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Sri Lanka-Iran ‘tea-for-oil’ barter agreement progresses with over $20 million settled

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The ongoing Sri Lanka and Iran ‘tea-for-oil’ barter agreement is now making strong progress and Sri Lanka has already settled over USD 20 million to Iran.

“This agreement was to settle a total of USD 250 million for purchases made by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) for oil imported from Iran in 2012”, said Chairman Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) Niraj De Mel in a special interview with ‘Daily News Business’.

In a bid to save draining of foreign exchange from Sri Lanka to service the high petroleum imports the then Minister of Finance, Mangala Samaraweera and Dr. Romesh Pathirana talked to National Iranian Oil Company of Iran officials since 2019 to trade tea instead of paying in USD when purchasing fuel to protect local forex reserves. 

The barter was agreed in 2021 for oil imported in 2012 however due to the economic crisis this deal was only signed last year.

“Since then we have made very strong progress and up to December 2023 we have settled around USD 20 million.”

Explaining the modalities of the agreement he said that the local tea exporters to Iran get paid in Sri Lanka rupees by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. 

SLTB will be settling payments to Sri Lanka tea exporters upon confirmation of tea consignments are shipped to Iran by the tea exporters. This is scrutinized through a recognized Audit Firm.

“The agreement is to send USD 5 million worth of tea each month to Iran for 48 months.”

De Mel said that with Iran facing a cold climate in the next few months we expect the demand for local tea to increase. 

“Hence we have requested the Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera to increase the monthly USD 5 allocation (equivalent to Sri Lankan rupees) made by them to local tea exporters. We have requested the Minister to increase this to USD 10 million and he has responded to this request positively.”

De Mel said that though there are some international restrictions imposed on Iran this ‘tea-for-oil’ barter agreement does not violate it. 

“This scheme will not violate any UN or US sanctions since tea has been categorized as a food item under humanitarian grounds while none of the black listed Iranian banks will be involved in the equation.”

The total revenue realized for the period January – December 2023 from tea exports was USD 1.31 billion compared with USD 1.27 Billion recorded for the period January to December 2022. 

The increase of tea exports was USD 1.31 billion compared to the same period in 2022.

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Standard egg prices to be announced daily via SMS

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Chairman of the All-Ceylon Egg Producers’ Association, R.M. Sarath Rathnayake has said new measures to announce daily standardized egg prices will be introduced from next Monday (June 23) to ensure fair pricing for consumers.

The prices covering wholesale, retail, and intermediary rates will be communicated daily at 5.00am via SMS to small, medium, and large-scale egg producers, as well as bakery owners, food manufacturers, and hotels through the number 070-7030700.

He warned of recent practices where eggs were bought at Rs.15-18 and stockpiled, stating such actions will no longer be tolerated.

He also criticized groups posing as “egg associations” without actual farming experience.

The cost of producing an egg is around Rs.28 for large farms, Rs.29-30 for medium range farms, and Rs.32 for small-scale producers, he further said.

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16 bn. Apple, Facebook, Google passwords exposed

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A staggering 16 billion passwords to Apple, Facebook, Google, and various US government services have been leaked online, triggering global security alerts in what experts are calling the most significant data breach in history.

The mammoth security breach has forced Google to urge billions of users to change their passwords immediately.

At the same time, the FBI has issued warnings to Americans about opening suspicious links in SMS messages.

Cybersecurity experts at Cybernews, who investigated the breach, discovered a whopping 30 exposed datasets containing between tens of millions and over 3.5 billion records each.

Perhaps most alarmingly, researchers confirmed that nearly all these exposed datasets contain previously unreported information, making this an entirely fresh security crisis.

“This is not just a leak – it’s a blueprint for mass exploitation,” the researchers said via Forbes this week.

(news.com.au)

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New chairman appointed to CSE

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Dimuthu Abeyesekera has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).

The CSE announced that Mr. Abeyesekera brings over 35 years of experience in the capital markets and has served on the CSE Board for the past six years.

He currently serves as the Director/CEO of Asha Securities Ltd, which is affiliated with Phillip Capital Singapore, a specialized financial services organization managing assets worth over US$ 35 billion with a network of offices around the world.

Abeysekera also currently serves as the Director at Asha Financial Services Ltd, a specialised margin Trading Company in Colombo.

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