Submit your Article

Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand said that the government has no plans to join the State Partnership Program (SPP).

Responding to queries on budget in the Parliament on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, Minister Khand said that the government has not made any decision to join the SPP.

He expressed his commitment not to allow Nepali land to be used against the neighbouring countries.

Sri Lanka is giving government officials an extra day off a week to encourage them to grow food, amid fears of a food shortage, BBC reported.

The country has around one million public sector employees.

It comes as the island nation, home to around 22 million, faces its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years.

Sri Lanka is struggling to pay for critical imports such as food, fuel and medicine as it faces a severe shortage of foreign currencies.

Late on Monday, the government approved a proposal for public sector workers to be given leave every Friday for the next three months.

It said the decision was partly to help workers who are facing difficulties getting to work due to fuel shortages as well as to encourage them to grow fruit and vegetables to help feed themselves and their families, according to BBC.

"It seems appropriate to grant government officials leave for one working day of the week and provide them with the necessary facilities to engage in agricultural activities in their backyards or elsewhere as a solution to the food shortage that is expected to occur in the future," the government said in a statement on its online news portal.

Also on Monday, the United States said that it was ready to help Sri Lanka.

After a phone call with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US "stands ready to work with Sri Lanka".

Earlier this month, Mr Wickremesinghe said the country needed at least $5bn (£4.15bn) this year to pay for essential imports.

The government is in talks over an economic bailout package, with an IMF delegation expected to arrive in the capital Colombo next Monday.

The fall in the value of the Sri Lankan rupee, rising global commodity prices and a ban chemical fertilisers - which has now been lifted - helped to push annual food price rises to more than 57% in April, BBC reported.

At the end of last month, the country's Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera called on farmers to grow more rice, saying "it is clear the food situation is becoming worse".

"We request all farmers to step into their fields in the next five to ten days and cultivate paddy [rice]," he added.

At the same time the government raised taxes to help shore up its finances, according to BBC.

Germany has accused Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom of attempting to push up energy prices by sharply reducing supplies, BBC reported.

Gazprom said it was limiting the amount of gas to Germany to under 70m cubic metres per day - well under half the current rate. 

The reason it gave was to service equipment in the Nord Stream pipeline.

But German economy minister Robert Habeck said it was "a political decision" and not a technical one.

"It is obviously a strategy to unsettle and drive up prices."

Gazprom said initially on Tuesday it was cutting the Nord Stream 1 gas flow from 167m cubic metres a day to 100m but then on Wednesday announced it would be cut further to 67m cubic metres. 

Gazprom also reduced its gas supply to Italy by around 15% on Wednesday, energy firm ENI said. Italy, like Germany, is heavily reliant on Russian gas, which accounts for 40% of its imports, according BBC reported.

The Russian company's move came two weeks after European Union leaders agreed to block most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.

Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands have already had their Russian natural gas deliveries suspended after they refused a demand for "unfriendly countries" to pay in Russian roubles.

Russia's payment demand was seen as an attempt to boost the rouble after it was hit by Western sanctions. Greater foreign exchange demand for roubles was likely to increase demand and push up the currency's value.

Mr Habeck said Russia's actions showed European countries needed to end their dependency on fossil fuels urgently. In February, Germany suspended the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, shortly before Russia launched its war in Ukraine.

The minister said he would wait to see how the move affected the European and German gas markets but said suppliers had always managed to find gas from other sources.

"We don't have a supply problem in Germany either," he said. "Gas will probably continue to be stored. We have made very good progress in this area in the last few days and weeks. 

"However, we will certainly have to wait two or three days to get a complete overview of how things are developing now."

In another development on Wednesday, the EU signed a framework agreement with Israel and Egypt aimed at increasing the amount of Israeli natural gas exported to European countries, BBC reported.

The US central bank has announced its biggest interest rate rise in nearly 30 years as it ramps up its fight to rein in soaring consumer prices, BBC reported.

The Federal Reserve said it would increase its key interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%.

The rise, the third since March, comes after inflation in the US surged unexpectedly last month.

More hikes are expected, adding to the uncertainty facing the economy.

Forecasts released after the meeting showed officials expect the rate the Fed charges banks to borrow could reach 3.4% by the end of the year, the moves rippling out to the public in the form of higher borrowing costs for mortgages, credit cards and other loans.

As central banks around the world take similar steps, it marks a massive change for the global economy, where businesses and households have enjoyed years of low borrowing costs, according to Associated Press.

"Most advanced economy central banks and some emerging market central banks are tightening policy in sync," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at strategy consulting firm EY-Parthenon.

"That is a global environment that we've not been accustomed to in the past few decades, and that will represent ramifications for the business sector and for consumers throughout the world."