaya`` forum, made the potentially explosive revelations about ``Norwegian complicity with the LTTE in subverting the Sri Lankan state``, at the BMICH yesterday. Very clear footage was also shown of Norwegian armed personnel training LTTE cadres in the Rena Norwegian Army camp. Though the Norwegians had gone on record as saying that the training was for `peaceful purposes` the video footage showed LTTE personnel being trained in armed vehicle operations and underwater manoeuvres -- ``anything but training for peaceful purposes,`` averred Mr. Rovik in his paper.
In one audio tape former Norwegian ambassador in Colombo Jon Westborg says, `we Norwegians will pay the difference`` in the deal discussing a secret plan to ship advanced communications equipment -- a type which even the Sri Lankan government did not possess. Westborg at one point in the clearly audible tape played on a sophisticated computer-aided sound mapping and audio replay device says, `the Norwegians will pay the difference (in the matter pertaining to sound equipment)`` but cautions the LTTE man to `make all correspondence to the ambassadors home at 55/1 Gregory`s Road, Colombo and not the embassy,`` for reasons of secrecy.
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LTTE naval chief slams Indo-Lanka naval exercise
Saturday, 18 December 2004 - 8:33 P SL Time
Colonel Soosai, head of the LTTE`s navy ? the Sea Tigers ? has criticised the joint India-Sri Lanka `naval` exercise, which concluded in Colombo on Friday, though the three-day event did not involve the Indian Navy, and the exercises related only to peace time problems such as sea pollution, piracy and search and rescue operations at sea.
`Unable to face the Sea Tigers, the Sri Lankan Navy is doing joint training with the Indian Navy,` Col Soosai said at a meeting to condole the death of one his close colleagues, Lt Col Maravan, in Kilinochchi on Friday.
Tamil newspapers like Virakesari and Thinakkural went a step further and criticised the organisers for excluding the Tamil media from the press corps, which was allowed to cover the event at sea on Thursday.
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Solheim meets Rajapakse as prospects for Lankan peace talks dim
Thursday, 16 December 2004 - 8:50 P SL Time
Eric Solheim, who helped broker a cease-fire between the Tigers and government in February 2002, held talks with the LTTE political chief, SP Thamilselvan, in the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi on Wednesday.
After the meeting, Thamilselvan was quoted by the pro-rebel TamilNet website as saying the envoy was `unable to give assurance` that Sri Lanka`s government `will take any constructive steps to take the peace process forward.`
On Thursday, Solheim met with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse in Colombo, said Norwegian Embassy spokeswoman Kjersti Tromsdal.
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| Business / Economy News |
World Bank aid for e-Sri Lanka
Saturday, 18 December 2004 - 12:47 SL Time
The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$ 53 million loan for the e-Sri Lanka development project. The agreement was signed by the World Bank Country Manager Peter Harrold and Secretary to the Treasury, Dr. P. B. Jayasundera.
World Bank`s e-Sri Lanka Team leader and Senior Advisor on e-Development, Dr. Nagy Hanna said that `e-Sri Lanka aspires to the ideal of making Sri Lanka the most connected government to its people, and raising the quality of life of all its citizens with access to better public services, learning opportunities,and information.`
`The program aims at informing, connecting and enabling isolated communities through ICT, and empowering farmers, students and small entrepreneurs to realise a better future`, Dr. Hanna said.
CEO, ICTA, Manju Haththotuwa said that the agency will launch the project throughout the country and added that ICTA wants to be a role model for government Haththotuwa commended the WB assistance towards the e-Sri Lanka project.
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The Sri Lankan public sector is one of the biggest in the region
Friday, 17 December 2004 - 10:02 AM SL Time
Sri Lanka has one of the largest bureaucracies in the Asian region, said Shankar Acharya an Indian economist and an external consultant to the World Bank on Thursday.
Acharya was speaking at the launch of a new country report by the World Bank.
Sri Lanka maintains 3.9 civil servants to every 100 people compared to 1.2 civil servants in India 1.5 in Pakistan and 0.6 in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka?s public service is big even compared to East Asian Countries.
China maintains 2.8 government servants for every 100 people while it is 2.1 for Indonesia, 2.2 for Korea and 4.5 for Malaysia. The Asian regional average is 2.6 public servants per every 100 people.
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Rupee depreciates 8.5% against US$ this year
Thursday, 16 December 2004 - 12:41 SL Time
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka kept its overnight repurchase and reverse repurchase rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, but analysts forecast rates will be raised in January to combat inflationary pressure. The repurchase rate was steady at 7.5 percent and the reverse repurchase rate was 9.0 percent, the bank said in a statement. The bank had raised each of them by 50 basis points last month, the first increase in nearly four years.
`The board has decided that it is appropriate to leave the current monetary policy stance unchanged to allow the recent policy rate increase to feed through the economy,` the bank said.
A Reuters survey on Monday showed four out of six analysts expected the bank to hold off raising policy rates until January because of a dip in oil prices and amid U.S. dollar weakness. Inflation rose to records of 6.8 percent in November and 6.1 percent in October, the highest monthly inflation rates in 2004 on a 12-month moving average.
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