The International Monetary Fund has approved the final tranche of the recently suspended $2.6 billion loan granted in 2009.

Sri Lanka has been struggling to implement economic reforms tied to the loan, however the IMF’s board of directors said in a press release on Monday that the implementation of certain measures has put Sri Lanka on the right path.

Sri Lanka has raised rates and increased fuel prices in moves to curb imports such as oil, contain a trade gap and stem a decline in foreign-exchange reserves.

The Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Zhu Min pointed out that Sri Lanka needs to be ready to make further adjustments to economic policy.

“The adjustment measures implemented by the authorities have placed the economy on a more sustainable trajectory,”

“However, it will take time for the new monetary and exchange rate regime to become fully established, and the authorities will need to stand ready to adjust policies further to stabilize external reserves, especially if the global environment becomes less favorable,”

SL economic hopes hinging on IMF meeting (01 Apr 2012)

In a statement released Monday, the Indian High Commission in Colombo dismissed reports made in a Sri Lankan newspaper that there were LTTE training camps in Tamil Nadu.

The statement read,

“The suggestion contained in the news item regarding the training of terrorists at three secret camps in Tamil Nadu, India is entirely erroneous and baseless. Relevant agencies of the two countries have ongoing cooperation and no such information has been brought to the notice of the Government of India."

The reports arose from the Island newspaper, which asserted that "terrorists" were arriving on the island disguised as Tamil Nadu fishermen. A move described as "ominous" by the Indian newspaper, The Hindu.

Gary Anandasangaree, monitor for Sri Lanka at Lawyers' Rights Watch, and legal counsel for the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC),writes in the Sunday Leader on the recently passed resolution at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

See here for full article, extracts reproduced below:

"The expectation that the Sri Lankan government would use this international censure to gravitate towards a peace pact seems overly optimistic. Initial responses from Sri Lanka are worrisome, given the statements of people like Mervyn De Silva, a government Minister, who promised to break the limbs of  human rights defenders who returned to Sri Lanka from Geneva. Several protests were orchestrated in Colombo condemning the resolution – protests that could not be held without government endorsement. G. L. Peiris, a high ranking Minister deferred any decision to implement the resolution at the hands of President Mahinda Rajapaksa."

"The government controlled media continues to polarize the nation into the Bush mantra of either you are with us or against us, thereby failing to provide the context and analysis necessary for the message to be properly delivered to its people so they could understand the resolution. There is a lack of independent media able to provide this narrative to its readers. If Sri Lanka continues towards this eccentric, irrational response to the resolution, it may squander yet another opportunity towards the path to peace. The resolution as adopted is considered very weak, yet the significance lies in the international community finally giving Sri Lanka enough rope to hang itself."

Sri Lanka will eagerly be awaiting the outcome of Monday’s meeting of the International Monetary Fund, as they look to be granted a desperately needed $800 million tranche of a recently suspended $2.6 billion loan.

If the final instalment of the loan is granted, the payment will be given out at a rate of 3.1% interest as opposed to the 1% of the previous tranches, and will be paid in two $400 million instalments.

Prof Sirimal Abeyratne, economist from the University of Colombo told the Sunday Times,

"There is no doubt we need this money to restore public confidence. Interest rates have risen, the balance of payments is weak and constant foreign exchange volatility reflects a lack of public confidence."

Commenting that correct economic policies would not lead to borrowing from the IMF Abeyratne also stated,

"Unfortunately this is not the case in Sri Lanka and we don't have a choice but to seek external support and when that happens, it comes with conditions."

On Saturday, Sri Lanka announced a wave of new tax increases, hoping to raise as much as 3 billion rupees, as the country attempts to deal with it's emerging economic crisis.

See our earlier posts:

Sri Lanka’s emerging economic crisis (18 Mar 2012)

Prices rise as Mahinda Economics unwinds (16 Feb 2012)

Mahinda Economics (21 Sep 2011)

“All plants and animal species could be wiped out by global warming. Considering it, the real war criminals and human rights violators are such countries, which are contributing to the rise in global warming. The western nations became the violators of these rules.”

"If the road goes ahead it will damage many fragile habitats and lead to road kills of species like leopards. Then the coastal strip will be developed for mass tourism.

The road wouldn't pass the Asia Development Bank or the World Bank environmental assessments, so the government have turned to the Chinese for funding. It's ironic that the Tamil Tigers didn't damage the park but our own government is after all our struggles for peace."

"Every alleged war criminal of Sri Lanka must know that the Tamils will not rest until justice is served for the terrible crimes they are alleged to have committed.”

"This along with other legal proceedings must send a message to the regime that they are not welcome on the international scene. There remain other alleged war criminals in Australia and in New York where we will start proceedings soon."

“The government is trying desperately to get that money that was suspended. In order to do so the government has to do a whole bunch of things including the increase in utility prices, the increase in interest rates and the depreciation of the currency. This increase in taxes looks very much in preparation for the IMF meeting scheduled on Monday.

“The common man is left in the lurch. Just like they increased the taxes on kerosene the government has yet again taken to task the average citizen.”

Prices rise as Mahinda Economics unwinds (16 Feb 2012)

Mahinda Economics (21 Sep 2011)

Writing in his online blog, the British news anchor, Jon Snow from Channel 4 questions whether the England cricket team should be playing in Sri Lanka on tour, whilst war crimes and crimes against humanity remain unaccounted for.

"Cricket’s vast achievement in Sri Lanka today is to have conjured a blanket of turf, leather, and willow that saves most of us from having to think of Sri Lanka in any other light. But elsewhere on this sumptuous isle there is a bad light that stopped play altogether – play amongst the children women and men who died in the closing weeks of Sri Lanka’s civil war. The beguiling, tiny, round, ground at Galle in the south is as far from the Jaffna Peninsula as you can reach without leaving the country altogether."

"The English cricketing authorities plumped to resume ‘business as usual’ in a country which is facing international excoriation in the light of a growing mountain of evidence pointing to horrific war crimes."

"Amid the sweat, the heat, and the romance of this colonial ground, cricket has ensured that a whole world of sport is absorbed in a game, whilst the fate of up to 40,000 civilians (UN expert panel estimate) slaughtered on fields on the very same island lie unaddressed and largely unmentioned."

[more]

See also: 'Another tour of cricket, another year of sanctioning impunity' - TYO UK

Addressing international buyers at Sri Lanka Expo 2012, the country's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, remained defiant in the face of the recently passed resolution at the UNHRC.

Rajapaksa asserted,

“Sri Lanka is in the midst of peace won at great sacrifice. We are progressing on the path of peace and reconciliation. Our government is committed to walk that extra mile to establish permanent peace through reconciliation. That is our commitment to our people and no one has to tell us what to do.”

“You are here today, with a measure of confidence in Sri Lanka that has not been diminished by false propaganda that is currently spread by those who are trying to prevent investment flowing to our country and the large international presence at this event is a clear indication of the growing awareness in the world of the new investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.”

"What is showcased here is the rapid development process that Sri Lanka is engaged in today. It is a process that develops five hubs of key activity that will soon transform Sri Lanka to the Wonder of Asia as envisaged in Mahinda Chinthana, Future Vision, the wonder of a newly won peace and the wonder of strengthened peace and national unity. It is a wonder of reconciliation being achieved through our own means in keeping with our own traditions."

Questioned over the country's decision to abstained on the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, Malaysia's Foreign Affairs deputy minister, Richard Riot, stated that Sri Lanka's problems were too complex to solve in a short time, however, reiterating that "if during the period of reconciliation, that they don’t achieve peace, then the international community will meet and vote whether they will interfere or not.”

However, many MPs were not satisfied with Riot's response.

Klang MP, Charles Santiago, criticised the LLRC as "weak", whilst the Ipoh Barat MP, M Kulasegaran, stated that it was "shameful" for Malaysia to have abstained.

Kulasegeran said,

“I compare, these are irrelevant countries. They are substandard [in] human rights values and so forth. Can we compare to them?”

“No. Malaysia is entirely different. Our standard is very high, our per capita income is very high. The expectation of the world is very high and we are a member of the Human Rights Council.”