
Amid widespread calls for the removal of Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, moves are underway to affect a restructuring of the institution in order to neutralize opposition and pave the way for his contract to be renewed, Colombo Telegraph learns.
Accordingly, Cabinet is set to move the Public Debt Department, Exchange Control and control over secondary markets outside the purview of the Central Bank and place them directly under the Ministry of Finance. Furthermore, the management and administration of the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) is to come under a new company, in this arrangement.
Colombo Telegraph learns that this is the Prime Minister’s solution to save Mahendran, whose term has been fraught with poor judgment regarding policy matters as well as marked by scandals over two bond issues which saw his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius benefitting to the tune of several billion rupees.
President Maithripala Sirisena has openly stated his opposition to Mahendran, as have senior members of the Cabinet. However, those loyal to the Prime Minister such as Lakshman Kiriella and Eran Wickramaratne have defended Wickremesinghe’s stand.
Eran Wickramaratne, Deputy Minister of State Enterprise Development, in an interview on the channel “News 1st” in fact hinted on a course of action such as this, saying that the Government was considering taking regulatory functions away from the Central Bank. Wickramaratne also defended the Prime Minsiter’s position vis-à-vis the Governor, pointing out that Mahendran not been found guilty of wrongdoing.
Also at issue, however, is Mahendran’s competence as well as his chronic absenteeism and spending binges. After he took over foreign exchange reserves have fallen more than a third from their late 2014 peak of $82.2-billion to $5.6 billion at the end of May, the lowest since February 2012. This has been attributed by the IMF to “foreign outflows of around $2 billion from government securities”.
Plato. / June 15, 2016
C.T.
You too want Arjuna Mahendran removed.Is it because of of the so-called Bond scam or is it because of the publicity against him or is it because he is a Tamil.
I dont know this catcher,apart from the fact that his father was a career diplomat,in the old days when appointments were made from among the members of the overseas administrative service.
Interestingly,we are still to hear of his defense!
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Shan / June 15, 2016
Stop playing race card. His race has nothing to do with this.
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Don Stanley / June 16, 2016
Restructuring the CB is another way to HIDE the ROT, CORRUPTION and gross INCOMPETENCE of those running the economy. The solution to the Lanakn Debt crisis is not borrowing from IMF but getting IMF to track down the loot stolen and hidden in off shore accounts, from the Sri Lanka people and national economy by corrupt politicians and their cronies!
The Sri Lankan economy is crashing because of the corruption and incompetence at the CB and not because of the EXPOSURE OF corruption in the CB.
What are Ravi K’s qualifications to be Economics and fiance Minister? Just like the corrupt crook Basil Jarapassa former Minister of the subjects.
Eran’s defense of AYahalapanaya arguments to cover up Cabraal’s and Mahendran’s criminality at CB on the basis that exposure of their financial crimes will negatively impact the already collapsed Sri Lankan economy is JOKE!
The point is to clean up the rot by EXPOSING it – not burying it further in off shore Panama accounts!
‘Ravi K. is a joke and he is shy! Ravi K is ashamed of exposing the rot in the finance ministry and CB and Ravi is talking about CB REPUTATION loss and currency crash if Mahendran’s bond scams and corruption in CB, Bank of Ceylon and other govt. banks are exposed and damage to the reputation of the country’s investment profile, because exposure of corruption at CB will drive FDI and foreign investors away.
So, Ravi K’s solution is to bury the truth and keep piling on the corruption in CB and the National DEBT so Sri Lanka will end in a Greece like situation with IMF help!
How can the CB headed by a corrupt crook who wants to delete information investigate the Panama Papers names, when Mahendran is a financial criminal?!
Mahendran should be arrested for hiding information and trying to erase it. But the logic here is backward: Kiriella who is Ravi’s clown says ” There were various allegations thrown at Mahendran, none of them have been proved so far, hence there was no need to remove him from the current position of Governor.” None of the allegations against Mahendran have been proved because he is refusing to release information and blocking investigations. How can the Central Bank investigate,
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Rabok / June 17, 2016
Don Stanley – What you proposed is exactly what should happen to save this country from eminent economic collapse – which could be worse than Greece’s collapse – we are doomed – not only because of idiots and roughs in the present Gov. – during the last Gov. also we saw how Paray dog kukkas of MR were misusing public funds – we voted those dogs out and bought in these guys to clean the set up — Alas!! what had happened now ??? – we have a well bread Kukka buddies of Royal PM repeating the same corruption in a bigger way — this country has no future until we find out somebody who really have the back bone to clean up the whole system from top to the very bottom – The Chinese Ambassador recently summarize the current status of the country’s administration comprehensively with few words – “it is very difficult to fathom out the policies of current Gov. as nobody even senior Ministers do not have clear idea ” — If we need to save this country we need a leader like recently elected Philippine President Duret who recently announced he will only allow Toyota Avent for all his top Ministers and he will use only a Double Cab – and no perks at the expense of public funds – and will eliminate corruption in no time — we need leaders like that – not Kekille Pambayas and white color rouges
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Aia / June 16, 2016
I think SL has a number of talented men and women to do a better job than what this guy did in his tenure this far. Why do we need a foreigner to be in charge of our economy?. Does he have that belongingness or passion to go for that extra yard?. Even worse, he used to a spending habit based on $ value that going by exchange rates undervalue his spending 30-40 times, and the more he travels the more and more we will pay. He didn’t do any wonders, all we hear, even if we allow a 50% accusations against him as baseless, is negatives. So it is time he be allowed to go on a good note. The PM can divert his focus on some very important matters than defending a bad decision he made. We all make mistakes, there are lessons to learn, take them and move on. Important thing voters look for is how quickly you turn such situation around and bounce back. I know MR would make a lot of noise saying the PM fell to pressure he exerted if you let Mahen go, but keep him any further wont make any better either in future and it is a distraction going forward, and… first impression matters.
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S.Modaya / June 16, 2016
Now Ravi K and Mahendran have got a loan from Turkey!
When will this borrowing spree with NO Accountability from Mahendran, Ravi K and Ranil and all the corrupt clowns who are partying in the stinking and sinking Diyawenna oya of parliament?!
Sri Lanka will soon be another basket case – like Greece – and Jarapassa will come galloping back to power!
Long live the Miracle of Modayas!
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Paddy / June 16, 2016
Race has nothing to do with this issue. Not only must AM go but before he goes, he must be made to account and return the billions made by himself via his son in law. I know this is wishful thinking. The billions that MR’s family made are still beyond our reach.
The euphoria of January 2015 is slowly but surely fading away. Sad!
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Rationalist / July 1, 2016
Paddy:-
Are Sinhala/Buddhist Racists upset that a well-qualified Tamil was offered a Position, that they could not Aspire to?
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Viraj Kariyawasam / June 16, 2016
Plato,
Many in the country wants Mahendran removed and the only reason for that is, his dismal performance as the Governor of the Central Bank. Why are you trying to tag his ethnicity into this? No one is gunning for him because he is a Tamil.
It’s is people like you that come out with such stupid theories and keep the communities divided. Just stop this crap of bringing in the ethnicity into anything and everything.
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kumaran / June 16, 2016
I for my part joined many who were happy when Mahendran was appointed. We thought he will bring some new ideas and basic HONESTY to the “cog wheel” of the national economy. Yes, we hear that Mahendran has supported his son-in-law in the bond issue and he has really not explained this to the satisfaction of the larger portion of the media and the public. Also, for his S.I.L to be involved in this…., If that is NOT a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is !!
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Amarasiri / June 17, 2016
Plato,
“Identifying the Problem is 95% of the Solution” Bertrand Russell
Many have identified the problem Central Bank has as Mahendran.
Ranil W, PM, partially agrees, but his solution is restructuring the Central Bank. However, if Mahendran is the Problem, this is not a solution, if Mahendran is kept.
This has nothing to do with Mahendran being a Tamil, a Sinhala, a Muslim or a Para.
Ranil W, PM, can restructure, and displace Mahendran. Can’t Sri Lanka find a Replacement for Mahendran. After All, a Replacement for Mahininda Rajapaksa and cronies was found.
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Ben Hurling / June 17, 2016
LOL! Restructuring?
Sounds like a text-book, cunning-fox, classic RW case study.
Anybody recall how RW lost 18 elections? Yet managed to hold corrupt, disfunctional UNP’s leadership. Now that is some feat.
RW did that by restructuing the corrupt UNP to pacify “Maria Kade” politics of Sajith P.
So far, it looks like the cunning-fox has out-foxed Maria Kade SP. At least for the time being.
What RW is up to with CB and Mahendran is an earily similar modus operandi. Except RW is now dealing with a world class champion in political Chess from Polonnaruwa.
Cheers!
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Socrates / June 17, 2016
Plato, stop being racist. What a stupid and provocative question!
You seem to be the type of individual who instigates racist comments on CT, instead of responding to the content of the post.
Get a frigging life (and while you’re at it, change your pseudonym to something more suitable to your racist bent).
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Amarasiri / June 17, 2016
Socrates
“You seem to be the type of individual who instigates racist comments on CT, instead of responding to the content of the post.”
Now getting a better understanding of the bimodal IQ distribution of the Tamils, as published in CT.
Plato belongs to the lower mode close to the origin.
The Story Of Two Graphs drawn by A Tamil Man: By Mahesan Niranjan
Onion Prices and Tamil IQ Distributions
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-story-of-two-graphs-drawn-by-a-tamil-man/onioniqdistributions/
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-story-of-two-graphs-drawn-by-a-tamil-man/
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Amarasiri / June 17, 2016
Plato,
“You too want Arjuna Mahendran removed.Is it because of of the so-called Bond scam or is it because of the publicity against him or is it because he is a Tamil.”
You should have said,
You too want Arjuna Mahendran removed. Is it because of of the so-called Bond scam and Credit Card scam or is it because of the publicity against him or is it because he is an Idiot with low IQ, who happens to be Tamil, who fortunately knew the Prime Minister, and was appointed, because both of them went to “Royal” College in the Democratic Socialist REPUBLIC of Sri Lanka.
This is like correcting tutorials of students.
Do we need incompetents? Don’t we have plenty?
Birds of the same feather flock together.
Is it true for Idiots as well?
In any case, if Madendran is a Tamil, then he must belong to the mode, closer to the origin, of the Tamil bi-modal IQ distribution.
Now getting a better understanding of the bimodal IQ distribution of the Tamils, as published in CT.
The Story Of Two Graphs drawn by A Tamil Man: By Mahesan Niranjan
Onion Prices and Tamil IQ Distributions
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-story-of-two-graphs-drawn-by-a-tamil-man/onioniqdistributions/
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-story-of-two-graphs-drawn-by-a-tamil-man/
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Gune / June 15, 2016
The PM is a clever man as opposed to the strongman we had before. His views Brexit’s impact on SL etc is well articulated something that the strongman can never do. But the PM gets blinded by his stubbornness and will eventually lose an election on such matters. It’s happened in the past. He let Ravi K rob the country and never took any action. Ravi K was a lesser Basil when the UNP was in power for a brief period in early 2000 before CBK tripped RW.
I am surprised by Eran’s remarks. He is playing politics now and towing the line of the PM. For what ??? I am sure deep down Eran’s conscience must be troubling him for taking this stance. Eran we expect better from you. I have a simple question 1. Do you and don’t you agree that AM compromised his position in the high office he holds ? Please answer this.
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roger / June 15, 2016
RW is acting like an idiot, which he will become if he persists on AM reappointment. What ever is said AM favoring his son-in-law is almost a criminal act. That alone is enough to send this chap and his friend PM home
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KA Sumanasekera / June 16, 2016
No wonder this dude is a Deputy, even with his PhD….
What a pathetic Economics teacher would he be, let alone an Economis Administrator.
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ravin / June 16, 2016
This govt must note that reappointment of Mahendran as CB Governer will be the beginning of their END OF TERM for sure!
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KA Sumanasekera / June 16, 2016
Tokyo Governor paid a few extra bucks for his Hotel room and bought a bit more up market Wine to go with the Sushi.
Total extra outlay to the Tokyo inhabitants was only a lousy USD 4000.
And the poor bugger got the ass because of Public pressure.
He was cleared by a Court too.
But not by a Kekilla Court appointed by a Batalanada Ranil.
The Singaporean rigged the two Yahapalana Bond issues which cost the Srilankan inhabitants extra LKR 1.6 Billion, which went straight in to Aloysious and FIL’s Family Trust and its associated Shelf Companies.
On top of that, the Tax Payer Yahapalana Suckers have to keep paying extra 2 % over and above the Market rate, to pay off the Bond Holders for the next 30 years.
Then the Singaporean spent LKR 14.4 Million in just 12 Months to Eat , Drink and” Put a Fun” like our new Colombo Elite say.
This was when the Singaporean was travelling.
And the loyal servant Eran try to teach the Yahapalana suckers year 12 Economics in Prime Time TV, to justify his Masters maneuverings to save the Singaporean.
And keep him milking the Central bank.
Wonder what is in their for Batalanda Ranil?…
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justice / June 16, 2016
What is the ‘hold’ that Mahendran has over Ranil?
Is Mahendran so indispensable?
No public servant is indispensable, in any democracy.
Mahendran also has travelled abroad more than 20 times it is reported,
at state expense.
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Lanka Watch / June 16, 2016
Justice – That was a very good question. Why is Mahendran embarrassing
PM Ranil without resigning from his current position ,after all, many including the govt. ministers have criticised his low performance at the Central bank and he still hangs on to his job, not realising that it will have a serious effect on PM Ranil’s credibility and his vote bank gets affected. He may not have got directly involved in the bond scams but his son in law benefited largely and there was certainly a conflict of interest.He will be doing a favour to himself and the Tamils if he vacates his post voluntarily as never in the history of Ceylon/Sri Lankan administrative services, a Tamil public servant disgraced the Tamils to this extent.
Listened to the interview on the same page given by deputy minister Eran Wicremaratne and he spoke some sense and seems to have some good knowledge on economy and management of finance .He is an asset to the govt. and capable of handling a ministry on his own but he made a slip in the interview. He stated that the former Sri Lankan airlines board including the Chairman and CEO did not have airline experience but present board has a CEO, a pilot. He failed to realise that CEO of an airline, should be a marketing person as he or she is the one who fills the aircraft and the pilot, whose duty is to take off the aircraft and land it safely and beyond that a pilot never gets involved
in any marketing activities nor follow marketing courses. Hon. deputy minister also failed to mention that the current CEO is the brother of a top official in the PMO. There are very few Capts, wbo became top officials of airlines and Capt. Wicks, chairman Airlanka,was one among them, and he was a success as marketing was done by Singapore airlines sales executives.
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Pradeep / June 16, 2016
What is wrong with our people? They see inefficiency and failure and reward it.
This is why our nation can never progress like others do. We have one bunch of corrupt idiots after another bunch, all doing the same stupid thing, rewarding their friends/relatives/pandang karayas, and it ends up with the country having huge losses, and going backwards.
Honesty and integrity are hard to find.
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Upul / June 16, 2016
If the majority wants CB governor out, why do Ranil wants to keep him? Ranil, please, listen to the people who allowed you to achieve the post you are holding today. If you don’t listen to them now, then, it will be definitely the beginning of the end of your career.
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Pot Shot / June 16, 2016
Eran, which ever way you look at it, your comments skirt the issues on SL airlines and the AM debacle. You tweak your comments and side step the matter. Please remember the public are smart and are watching all of you closely. Don’t lose the respect you have earned by falling in line with RW’s thinking and inaction on the matter. MR also appointed thousands of committees to address issues and nearly all of them were never concluded or lost steam for “lack” of evidence. This is becoming common trait in SL politics to the point that politicians/administrators who are guilty of offenses openly challenge investigations by saying “prove it and I will resign” knowing very well it won’t be probed. Stop playing politics Eran. You are a man of stature. Protect it for your family’s sake and for God’s sake because you have got to where you are because of them. Don’t ruin it!
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New Vanguard / June 16, 2016
“Don’t lose the respect you have earned by falling in line with RW’s thinking and inaction on the matter.”
Well said wells said. That goes for all you polticians
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shankar / June 16, 2016
“Ranil Plans To Keep Mahendran By ‘Restructuring’ Central Bank”
and people will be waiting for the LG elections to restructure ranil.
risking so much for so little,ranil the loser.
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colin / June 16, 2016
If the report is true Well Done Ranil!You are determined to develop the country and progressing steadily in this direction.So far so good mr.PM. You have to take bold decisions like this and give a deaf ear to some critics as we know your intentions are sincere and you are trying to emulate Mahathir Mohamed to put Sri Lanka back on track as Mahathir did with Malaysia. We know you are not corrupt and has the country at heart so go ahead Mr.Prime Minister and people who have the country at heart will stand by you.
The Central Bank may need a complete overhaul and this restructuring is another step in your efforts to salvage the economy,so all good luck to you.
Bold moves will have to be made even though it may result in some having to swallow bitter pills.Your Royal College background maybe plodding you along where in that hallowed institution the best man gets the prize irrespective of his ethincity and its only on these lines we can build a prosperous Sri Lanka as Lee Kuan Yuaw did in Singapore where that policy is being still pursued
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Singh / June 16, 2016
Who said that the majority wants the Governor out. Its only a few in Colombo. Do you think that 70% of the voters living in rural areas know who Arjun Mahendran is. It appears that 5.8 Million who backed MR have still been unable to accept that they lost.
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New Vanguard / June 16, 2016
Apparently the decision is in the hands of the President. The 6.2 million who backed MS have also been unable to accept that they, too have lost…
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Psycho / June 16, 2016
Me think that Mahendran and Ranit has gay relationship. Poor Maithri ( not pala).
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thondamanny / June 16, 2016
It was with the connivance and full knowledge of Mr. Clean that Mr. Jacket went to town with BOND issues………….
So how could Mr. Clean ditch Mr. Jacket ? here lies the problem.
They are all now in the same STY like pigs revelling in it.
Mr. Clean stinks.
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Lanka watch / June 16, 2016
Every voter in SL knows that PM Ranil is a man of principles and people feel that he should not stick his neck out to protect his
family and college mate,Mr. Mahendran, and put his credibility in
jeopardy as in the public eyes, Mahendran did not perform well as expected as a governor and more over he was suspected of getting involved in bond scams which was not expected from a man holding
a prestigious position as Governor,CB. Mr. Mahendran should vacate
his position voluntarily to safeguard Mr. Ranil’s reputation.He is
a good banker and he could get a lucrative position, overnight,
else where. He should realise that he should not be the cause of a
rift between the Prez. and the PM.
Tamils may wonder why PM Ranil is not sticking to the same principles of protecting the down trodden in handing over the confiscated lands back to the rightful owners in N/E and does not seem to treat the Tamils equally, the way he stood by his colleague, who is also a Tamil and a Sri Lankan by birth.
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Diyani / June 16, 2016
It is time that the President Sirisena resigns. Such a spineless person or so greedy of being the president even at the cost of losing his reputation of hr has one left.
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Lanka Watch / June 17, 2016
Diyani – I totally disagree with your characterization of the President
as who else do you think could occupy that chair and do a sincere job,
other than, may be only PM Ranil. You know very well what the past Presidents did and how they emptied the treasury and ruined the name of
the country among the International community. Today we are friendly with many countries and get the cooperation of USA, China & India, and such kind of coop. of three world powers, put together ,we never got before, known in our political history and this is due to shrewd diplomacy practised by the current President.
It does not take five minutes for the President to ask Mr. Mahendran to resign but what holds the President in not doing so is that he practices democracy.
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LAW / June 16, 2016
what ever restructuring of the central bank please go ahead but mahendra has to go. his continuance means that the political leaders of the slfp and unp are deaf dumb and blind. shall see the peoples power for political correctness.
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Jay / June 16, 2016
Srilanka need to learn to be ruthless when it comes to getting rid of undesirables?
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Native Vedda / June 16, 2016
Jay
“Srilanka need to learn to be ruthless when it comes to getting rid of undesirables?”
The entire country tried your strategy between 5th April 1971 and 9th January 2015 and found that it was too expensive and didn’t work. In the meantime, Gota has offered to take on the challenge.
Probably you have a glimmer of hope, but I don’t, for the pain he had inflicted on innocent people is still fresh in their mind.
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Leon / June 17, 2016
I dont think Ranil has any credibility left. He is a arrogant ignorant so and so.
Sirisena is the same, unknown, yes sir no sir politician for forty seven years in
politics, now as countries President working non stop rebuilding SLFP party. Both
of them are equally bad as the previous rulers. It will be a blessing to the country
if they get kicked out ASAP.
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Diogenes / June 17, 2016
One who defends a rogue will thereby become a rogue himself!
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Shazam / June 17, 2016
Ranil’s arrogance and stubbornness will lead to his downfall. His credibility is shot and with a joker like Kiriella being his right-hand mouthpiece, he is jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
The Mahendran fiasco may just be the straw that breaks this donkey’s back!
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Kuttayan / June 17, 2016
CT says “After he took over foreign exchange reserves have fallen more than a third from their late 2014 peak of $82.2-billion to $5.6 billion at the end of May, the lowest since February 2012”
CT must check numbers before publishing it …. Foriegn EXchange Reserve was USD8,210,750,397 in late 2014 that means $8.2 billion not $82.2 billion!
Source – http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FI.RES.TOTL.CD
Manipulating the numbers by moving the decimals??
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Soga / June 17, 2016
Who the HELL is SB or SARATH AMUNUGANA 2 losers .
The people voted them out of parliament.
But spineless Sirisena brings them not only as MP’s but gives them Cabinet Posts too.
He too pretends to be a man of the masses but can afford to wear a pair of CARTIER specs that cost a couple of thousand $ ‘s.
That s ok is it ,because he is head of state & looks like a coolie?
Do any of the 3 of them know the ABC of ECONOMICS , or has any of them done anything above a 10 th grade exam?
How did Sarath A get a doctorate ?
Was it just something bestowed on him for some cash paid to a university?
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Ajantha / June 20, 2016
RW will keep all his old and young ” kollas ” at any cost. Shame
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