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President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Tuesday said that Sri Lanka must work in unison to achieve economic freedom rather than yield to vulnerabilities within the global economic system. Addressing the 77th Independence Day celebrations of the island nation, Dissanayake said, "Collectively, we must persist in our struggle for freedom on behalf of this motherland." "To secure our economic freedom, rather than succumbing to weakness in the global economic system and being overwhelmed by its every fluctuation, we must unite in our efforts for this motherland," said the 56-year-old president. In keeping with his government's policy of minimizing state expenditures as the island nation struggles to emerge from the 2022 economic crisis, this year's celebrations saw a reduction in the usual pomp and pageantry. Only 1,800 military personnel were deployed in the parade, a reduction of over 1,500 personnel from last year. From last year's 19 aircraft, this morning's celebrations featured only
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund confirmed a deal with Egypt to increase its bailout loan from USD 3 billion to USD 8 billion, in a move that is meant to shore up the Arab country's economy which is hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation. In a statement late Friday, the board said its decision would enable Egypt to immediately receive about USD 820 million as part of the deal which was announced earlier this month. The deal was achieved after Egypt agreed with the IMF on a reform plan that is centred on floating the local currency, reducing public investment and allowing the private sector to become the engine of growth, the statement said. Egypt has already floated the pound and sharply increased the main interest rate. Commercial banks are now trading the US currency at more than 47 pounds, up from about 31 pounds. The measures are meant to combat ballooning inflation and attract foreign investment. The Egyptian economy has be
Indian Tea Association (ITA), the leading body of tea planters, Thursday said that the industry is passing through a phase of acute financial crisis with prices not keeping pace with the rising costs of production. The ITA in its status paper 'Tea scenario 2023' said while tea prices increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around four per cent over the last decade, costs of vital inputs like coal and gas among others grew at a CAGR of nine per cent to 15 per cent during the same period. Besides, the exponential increase in production following the emergence of small tea growers resulted in surplus teas remaining in the system as domestic consumption and exports have not grown to absorb it, the status paper said. On the price trends of the beverage during the current fiscal, it said tea prices declined alarmingly in 2023 compared to 2022. The auction prices of CTC and dust teas covering sale numbers 14 to 39 are down by Rs 12.49 per kilogram for Assam tea and Rs 11.30
Soon after Sumit Nagal shared his financial struggle in an interview with the PTI, support began to pour in for India's top tennis player with leading beverage company PepsiCo India and the DLTA rushing to his aid. The Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) has decided to release a one-time support of Rs 5 lakh while PepsiCo has also pledged to support Nagal for three years. "We have taken details from Sumit Nagal and Rs 5 lakh will be deposited in his account. DLTA President Rohit Rajpal has approved the support," DLTA administrator Ranbir Chauhan said. Nagal had claimed in an interview with PTI that his annual budget to survive on the ATP Tour is no less than Rs one crore and after arranging for his funds, he was left with just 900 Euros in his account. Rajpal said, "He deserves much more. Sports people have to be treated like national assets. They needed to be taken care of. Tennis is a brutal and tough game. It requires travel on weekly basis, that makes it tough. We are talking
Expressing his gratitude to "trustworthy friend" India for saving Sri Lanka and preventing a "bloodbath" during its unprecedented economic crisis last year, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has said that not a single nation has extended that kind of assistance to Colombo as done by New Delhi. Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. As the country struggled, locked in the throes of the crisis, India extended multi-pronged assistance of about USD 4 billion to it last year, through multiple credit lines and currency support, in line with India's Neighbourhood First' policy. In his address at the gala dinner reception hosted for delegates of the Indian Travel Congress here on Friday, Abeywardena said India "saved us" during the financial crisis, otherwise, there would have been "another bloodbath for all of us". At the evening reception, he thank
Morgan Stanley's long-time CEO James Gorman will retire in the next 12 months, he said Friday at the bank's annual shareholder meeting. Gorman said the bank is looking at three senior internal candidates to be the investment bank's new top executive. Gorman said he plans to remain at the bank as executive chairman of the board for a period of time after a successor is named. Gorman joined Morgan Stanley as chief operating officer of its Global Wealth Management Group in early 2006 and was co-president of the Wall Street bank within a year. Gorman became CEO in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis, when the storied investment bank came dangerously close to collapsing. Morbding securities and making deals grew highly volatile. Gorman made it his mission to stabilize Morgan Stanley's business for the long term. The firm built out its wealth management business substantially, a business that brings in regular fee income instead of when deals close, and a division he was very famili
Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqn Abbasi has warned that Pakistan's economic and political turmoil is so dire that it has the potential to attract a military takeover even as he urged all stakeholders to initiate a dialogue to chart a way forward, media reports said on Sunday. Abbasi, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, served as the 21st prime minister of Pakistan from August 2017 to May 2018. Speaking on a television show, he said that martial law always remained a possibility if the system failed or when there was a conflict between institutions and the political leadership was unable to chart a way forward. Pakistan has had many long periods of martial law in very similar situations, the 64-year-old leader said. In fact, I would say Pakistan has never witnessed a [more] severe economic and political situation before. In much less severe circumstances, the military has taken over, he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper. Pakistan had