Revenues from January to October grew 8.1 percent to 506.1 billion rupees, while expenditure rocketed at a much faster 27.1 percent driving the overall deficit to 416.3 billion rupees.

The deficit is about 8.5 percent of the 4,900 billion rupee GDP estimated at the time a deal with the International Monetary Fund was signed in July.

The overall deficit was expected to be 346 billion rupees for 2009, or about 7.0 percent of gross domestic product under the IMF deal. But the overall deficit had hit 416.4 billion rupees by October, exceeding the full year target.

The deficit in the current account of the budget, or the gap between revenue and recurrent expenditure overtook the full year target much earlier. It has now hit a record of 173.6 billion rupees or 3.5 percent of GDP.

Up to September 2009, total revenues lagged behind that of the previous year, as the economy slowed and import taxes in particular slumped amid a collapse in international trade.

Based on trends so far the budget is on track for an 11.3 percent of GDP deficit, though higher nominal growth in the economy and a faster pick up in revenues can moderated teh number.

The November numbers came after a long delay.

An International Monetary Fund mission due this month however will look at December numbers. Under the IMF deal, Sri Lanka has to provide preliminary data for assessment six weeks after a test date.

The IMF deal sought to cut the deficit so that the private sector would not be crowded out by government domestic borrowing and the economy would not be de-stabilized by money printing.

Up to October the government was able to borrow domestically without disrupting the domestic economy too much amid ‘flight to treasuries’ behaviour among banks, but in the past few week, the central bank has started to monetize debt.

In the first four months of the year, the government is running a temporary budget, broadly extrapolating the 2009 budget, with parliamentary polls due on April 08.

The move will affect the latest model of the Prius, a car beloved of Hollywood stars and environmentalists, following scores of complaints about malfunctioning brake systems.

The Prius problems have dealt a new blow to Toyota, after it had to recall eight million cars around the world because of sticky accelerator pedals.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Prius recall, to repair a software programme for the anti-lock braking system designed to prevent skidding, is expected to affect some 270,000 vehicles in Japan and the United States alone.

“The company has notified its dealers in Japan that it would recall all the (new model Prius) vehicles sold in the country,” the mass-circulation paper said, without giving a source.

“The company will also repair the software free of charge in the United States and other countries in a similar manner,” Yomiuri said, adding that the company would make an official announcement this week.

The Nikkei business daily said Toyota would also repair about 30,000 vehicles sold in Europe, China, Australia, Middle East and other areas.

“We’ve been told the automaker will soon give us an official instruction about Prius,” said a Toyota dealer in Tokyo.

Company representatives were not available for comment.

Toyota, the world’s largest car maker, has sold over 300,000 of the latest Prius in 60 countries and territories since the new model rolled out in May.

“It’s a very huge number (of recalls) and it’s a very real problem for them, which means they are going to lose market share… especially in the US, but also in Europe,” said Frank Schwope, an auto analyst at German bank NordLB.

“The other mass producers will profit from it, for example VW, for example Nissan or Honda… but also Ford and also GM will profit from it,” he said.

Toyota had originally considered a voluntary repair for the problem, which the company said is not a fundamental defect, but decided on a recall to try to regain customer trust, Yomiuri and Kyodo News reported.

Problems can be fixed at Toyota dealerships in less than an hour, media reports said, adding that units manufactured in January and later already have the updated software.

Toyota came under fire after it said it had fixed the Prius brake system last month without warning drivers who already own the model about the possibility of brake failure.

Japan’s transport ministry reportedly received about 80 complaints this month about brake malfunctions and called for an investigation, while Toyota has separately received more than 100 complaints since the crisis broke.

The Prius — which combines a petrol combustion engine with a battery-powered electric motor — is Toyota’s flagship hybrid car and key to its efforts to stay in pole position in fuel-efficient vehicles.

Toyota, which in 2008 dethroned General Motors as the world’s biggest car maker, produced 530,000 hybrids in 2009, spanning 15 models from sport utility vehicles to sedans, mini-vans and the luxury Lexus series.

The company has come under heavy fire for its handling of massive recalls affecting about eight million vehicles worldwide — more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles — due to accelerator trouble.

Toyota, which suspended output of eight models including the Corolla due to the defective accelerator pedals, will Monday restart operations at five factories in North America, Japan’s Jiji Press reported.

Vehicles to be assembled at the factories will be installed with redesigned pedals, it said.

The accelerator problems have been blamed for several accidents, including one in California in August in which four family members were killed.

A class action lawsuit on behalf of owners in the United States has alleged Toyota hid problems that have led to the rash of recalls.

Company president Akio Toyoda said Friday he was “deeply sorry” for the string of quality issues and said he would head a new task force to raise standards and investigate the cause of the problems.

But Japanese newspapers have lashed out at Toyota’s slow response to the fiasco and warned it could hurt Japan’s hard-won reputation for trustworthy technology.

Toyota is facing a two-billion-dollar bill from the global recall but last week said it was on course to earn 80 billion yen (880 million dollars) in the fiscal year to March.

IHS Global Insight analysts have warned, however, that “the sales impact from potential customers could be devastating” if Toyota is not seen to be frank over the technical faults.

Weary Swiss bankers tried to contain another onslaught that shook the remnants of the lucrative wall of secrecy they have been struggling to maintain against Europe and the United States.

However, their minds were increasingly set on growing business with Asia and emerging markets.

“Banking secrecy is being called into question,” admitted the secretary general of the Swiss Private Bankers Association, Michel Derobert.

“It is important for past clientele, and it’s losing its importance for the clients of the future,” he said.

Swiss banks were legally sworn to secrecy over their clients’ affairs in 1934, as a wave of espionage by Germany’s then Nazi regime against Germans — including Jews and political opponents — with deposits in Switzerland added to other tensions of the era.

Although nobody in Switzerland is making comparisons with 1930s Europe, an anonymous whistleblower’s recent offer to German authorities — thought to be the third leak in two years — annoyed the banking establishment and fuelled domestic doubts about the value of secrecy.

The Swiss Bankers’ Association condemned the German decision, claiming that Germany was turning into “a receiver of stolen goods” and testing good neighbourly relations.

“It’s part of their strategy not to name the bank, to keep people worried,” said James Nason, a spokesman for association.

At least one bank in Zurich reportedly faced a flurry of calls from German customers.

Germany has been in the forefront of European pressure on Switzerland to counter tax evasion in recent years.

That was followed by the G20 group of leading economies last year, which forced the Swiss to water down secrecy and bolster cooperation.

“Banking secrecy no longer has a future. It has run its course,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Saturday edition of Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

“It is obviously not an easy decision for Switzerland. Banking secrecy is a part of its state tradition,” he said. “But international cooperation changes national traditions. Switzerland finds itself in this process of change.”

Whistleblowers have amplified the pressure.

Information from a former UBS banker arrested in 2008 formed the backbone of multi-million dollar US government litigation last year that obliged the Swiss bank to hand over details on some 4,500 suspected tax dodging US offshore clients.

And last month, Swiss and French ministers smoothed over a spat over French use of data taken from the Geneva private banking subsidiary of global giant HSBC by a former employee.

“It’s embarrassing and painful if you have cases like that but out of 330 banks it’s just three cases in two years,” Nason said.

Experts nonetheless highlighted the harm for the reputation of Swiss banking and the psychological value of the bank secrecy banner.

“This component is pretty well the most important one,” tax lawyer Philippe Kenel said. “Whether the rumours are true or not, it’s clear that trust is affected.”

The German case has also fuelled an expanding array of sceptics across the political spectrum in Switzerland, while Swiss Finance Minister Hans Rudolf Merz steered clear of mentioning sanctions with a “trusted” neighbour — unlike with France over HSBC.

And while Merz insisted that the Swiss would not be helping any German tax probes based on the stolen data, he underlined that “the German government is free to use acquired data inside its own country.”

“It is not in the interest of Switzerland to attract undeclared foreign funds,” he said.

The overall cost of dents in secrecy is hard to pin down.

“It’s impossible to put a price on it, it’s like one of four wheels on a car,” Nason said.

The SBA says more than half of securities in Swiss banks are foreign held, but just 17.5 percent in recent years belonged to foreign private clients while the bulk came from institutional investors with little concern for secrecy.

Eric Jondeau, of the Swiss Institute for Banking and Finance, estimated that losses in wealth management — where Swiss banking is ranked third in the world — should not exceed five billion dollars, out of hundreds of billions of foreign assets.

But Dutch authorities alone said that of the 2.2 billion euros declared during a recent tax amnesty, most was stashed away in accounts in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

The Swiss banking establishment also highlights new business with emerging markets and Asia, and a smaller role for Europe.

The country’s biggest private bank, exclusively serving wealthy clients, Julius Baer on Friday noted an increase in new money and deposits last year, with “continued strong inflows from emerging markets and in particular Asia.”

“The big potential of the future is Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and above all Asia,” Kenel said.

For all five aspects, cheap, plentiful and high quality leased lines are essential. It is difficult to envisage a knowledge hub without allowing all citizens who so wish to harvest the potential of the Internet.

To harvest the potential of the Internet, a metamedium that allows one to retrieve information on a plethora of topics, to publish information, to engage in transactions, including payment, to remotely compute and so on, ubiquitous broadband is the necessary precondition. Today, for the most part, telecom is a consumption good, a way to spend money in return for various utilities.

In the next stage, telecom will become a production good, a way to make or save money. Today it takes money from our pockets; tomorrow, if things are done right, it will put money in our pockets or at least keep more money from leaving the pocket.

To make broadband ubiquitous and the Internet an integral part of all interactions and transactions, we need a new wave of investment in networks and services by the current telecom operators and by new service providers, larger than that which solved the voice connectivity problem. The analogy is to roads. Today we have the equivalent of the network of “A” roads across the country.

They are congested, accident-prone and slow, but they exist. What we need are expressways (limited-entry/limited-exit highways).

The voice-connectivity problem is solved in Sri Lanka. There are somewhere in the range of 14 million connections active for a population of 20 million. Even those who do not have a phone in their own homes can reach one easily. Prices are among the lowest in the world. Quality leaves something to be desired, but is a tractable problem. To get from congested roads (current telecom network) to expressways (ubiquitous broadband), significant investment is required. We got to the present level of narrowband connectivity not because of government investment, but because the government pulled back and allowed the private sector to invest with a modicum of regulatory certainty.

What is needed for the next leap is also just that: a decent regulatory environment in which investors can make business plans that are likely to have some semblance to reality; taxes and levies that do not change from year to year; the basic requirements of adequate and timely spectrum, access to rights of way and tower locations; non-discriminatory and cost-based access to essential facilities such as cable stations; some basic level of regulation of anti-competitive practices. If these things are there, the investments will be made.

With the country likely to achieve six percent growth rates for the next few years without any trouble http://lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=1448881241, the perception is that there is money to be made. Investments will happen. Further, there’s Arab money looking for parking places, Indian money looking for a place to put the first exploratory foot down, Chinese money looking to lessen the dependence on the US and so on.

The government does not need to decide on the services that will be offered or even set the standards except for interacting with government. The decentralized innovation process known as the market will look after all that, as long as there is adequate entry and minimum safeguards against monopolization.

So the picture looks good.

The only problem is that the basic precondition of a decent regulatory environment has been eroded.

The Telecom Regulatory Commission has become the opposite of what it was intended to be. Instead of shielding investors from the arbitrary actions of government, it has become the instrument of arbitrary and capricious action. Vetath niyarath goyam ka nam . . . It has become one of the principal revenue earners for the government:

It is shocking that a regulatory agency is generating more revenue for the government than the Port and the Petroleum Corporation. Perhaps it is time to rename the TRC as the Telecom Revenue Commission.

This is money extracted from the industry through spectrum and various regulatory fees that have been doubled and quadrupled over the past few years. This does not include the special taxes levied directly from customers through the telecom operators such as the 10 percent telecom (originally mobile) levy http://lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=202991115, and the money extracted to support the many expenses of the Environment Ministry http://lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=1625942485. Of every rupee spent by a customer on telecom, around 30 cents is extracted by the government http://lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=544920901.

The TRC is raising revenue, but perhaps it is also doing a decent job regulating? Perhaps we can call it the Telecom Revenue and Regulatory Commission? Unfortunately not. By allowing the President’s Office to impose a sender-keeps-all interconnection regime on the industry and by not taking action to control the explosion of international bypass traffic that resulted from this ill-considered act, the TRC has allowed the generation of large amounts of black money and deprived both legitimate operators and the government of revenue.

From a situation where all operators were making healthy profits, the inaction and bad actions of the TRC have brought the industry to a state where none are making profits, not even Sri Lanka Telecom, which used to make money even when government-owned.

One company losing money for one quarter is that company’s fault; but the blame for all companies losing money over multiple quarters must be laid at the door of the regulatory agency.

In addition, the TRC has become the direct instrument of bringing politics into the industry, as evidenced by the infamous free-of-charge new-year’s day SMS from one presidential candidate that was sent at the behest of the former Director General. This is described as administrative expropriation http://lirneasia.net/2010/01/administrative-expropriation-in-practice-how-regulators-can-ruin-the-investment-climate/, and exactly what regulatory agencies were created to prevent.

The previous Director General was unqualified to head a regulatory agency and he did things that were not authorized under the Act. He should have been removed for those reasons, but was not. He was asked to go for purely political reasons.

The new Director General is going to run the TRC on a part-time basis, in addition to running the government information department. He too does not appear to have any special expertise in telecommunication or in regulation. With the part-time, ex officio Chair being the most over-burdened official in the country, the Secretary to the President, one wonders who is actually going to run the TRC. Or perhaps the thinking is that it is beyond redemption. Is it that the Special Committee to Develop Broadband http://www.dailynews.lk/epaper/art.asp?id=2010/02/03/Pg08_1&pt=p&h= is seen as an adequate substitute.

In these circumstances, it is difficult to envisage how the next wave of investments needed to allow the people of Sri Lanka to harvest the benefits of the Internet economy will materialize. It is difficult to see how the telecom sector can make its essential contribution to making Sri Lanka a five-fold hub unless governance is improved, not just by improving the management of the regulatory agency, but by bringing in a new Act to replace the current obsolete and failed statute. If the government is serious about the telecom sector contributing to the five-fold hub plan, it has to grasp the nettle and fix the dysfunctional telecom regulatory regime.

Thus ends the first attempt to discuss economic reform with governance deemphasized http://lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=645840595#cm. I failed; but will continue to try.

Rohan Samarajiva heads LirneAsia, a regional think tank. He was also a former telecoms regulator in Sri Lanka. To read previous columns go to the main navigation panel and click on ‘Choices’ category.

“A central plank will be the privatization of the airport, but stakes in the telecommunications company have already been sold and other enterprises and services (such as electricity, water and sewage) could also be divested,” the IMF said in a report.

A stake in the telecoms firm has been sold for 40 million US dollars and “a majority stake in the airport is expected to be sold in the coming months”, the IMF said in a report issued after the economic watchdog’s annual consultations with the tourist paradise.

Difficult Times

The IMF has a program to rescue the economy and boost its foreign reserves after the islands ran into balance of payments troubles due to monetization of debt, which was worsened during the recent global economic downturn.

The government would also like to sell off its stake in the Bang of Maldives, which has been hit by bad loans. The bank also had less access to international credit lines unlike other banks which are part of foreign banks.

IMF said authorities had already replaced the management and the bank was on a loan recovery drive. In the future the bank may look for a strategic partner to get fresh capital.

Maldives hotels have been hit by the global economic slump which in turn has hurt government revenues, expanding the budget deficit.

The privatization drive was not a core part of the IMF backed rescue program (a structural benchmark) but would improve economic efficiency in the long term and boost revenues in the short term.

Expanding government expenses, partially due a higher public sector wage bill and falling revenues had increased the budget deficit which had been financed with central bank credit (printed money) causing foreign reserve losses.

Peg Woes

The Maldivian Monetary Authority, has a peg with the US dollar at 12.8 local units, called the rufiyaa. The IMF says the peg can be maintain if excess local money is withdrawn and the fiscal house set in order.

“Monetary policy has been constrained by fiscal dominance—the government had been able to borrow without limit from the MMA—and the fixed exchange rate regime,” the IMF report said.

“In the absence of open market operations (introduced only in August 2009), any excess money supply from deficit monetization had ultimately been reabsorbed via reserve losses.”

Direct deficit monetization has been stopped from September 2009 and existing government loans at the monetary authority would be converted and sold down to absorb excess liquidity.

Domestic deficit financing would be limited to Treasury bills sales to entities other than the central bank.

Global turmoil had brought the economy to the ‘brink of a crisis’ the IMF said. In 2009 the economy was expected to shrink by 4.0 percent but rebound to a 3.5 percent growth in 2010.

The program estimates a budget deficit of 28.8 percent for 2009 which will fall to 17.8 percent in 2010 with cuts in the public sector salary bill averaging 14 percent, staff reduction with some activities being converted to state corporations.

De Silva Wijerantne is a founder trustee of Youth Business Sri Lanka which is affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the island’s most influential trade body.

It supports enterprising youth to start businesses through concessionary credit and business mentoring.

The Youth Business International was founded in the UK in 2000 and has a network of spanning 40 countries in six continents. Its president is Britain’s Prince of Wales.

De Silva Wijeratne is one of two elected members who will represent 12 countries at the parent body at quarterly board meetings.

The other elected member is David Stewart-Patterson, who is the executive vice President of the Canadian council of chief executives and vice chair, Canadian Youth Business Foundation.

He holds a Masters’ degree from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, and is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants – UK.

Eight Sri Lankans who had been shortlisted for this year’s auction. Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Thilina Kandamby, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Chanaka Welegedara, and Nuwan Zoysa were unsold.

Chennai Super Kings bought Perera for US $50,000 while none of the Pakistan players were sold at the auction.

In all, 56 players remained unsold out of 67 that went under the hammer.

West Indian Kieron Pollard became the first, and perhaps most expensive, purchase of the auction.

Pollard, 22, will join the Mumbai Indians team after attracting an undisclosed winning fee, far exceeding his price of $750,000, while the Kolkata Knight Riders won the retired New Zealand paceman Shane Bond for $750,000.

England’s Graeme Swann, Australian Brad Haddin and Shahid Afridi went unsold in the first round of the auction. The three had a base price of $250,000

Pollard and Bond’s purchases were decided by the newly introduced tiebreaker rule.

Pollard attracted $750,000 bids from four franchises _ Mumbai, the Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata. The four bidders were asked to make silent bids on paper within five minutes. IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi received the bids and made announced the winner.

Kolkata went into a tiebreak with the Deccan Chargers for Bond. The silent bid amount exceeding the base price is not disclosed. The excess money _ more than the franchisees limit of $750,000 spending, goes to IPL and not the player.

Trinidad & Tobago-born Pollard drew attention as an allrounder during last year’s Champions League Twenty20 tournament . Bond was associated with the rebel Indian Cricket League and returned to the IPL fold only recently.

West Indies pacer Kemar Roach surprised many by becoming the second costliest player, bought by Deccan Chargers for US $720,000.

However, not many were surprised when Delhi Daredevils didn’t hesitate paying US $610,000 — against a base price of US $200,000 – for South Africa all-rounder Wayne Parnell.

Royal Challengers Bangalore made a good addition to their squad, buying England’s Eoin Morgan for $220, 000, just $20, 000 more than his base price. That was the only bid they made.

Mohammed Kaif, the only Indian player in the auction, went unsold in the first round but was later bought by Kings XI Punjab for US $250,000. They also recalled South African Yusuf Abdullah.

Rajasthan Royals bought retired Australian Damien Martyn for US $100,000 apart from securing the services of Adam Voges for US $50,000.

Chennai Super Kings recalled South African Justin Kemp by paying US $100,000.

The third edition of the Twenty20 tournament will begin on March 12.

Healthcare services as a career is poised to grow exponentially over the next decade or so. With 3.5 million jobs projected, healthcare is the fastest growing industry in the U.S. today. For students in high school interested in a career in healthcare administration, include courses in Math, English, Science, and Social Sciences. A foreign language such as Spanish could also work to your advantage. Entry-level positions in healthcare administration require a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree. For a higher-level job or greater earning potential, you could follow up with a Master’s degree as well. Most Bachelor’s degrees in healthcare administration cover basic theory and an overview of the healthcare industry. Also included in the curriculum is the development of skills such as financial management, leadership skills, business planning skills, and statistical analysis. A good healthcare degree program equips students with knowledge about economics, law, legal and ethical concepts, and the organizational structure in the medical community. Students may be encouraged to volunteer and garner work experience and internship positions at local healthcare centers as part of their degree program.

If you choose a career in healthcare administration, you are assured of making a
significant contribution to community health. There are several job options in this field that you can choose from such as administrative positions in hospitals, nursing homes, private clinics, healthcare agencies, insurance companies, and even HMOs. Entry-level positions include health provider representative, accountants, marketing assistants, and project managers and consultants. Mid-level jobs could include positions such as department managers, contract negotiators, case managers, and marketing directors while senior-level positions include Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers and Vice-Presidents of various departments and services. With a health care administration degree, you could be handling a diverse range of responsibilities that include human resources, marketing, staff relations, planning, development, patient care services, government relations, and information systems. You will be on call and your services will be required to solve problems, make critical choices and delegate and supervise a staff that could number in the hundreds. As you can see, healthcare administration covers a large area and what you do will ultimately depend on the size and type of the medical facility that employs you. Salaries are competitive but work schedules may be a bit demanding as most hospitals work 24/7. To be successful in this field demands a combination of communication skills, negotiating power, analysis of information and the ability to thrive under stress. If you feel this applies to you, then a career in healthcare
administration may be exactly what you are looking for.

Author: MichaelB

California College San Diego (CCSD) has trained graduates for new careers in high demand jobs since 1978. It offers associate, bachelor and graduate degrees in healthcare, business, computers and graphics. California College San Diegoalso provides accelerated degree programs with its FastFlex courses. In-demand college degree program offered by CCSD are accredited by ACCSCT.

“We are happy to have entered into this partnership, as we believe that Girawa’s global reach will enable us to extend our services to overseas Sri Lankan community and in turn introduce our services to more customers in Sri Lanka”, Tigo, CEO Dumindra Ratnayaka said.

“We are delighted and honoured to have joined hands with Tigo, who pioneered mobile telephone services in Sri Lanka. The partnership with Tigo will enable us to provide innovative communication solutions to Sri Lankan expatriates worldwide.

Our customers overseas and their friends and families in Sri Lanka can now call each other through Girawa/Tigo networks at very competitive rates. With Tigo’s wide network footprint and superior quality of service, our customers can enjoy world class communication services in the most cost-effective way”, said Girawa, CEO Sathya Weerasooriya. Girawa, a pioneer in IP based voice services, is fully owned and operated by Sri Lankan professionals and licenced in the United States by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as an International Telecommunication Services Provider.

It has been in operation since 2004 helping Sri Lankan expatriates to be in contact with their families and friends back in Sri Lanka in the most economical way. Girawa runs all its IP based applications on the cutting-edge Amazon Cloud Computing environment in the USA providing highly reliable and secure service to its customers.

Currently, Girawa has local sales and customer service offices in USA, Canada, UK and Australia and a 24×7 Help Desk in Sri Lanka providing friendly and personalized customer service.

Girawa and Tigo will initially offer various communication plans for Girawa customers in USA, Canada and Australia.

Those customers can order Tigo mobile phones for their friends and families in Sri Lanka, and call each other free or at very low rates, enabling them to save over 60 percent.

More importantly, the overseas Girawa customer can completely manage the account and pay all the charges giving their Sri Lanka contacts the absolute freedom in using this service.