一 | Colombo, Oct 12 (UNI) Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry says that a handful of persons who advised former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa caused the unprecedented economic meltdown in the island nation.
The Island newspaper quoted Sabry as alleging that politicians, officials, public sector as well as the trade unions were responsible for the current crisis which has led to widespread shortages of even essential goods including fuel, food and medicines.
The Minister said so in response to Hiru anchor Chamuditha Samarawickrema while discussing the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) taking up the contentious issue of economic crimes in Sri Lanka.
In a wide-ranging interview, Sabry repeated the accusations that he had made in June in his capacity as the Finance Minister following talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
However, Minister Sabry declined to call those responsible ‘economic assassins’ or categorise their actions ‘economic crimes.’ But he acknowledged that as a member of the Cabinet-of-Ministers he had also been named a respondent in Court cases in this regard.
Sabry stressed that he didn’t believe that those who had been blamed for the crisis did so purposely though the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa acted recklessly on advice received, without taking sufficient safeguards, the newspaper reported.
The interviewers repeatedly pointed out that the denial of basic requirements could be considered violation of human rights.
The Minister complained that in spite of the deteriorating crisis, those responsible continued to make promises at the expense of economic stability.
Sabry cited the recent declaration of free mid-day meal as a case in point. Such promises were made without making required financial provisions, he said.
He admitted that Sri Lanka wouldn’t have been in this mess if not for the arrogant conduct of the decision-makers.
Commenting on the vote against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC meet in Geneva, the Minister said the country was paying a very heavy price for failing to fulfil the promises made by successive governments to the international community.
Sabry emphasised that the contentious issues of reconciliation and accountability should be addressed with appropriate mechanisms.
UNI MR。 Shares of Pfizer are in retreat on the first day of trading after the drug company said sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and its coronavirus treatment are weaker than it had expected and cut revenue projections by $9 billion for the year. Falling sales of both clipped sales in the second quarter, but Pfizer said in August that it expected a rebound in the second half of 2023. Shares of Pfizer slipped more than 1% before the opening bell Monday and Moderna, which is heavily reliant on the competing vaccine it makes, slid nearly 5%. Pfizer said Friday that global usage of Paxlovid is trending slightly above last year, but that it's still below expectations.The fall vaccination period just began and the New York City drugmaker said that it's too soon to get a handle on vaccination rates for the year.Full-year revenue for Paxlovid and Comirnaty is expected to be approximately $12.5 billion, short $9 billion of what it had expected. Pfizer is lowering its full-year revenue expectations for Paxlovid by approximately $7 billion. That number also accounts for delayed commercialization of the product, which was pushed to January 2024 from the company's previous expectation of commercialization in the second half of this year. Pfizer is also lowering its 2023 revenue expectations for Comirnaty by approximately $2 billion due to lower-than-expected vaccination rates.Pfizer Inc. now foresees 2023 revenue in a range of $58 billion to $61 billion, down from its prior forecast for $67 billion to $70 billion. It now projects full-year adjusted earnings between $1.45 and $1.65 per share due to lower-than-anticipated revenue for COVID-19-related products and inventory write-offs.That is short of the full-year revenue of $63.61 billion and earnings of $2.77 per share that Wall Street was expecting, and far short of the company's previous projections of per-share earning between $3.25 and $3.45. JPMorgan said the company's update solves an ongoing U.S. Paxlovid inventory debate and it anticipates the company's bigger-than-expected cuts to its sales projections will help put a floor under per-share earnings expectations for next year.。
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