INTL Sri Lanka down to last day of petrol, PM tells crisis-hit nation (Updated, #221)
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Jackalope
Irregular
Actually, they export tea, spices, like cinnamon, and precious gems. They have significant gem mines which produce emeralds, rubies, etc. They also export textiles and clothing. My wife, at one time, owned a dress factory, sold most of her product to U.S. companies.
They have universities and decent medical facilities. I visited one of their hospitals in Colombo, and it was as modern as any I've seen in the U.S. My mother-in-law had surgery where the surgeon used a laser for the incisions. What was weird though was that the family had to provide their own nurse during the overnight hours. We hired a RN, who worked the night for $20 USD.
There's a real dichotomy within the country, between the upper class and the lower class. It is a third world country outside of the urban/suburban areas. The cities resemble most European cities, except for the traffic with the tuk-tuks. There are fine restaurants and hotels in Columbo. In fact, Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination for folks from Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. From my experience, the country is a notch or two above India in regards to cleanliness. And in my travels, I never really felt threatened (except for that one time when I was surrounded by 15 troops with M-16's, but that's another story). But crimewise, I never felt threatened, and I went literally everywhere. I also noticed there wasn't many homeless people either, unlike most U.S. cities. What folks in the U.S. overlook is that Sri Lankan culture goes back thousands of years. The Buddha and Marco Polo supposedly visited that island. The island was finally conquered by the British in the 1800's (I've been to the stronghold where the final battle was fought). It definitely isn't a 4th world nation, as it actually does produce goods. The problem is that the Rajapaska family has been siphoning off the country's funds for many years. Hopefully, they will eventually be held accountable for what they've done. Prior to the Rajapaskas, the country was self-sufficient food-wise, and at one time they did export rice and coconuts, as they have a year round growing season. The Rajapaskas, like the Bidens, have royally screwed up the country, everything they touch turns to crap.
packyderms_wife
Neither here nor there.
Thank you for the boots on the ground report!
Bubble Head
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thanks Jackalope for the information. I have never been there and only read some very distressing stories. I always buy their water filters when I can since they are top grade.
Extreme economic crisis: Sri Lanka has one day of petrol left
RT 05:09
Note the guns in the LP gas line ...
jward
passin' thru
independent.co.uk
Sri Lanka’s prime minister says economy has ‘completely collapsed’Rory Sullivan
Sri Lanka’s economy has “completely collapsed”, leaving it unable to buy imported fuel, the country’s prime minister has said.
Speaking to his colleagues on Wednesday, Ranil Wickremesinghe said his nation is “facing a far more serious situation” than the gas, electricity and food shortages it has experienced in recent months. “Our economy has completely collapsed,” he explained.
Mr Wickremesinghe, who is also serving as the finance minister, admitted that the government had missed the opportunity to rectify the situation. “We are now seeing signs of a possible fall to rock bottom,” he warned.
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is currently in significant debt, he said. “As a result, no country or organisation in the world is willing to provide fuel to us. They are even reluctant to provide fuel for cash.”
The Sri Lankan prime minister also confirmed that his government was seeking financial assistance from allies.
“We need the support of India, Japan and China who have been historic allies. We plan to convene a donor conference with the involvement of these countries to find solutions for Sri Lanka’s crisis,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.
“We will also seek help from the US,” he added.
India has already offered support to the beleaguered country, providing it with around $3bn (£2.4bn) worth of assistance. A delegation from India will arrive in Sri Lanka on Thursday for further talks, while a team from the US will hold meetings with Sri Lankan officials next week.
The nation of 22 million people has already said it will halt the repayment of £5.7bn in foreign debt this year.
With the country’s worst financial crisis since independence deepening, people have been left struggling to buy basic commodities like food and medicine.
Widespread protests against the government’s handling of the economy broke out across Sri Lanka earlier this year, leading to the resignation of the prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa last month.
Sri Lanka’s PM says economy has ‘completely collapsed’
‘We are now seeing signs of a possible fall to rock bottom,’ warns Ranil Wickremesinghe
www.independent.co.uk
jward
passin' thru
Dr Jordan B Peterson
@jordanbpeterson
1h
Let's do this until the whole planet is saved!
View: https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1539644901872128000?s=20&t=_KuIFa5v_LqPLAtgQqdHJw
@jordanbpeterson
1h
Let's do this until the whole planet is saved!
View: https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1539644901872128000?s=20&t=_KuIFa5v_LqPLAtgQqdHJw
I'm sure biden will trade them something for a gob ov votes in the mid-terms.
Jackalope
Irregular
We've been keeping in contact with our family members who reside there. I can't over-emphasize how bad it is there food wise. As mentioned in the above articles, all fuels are rationed. My step-son waited several hours in line with a fuel can and got to the front of the line and the station ran out of fuel, that was Saturday. During the week, he works full time, so he has to hire someone to wait in line with a fuel can. He's only riding a motorcycle, as it's too expensive to drive their car. His office has a van which picks up the employees, otherwise no one would be coming into work, as there's not even fuel to run the public buses. After he gets home from work, he drives his motorcycle to his son's elementary school to pick him up, because again, no fuel for buses. Interestingly, the price for a gallon (4 liters) of gas is about $5.00 USD, but because of their low incomes, it would take about a week's wages to fill up a car's gas tank. The price of an egg went from $0.15 to $0.75 each, and this is in a country where the average income is $200-300 per month. Let's pray that this is not going to happen here. Also, the average citizen is not allowed to own long guns, and handguns are strictly prohibited. In any case, it's a cluster over there.
jward
passin' thru
Insider Paper
@TheInsiderPaper
37m
Replying to
@TheInsiderPaper
MORE: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced a two-week halt to all fuel sales except for essential services and appealed to the private sector to work from home as it ran out of supplies.
Sri Lanka suspends fuel sales for two weeks: government
AFP
June 27, 2022 12:14 pm
Source: Pixabay
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced a two-week halt to all fuel sales except for essential services and appealed to the private sector to work from home as it ran out of supplies.
“From midnight today, no fuel will be sold except for essential services like the health sector, because we want to conserve the little reserves we have,” government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana said.
@TheInsiderPaper
37m
Replying to
@TheInsiderPaper
MORE: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced a two-week halt to all fuel sales except for essential services and appealed to the private sector to work from home as it ran out of supplies.
Sri Lanka suspends fuel sales for two weeks: government
AFP
June 27, 2022 12:14 pm
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced a two-week halt to all fuel sales except for essential services and appealed to the private sector to work from home as it ran out of supplies.
“From midnight today, no fuel will be sold except for essential services like the health sector, because we want to conserve the little reserves we have,” government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana said.
jward
passin' thru
take notes, will be here too someday. . .
Wittgenstein
@backtolife_2023
Army in fuel stations in Sri Lanka after the govt. decision to ban the sale of petrol and diesel to non-essential vehicles. Source: https://t.me/dailyrealtimen
View: https://twitter.com/backtolife_2023/status/1543312644848996356?s=20&t=zE_cSW8jd67fbb8KPmFTLg
Wittgenstein
@backtolife_2023
Army in fuel stations in Sri Lanka after the govt. decision to ban the sale of petrol and diesel to non-essential vehicles. Source: https://t.me/dailyrealtimen
View: https://twitter.com/backtolife_2023/status/1543312644848996356?s=20&t=zE_cSW8jd67fbb8KPmFTLg
jward
passin' thru
If that is what the Lord directs you to do, then it should be done... but I'm afraid that most people will reward your loyalty and heartfelt concern for their well being, by viewing it as a weakness on your part, and repay you by taking all that you have and leaving you with little more than your life- if that.
Which is fine too- lots of things worse than dying by being stabbed in the back, literally, or figuratively, while doing what the good lord directs you to do.
DH and I used to have this 'discussion' and he'd remind me that I couldn't save everyone, so we compromised and literally had a list of the few hundred family and friends I couldn't not help, if needed, and another list of 40-50 kids within my neighborhood that I wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I seen them go hungry to the point of danger. Then we worked really hard within the community to help make it more resilient. Now everyone's dead, grown up or gone so their safety and well being is beyond my reach and responsibility. I still keep the small holding evolving, but am in constant prayer he has me setting it up for someone else and will soon free me to go find other tasks and tests. It feels I've been at this one my whole life, and I'm tired of the hamster wheel.
Which is fine too- lots of things worse than dying by being stabbed in the back, literally, or figuratively, while doing what the good lord directs you to do.
DH and I used to have this 'discussion' and he'd remind me that I couldn't save everyone, so we compromised and literally had a list of the few hundred family and friends I couldn't not help, if needed, and another list of 40-50 kids within my neighborhood that I wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I seen them go hungry to the point of danger. Then we worked really hard within the community to help make it more resilient. Now everyone's dead, grown up or gone so their safety and well being is beyond my reach and responsibility. I still keep the small holding evolving, but am in constant prayer he has me setting it up for someone else and will soon free me to go find other tasks and tests. It feels I've been at this one my whole life, and I'm tired of the hamster wheel.
I get it. You want to help
I want to help mine too.
Do you make their car payment now?
Always remember to prepare your mind&heart to be prepared that some will insist you give more than you can spare.
Just sayin'
Giving anonymously will prevent a big pile of grief.
jward
passin' thru
[URL='https://twitter.com/tinso_ww']Aldin
@tinso_ww[/URL]
1h
Protesters in Sri Lanka have reportedly stormed Presidential Palace. President apparently fled the Palace before.
View: https://twitter.com/tinso_ww/status/1545679279614267392?s=20&t=jnw54H7ThVDJRWjAGV8h4A
Newsistaan
@newsistaan
1m
The moment when the protesters in #SriLanka broke into the presidential residence, and footage inside the building.
View: https://twitter.com/newsistaan/status/1545696117429772288?s=20&t=jnw54H7ThVDJRWjAGV8h4A
@tinso_ww[/URL]
1h
Protesters in Sri Lanka have reportedly stormed Presidential Palace. President apparently fled the Palace before.
View: https://twitter.com/tinso_ww/status/1545679279614267392?s=20&t=jnw54H7ThVDJRWjAGV8h4A
Newsistaan
@newsistaan
1m
The moment when the protesters in #SriLanka broke into the presidential residence, and footage inside the building.
View: https://twitter.com/newsistaan/status/1545696117429772288?s=20&t=jnw54H7ThVDJRWjAGV8h4A
jward
passin' thru
Sri Lanka protesters break into President's House as thousands rally
By Iqbal Athas and Rhea Mogul, CNN
Updated 5:34 AM ET, Sat July 9, 2022
People gather in Colombo on Saturday, July 9, in protest against the government's handling of the economy.
Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN)Protesters broke into the Sri Lankan leader's official residence in Colombo on Saturday, as more than 100,000 amassed outside, calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign over his handling of the country's economic crisis.
Video broadcast on Sri Lankan television showed protesters enter President's House -- Rajapaksa's office and residence in the commercial capital -- after breaking through security cordons placed by police.
At least 31 people, including two police officers, have been injured in the protests and are receiving treatment, according to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL). Two of the injured are in critical condition, according to police.
Rajapaksa is not at the site and has been moved elsewhere, security officials told CNN. It is unclear how many security personnel are present at the location.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has summoned an emergency meeting of party leaders to discuss the current situation and come to a resolution, his office said on Saturday.
The South Asian nation of 22 million is suffering its worst financial crisis in recent history, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine and fuel.
Demonstrators run from tear gas used by police during a protest demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa near the president's residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Saturday.
A police curfew that was earlier imposed in several police divisions in the Western Province of Sri Lanka was lifted on Saturday. Several politicians and the Bar Association in Sri Lanka referred to the curfew as being "illegal," saying there had been no instances of violence to justify imposing the measure.
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in recent months, calling for the country's leaders to resign over accusations of economic mismanagement.
In several major cities, including Colombo, hundreds are forced to queue for hours to buy fuel, sometimes clashing with police and the military as they wait.
Heated scuffles erupted Saturday between police and angry protesters, as troops used tear gas and water cannons to push back demonstrators who breached security barriers.
Schools have been suspended and fuel has been limited to essential services. Patients are unable to travel to hospitals due to the fuel shortage and food prices are soaring.
Trains have reduced in frequency, forcing travelers to squeeze into compartments and even sit precariously on top of them as they commute to work.
Wickremesinghe said the country had entered talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the country's economy.
This week, he told parliament that talks with the IMF were "difficult" as they entered the discussion as a "bankrupt" country, rather than a developing one.
www.cnn.com
By Iqbal Athas and Rhea Mogul, CNN
Updated 5:34 AM ET, Sat July 9, 2022
People gather in Colombo on Saturday, July 9, in protest against the government's handling of the economy.
Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN)Protesters broke into the Sri Lankan leader's official residence in Colombo on Saturday, as more than 100,000 amassed outside, calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign over his handling of the country's economic crisis.
Video broadcast on Sri Lankan television showed protesters enter President's House -- Rajapaksa's office and residence in the commercial capital -- after breaking through security cordons placed by police.
At least 31 people, including two police officers, have been injured in the protests and are receiving treatment, according to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL). Two of the injured are in critical condition, according to police.
Rajapaksa is not at the site and has been moved elsewhere, security officials told CNN. It is unclear how many security personnel are present at the location.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has summoned an emergency meeting of party leaders to discuss the current situation and come to a resolution, his office said on Saturday.
The South Asian nation of 22 million is suffering its worst financial crisis in recent history, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine and fuel.
Demonstrators run from tear gas used by police during a protest demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa near the president's residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Saturday.
A police curfew that was earlier imposed in several police divisions in the Western Province of Sri Lanka was lifted on Saturday. Several politicians and the Bar Association in Sri Lanka referred to the curfew as being "illegal," saying there had been no instances of violence to justify imposing the measure.
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in recent months, calling for the country's leaders to resign over accusations of economic mismanagement.
In several major cities, including Colombo, hundreds are forced to queue for hours to buy fuel, sometimes clashing with police and the military as they wait.
Heated scuffles erupted Saturday between police and angry protesters, as troops used tear gas and water cannons to push back demonstrators who breached security barriers.
Schools have been suspended and fuel has been limited to essential services. Patients are unable to travel to hospitals due to the fuel shortage and food prices are soaring.
Trains have reduced in frequency, forcing travelers to squeeze into compartments and even sit precariously on top of them as they commute to work.
Wickremesinghe said the country had entered talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the country's economy.
This week, he told parliament that talks with the IMF were "difficult" as they entered the discussion as a "bankrupt" country, rather than a developing one.
Sri Lanka Prime Minister says he's willing to resign as protesters storm President's residence | CNN
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over, shortly after protesters reportedly breached his official residence in Colombo during demonstrations over the country's worsening economic crisis.
www.cnn.com
jward
passin' thru
Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
4m
Another video of the masses of people in Sri Lanka who decided to gather in the capital city today and storm the presidential palace. Crowds of of such a size can’t be stopped.
View: https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1545713091534635009?s=20&t=uvT8PHreYIPLbCmrzrwMTQ
Jackalope
Irregular
The people are already disarmed. Handguns are forbidden, except for the police and military. A few civilians have single shot shotguns, to be used for hunting, or against monkeys or snakes. Occasional shootings occur, mostly at political events. They do have the death penalty there.
Dux
Veteran Member
They can re-sell what they buy.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sir Lanka Protesters Storm President's House Amid Economic Meltdown
Thousands of protesters stormed Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence as part of an anti-government demonstration calling for his resignation following the country's economic collapse.
Demonstrators marched to Sri Lanka's commercial capital of Colombo early Saturday. They jumped security fences surrounding the residence and overran the president's security forces. Rajapaksa was evacuated from the palace around 1000 local time, his secretary Gamini Senarath told Bloomberg.
Footage uploaded to social media platforms from the president's residence shows thousands of protesters surrounding the palace and then charging inside.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe held emergency talks with party leaders before the parliament speaker during the unrest to decide what was next in resolving the worsening socio-economic crisis in the country of 22 million people.
Lawmakers asked Rajapaksa to relinquish his power to allow a new leader with a parliament majority to regain control and find a swift resolution to high inflation and shortages that have angered people for months.
The debt-laden economy of the tiny South Asian nation has "completely collapsed" as it lacks foreign exchange reserves to import essential items such as food and fuel. Shortages have materialized as the government began rationing goods last month.
Even though the government has held talks with the IMF, India, China, and Japan for new credit lines and even spoke with Russia about purchasing heavily discounted crude, the country entered a terminal phase where social unrest is spiraling out of control.
Visual Capitalist's Avery Koop details several reasons for this crisis and the economic turmoil has sparked unrest over the last several months. This visual breaks down some of the elements that led to Sri Lanka’s current situation.
The Sri Lankan crisis carries the potential for an Arab Spring-style eruption across other countries that could quickly morph into an "Everywhere Spring" as people worldwide are angered by high inflation and shortage of food and fuel. This eruption in unrest could eclipse the revolution seen in 2011 that spread across the Arabic-speaking world due to high food prices.
Everyone's favorite permabear, SocGen's Albert Edwards, first warned about the consequences of central banks injecting record amounts of money into the global economy in late 2020 and how it could spark soaring food prices, similar to 2011, where social unrest and revolutions were seen in many Arab countries.
Edwards' prediction appears to be playing out. It could be much worse than a decade ago as much of the world experiences economic hardships and what some believe could be the emergence of stagflation.
Could the fall of Sri Lanka signal that weak, heavily indebted countries worldwide are about to fall like dominos?
Sir Lanka Protesters Storm President's House Amid Economic Meltdown (zerohedge.com)
It's not just us who need to pay attention, but also this administration. Note: Democrats are turning on this admin, louder than the Republicans. And everyone knows how democratic mostly peaceful protests go, - without police intervention.
Thousands of protesters stormed Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence as part of an anti-government demonstration calling for his resignation following the country's economic collapse.
Demonstrators marched to Sri Lanka's commercial capital of Colombo early Saturday. They jumped security fences surrounding the residence and overran the president's security forces. Rajapaksa was evacuated from the palace around 1000 local time, his secretary Gamini Senarath told Bloomberg.
Alleged footage of the president fleeing on a naval ship.
Footage uploaded to social media platforms from the president's residence shows thousands of protesters surrounding the palace and then charging inside.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe held emergency talks with party leaders before the parliament speaker during the unrest to decide what was next in resolving the worsening socio-economic crisis in the country of 22 million people.
Lawmakers asked Rajapaksa to relinquish his power to allow a new leader with a parliament majority to regain control and find a swift resolution to high inflation and shortages that have angered people for months.
The debt-laden economy of the tiny South Asian nation has "completely collapsed" as it lacks foreign exchange reserves to import essential items such as food and fuel. Shortages have materialized as the government began rationing goods last month.
Even though the government has held talks with the IMF, India, China, and Japan for new credit lines and even spoke with Russia about purchasing heavily discounted crude, the country entered a terminal phase where social unrest is spiraling out of control.
Visual Capitalist's Avery Koop details several reasons for this crisis and the economic turmoil has sparked unrest over the last several months. This visual breaks down some of the elements that led to Sri Lanka’s current situation.
The Sri Lankan crisis carries the potential for an Arab Spring-style eruption across other countries that could quickly morph into an "Everywhere Spring" as people worldwide are angered by high inflation and shortage of food and fuel. This eruption in unrest could eclipse the revolution seen in 2011 that spread across the Arabic-speaking world due to high food prices.
Everyone's favorite permabear, SocGen's Albert Edwards, first warned about the consequences of central banks injecting record amounts of money into the global economy in late 2020 and how it could spark soaring food prices, similar to 2011, where social unrest and revolutions were seen in many Arab countries.
Edwards' prediction appears to be playing out. It could be much worse than a decade ago as much of the world experiences economic hardships and what some believe could be the emergence of stagflation.
Could the fall of Sri Lanka signal that weak, heavily indebted countries worldwide are about to fall like dominos?
Sir Lanka Protesters Storm President's House Amid Economic Meltdown (zerohedge.com)
It's not just us who need to pay attention, but also this administration. Note: Democrats are turning on this admin, louder than the Republicans. And everyone knows how democratic mostly peaceful protests go, - without police intervention.
Blacknarwhal
Let's Go Brandon!
I see they're all wearing their face diapers like good little automatons....
Cacheman
Ultra MAGA!
Sri Lanka declares bankruptcy, what happens next?
Sri Lanka’s economy, which has been faltering since 2020, is facing its worst economic crisis in over 70 years with inflation rising to record levels, food prices skyrocketing and government coffers running dry. While the government blamed the pandemic for the debilitating economic situation...
www.cnbctv18.com
Sri Lanka declares bankruptcy, what happens next?
By CNBCTV18.com | Jul 09, 2022, 03:18 PM IST (Published)
Mini
Sri Lanka’s economy, which has been faltering since 2020, is facing its worst economic crisis in over 70 years with inflation rising to record levels, food prices skyrocketing and government coffers running dry. While the government blamed the pandemic for the debilitating economic situation, many experts have said it was caused by political mismanagement and racking up debts with China.
Amid deepening financial and humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared the island nation as ‘bankrupt’ on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka’s economy, which has been faltering since 2020, is facing its worst economic crisis in over 70 years with inflation rising to record levels, food prices skyrocketing and government coffers running dry. While the government blamed the pandemic for the debilitating economic situation, experts have said it was caused by political mismanagement and racking up debts with China.
The island nation first defaulted on its debts in May. On Sunday, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera told BBC the country had only enough petrol left for less than a day under regular demand.
What will happen now?
To ease the suffering of the people, Sri Lanka has entered negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to save the economy. IMF officials visited the capital Colombo between June 20 and 30 and held discussions with Sri Lankan officials on economic reforms and policies that could be supported by an IMF Extended Fund Facility arrangement.
Acknowledging that the negotiations with the IMF to revive the country's ‘collapsed’ economy were ‘difficult,’ Wickremesinghe told Parliament the country was now in talks as a bankrupt nation, rather than a developing one, CNN reported. However, he said Sri Lanka will have to "face a more difficult and complicated situation than previous negotiations" now.
“Due to the state of bankruptcy our country is in, we have to submit a plan on our debt sustainability to (the IMF) separately,” the PM said. Once the IMF is satisfied with the plan, an agreement will be drawn at the staff level, he said, adding that "this is not a straightforward process".
The Prime Minister said he hoped to submit the report on debt restructuring and sustainability to the IMF by August. Once there is an agreement between IMF and Sri Lanka, a comprehensive loan assistance program would be prepared for a period of four years, the CNN report said quoting Wickremesinghe.
Last week, the IMF had said more work was required to repair Sri Lanka’s runaway fiscal deficit before any agreement is worked out. Sri Lanka needs to address its balance of payments crisis before IMF agrees on a funding arrangement.
Discussion with others
Sri Lanka is in talks with India, Japan, and China to form an aid consortium amid ongoing talks with the IMF. Till now, India has provided around $3 billion worth of assistance to Sri Lanka, including a $400 million swap and credit lines totalling $1.5 billion.
On Wednesday, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had tweeted that he had sought assistance from Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him for an “offer of credit support to import
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis
A few years ago, Sri Lanka had an economy strong enough to provide jobs and financial security for its 22 million people
By Bharatha Mallawarachi and Paul Wiseman Associated Press
July 09, 2022, 11:40 AM
A daily wage laborer waits for work at a wholesale market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Sri Lankans have endured months of shortages of food, fuel and other necessities due to the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves and mounting debt, worsened by the pandemic and other longer term troubles. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Chamila Nilanthi is tired of all the waiting. The 47-year-old mother of two spent three days lining up to get kerosene in the Sri Lankan town of Gampaha, northeast of the capital, Colombo. Two weeks earlier she spent three days in a queue for cooking gas — but came home with none.
“I am totally fed up, exhausted,’’ she said. “I don’t know how long we have to do this.’’
A few years ago Sri Lanka’s economy was growing strongly enough to provide jobs and financial security for most. It's now in a state of collapse, dependent on aid from India and other countries as its leaders desperately try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.
The collapse has brought political turmoil and protests demanding the resignations of both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Wickremesinghe agreed Saturday to resign as protesters stormed the president's residence, saying he would leave office when all parties have agreed on a new government.
What’s happening in this South Asian island nation of 22 million is worse than the usual financial crises seen in the developing world: It's a complete economic breakdown that has left people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities and resulted in unrest and violence.
“It really is veering quickly into a humanitarian crisis,’’ said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington.
Such disasters are more commonly seen in poorer countries, in sub-Saharan Africa or in war-torn Afghanistan. In middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, they are rarer but not unheard of: 6 million Venezuelans have fled their oil-rich country to escape a seemingly unending political crisis that has devastated the economy.
Indonesia, once touted as an “Asian Tiger’’ economy, endured Depression-level deprivation in the late 1990s that led to riots and political unrest and swept away a strongman who had held power for three decades. The country now is a democracy and a member of the Group of 20 biggest industrial economies.
Sri Lanka’s crisis is largely the result of staggering economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the pandemic, which along with 2019 terrorism attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad.
The government took on big debts and slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as COVID-19 hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its beleaguered currency, the rupee.
Ordinary Sri Lankans — especially the poor — are paying the price. They wait for days for cooking gas and petrol in lines that can extend more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). Sometimes, like Chamila Nilanthi, they go home with nothing.
At least 16 people have died so far waiting for gasoline. One was a 63-year-old man found inside his vehicle on the outskirts of Colombo. Unable to get fuel, some have given up driving and resorted to bicycles or public transportation to get around.
The government has closed urban schools and some universities and is giving civil servants every Friday off for three months to conserve fuel and allow them time to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Food price inflation is running at 57%, according to government data, and 70% of Sri Lankan households surveyed by UNICEF last month reported cutting back on food consumption. Many families rely on government rice handouts and donations from charities and generous individuals.
Unable to find cooking gas, many Sri Lankans are turning to kerosene stoves or cooking over open fires.
Affluent families can use electric induction ovens for cooking, unless the power is out. But most Sri Lankans can’t afford those stoves or higher electric bills.
Sri Lankans furious over fuel shortages have staged protests, blocked roads and confronted police. Fights have broken out when some try to jump ahead in fuel lines. Police have attacked unruly crowds.
One night in June, a soldier was seen assaulting a police officer at a fuel station in a dispute over gasoline distribution. The police officer was hospitalized. The police and military are separately investigating the incident.
The crisis is a crushing blow to Sri Lanka’s middle class, estimated to account for 15% to 20% of the country’s urban population. Until it all came apart, they enjoyed financial security and increasing standards of living.
Such a reversal is not unprecedented. In fact, it looks like what happened to Indonesia in the late 1990s.
The U.S. Agency for International Development — which runs aid projects for poor countries — was preparing to close up shop in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta; the country didn’t seem to need the help. “As one of the Asian Tigers, it had worked its way off the aid list,’’ said Jackie Pomeroy, an economist who worked on a USAID project in the Indonesian government before joining the World Bank in Jakarta.
But then a financial crisis — triggered when Thailand suddenly devalued its currency in July 1997 to combat speculators — swept across East Asia. Plagued by widespread corruption and weak banks, Indonesia was hit especially hard. Its currency plummeted against the U.S. dollar, forcing Indonesian companies to cough up more rupiahs to pay back dollar-denominated loans.
Businesses closed. Unemployment soared. Desperate city dwellers returned to the countryside where they could grow their own food. The Indonesian economy shrank more than 13% in 1998, a Depression-level performance.
Desperation turned to rage and demonstrations against the government of Suharto, who had ruled Indonesia with an iron fist since 1968. “It very quickly rolled into scenes of political unrest,’’ Pomeroy said. “It became an issue of political transition and Suharto.’’ The dictator was forced out in May 1998, ending autocratic rule.
Although they live in a democracy, many Sri Lankans blame the politically dominant Rajapaksa family for the disaster. “It’s their fault, but we have to suffer for their mistakes,” said Ranjana Padmasiri, who works as a clerk at a private firm.
Prominent Rajapaksas have resigned — former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, who was finance minister. Protesters demanding that President Rajapaksa also step down have camped outside his office in Colombo for more than two months.
Resignation, Padmasiri said, isn’t enough. “They can’t get away easily,’’ he said. “They must be held responsible for this crisis.’’
———
Wiseman reported from Washington.
Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis - ABC News (go.com)
A few years ago, Sri Lanka had an economy strong enough to provide jobs and financial security for its 22 million people
By Bharatha Mallawarachi and Paul Wiseman Associated Press
July 09, 2022, 11:40 AM
A daily wage laborer waits for work at a wholesale market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Sri Lankans have endured months of shortages of food, fuel and other necessities due to the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves and mounting debt, worsened by the pandemic and other longer term troubles. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Chamila Nilanthi is tired of all the waiting. The 47-year-old mother of two spent three days lining up to get kerosene in the Sri Lankan town of Gampaha, northeast of the capital, Colombo. Two weeks earlier she spent three days in a queue for cooking gas — but came home with none.
“I am totally fed up, exhausted,’’ she said. “I don’t know how long we have to do this.’’
A few years ago Sri Lanka’s economy was growing strongly enough to provide jobs and financial security for most. It's now in a state of collapse, dependent on aid from India and other countries as its leaders desperately try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.
The collapse has brought political turmoil and protests demanding the resignations of both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Wickremesinghe agreed Saturday to resign as protesters stormed the president's residence, saying he would leave office when all parties have agreed on a new government.
What’s happening in this South Asian island nation of 22 million is worse than the usual financial crises seen in the developing world: It's a complete economic breakdown that has left people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities and resulted in unrest and violence.
“It really is veering quickly into a humanitarian crisis,’’ said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington.
Such disasters are more commonly seen in poorer countries, in sub-Saharan Africa or in war-torn Afghanistan. In middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, they are rarer but not unheard of: 6 million Venezuelans have fled their oil-rich country to escape a seemingly unending political crisis that has devastated the economy.
Indonesia, once touted as an “Asian Tiger’’ economy, endured Depression-level deprivation in the late 1990s that led to riots and political unrest and swept away a strongman who had held power for three decades. The country now is a democracy and a member of the Group of 20 biggest industrial economies.
Sri Lanka’s crisis is largely the result of staggering economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the pandemic, which along with 2019 terrorism attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad.
The government took on big debts and slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as COVID-19 hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its beleaguered currency, the rupee.
Ordinary Sri Lankans — especially the poor — are paying the price. They wait for days for cooking gas and petrol in lines that can extend more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). Sometimes, like Chamila Nilanthi, they go home with nothing.
At least 16 people have died so far waiting for gasoline. One was a 63-year-old man found inside his vehicle on the outskirts of Colombo. Unable to get fuel, some have given up driving and resorted to bicycles or public transportation to get around.
The government has closed urban schools and some universities and is giving civil servants every Friday off for three months to conserve fuel and allow them time to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Food price inflation is running at 57%, according to government data, and 70% of Sri Lankan households surveyed by UNICEF last month reported cutting back on food consumption. Many families rely on government rice handouts and donations from charities and generous individuals.
Unable to find cooking gas, many Sri Lankans are turning to kerosene stoves or cooking over open fires.
Affluent families can use electric induction ovens for cooking, unless the power is out. But most Sri Lankans can’t afford those stoves or higher electric bills.
Sri Lankans furious over fuel shortages have staged protests, blocked roads and confronted police. Fights have broken out when some try to jump ahead in fuel lines. Police have attacked unruly crowds.
One night in June, a soldier was seen assaulting a police officer at a fuel station in a dispute over gasoline distribution. The police officer was hospitalized. The police and military are separately investigating the incident.
The crisis is a crushing blow to Sri Lanka’s middle class, estimated to account for 15% to 20% of the country’s urban population. Until it all came apart, they enjoyed financial security and increasing standards of living.
Such a reversal is not unprecedented. In fact, it looks like what happened to Indonesia in the late 1990s.
The U.S. Agency for International Development — which runs aid projects for poor countries — was preparing to close up shop in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta; the country didn’t seem to need the help. “As one of the Asian Tigers, it had worked its way off the aid list,’’ said Jackie Pomeroy, an economist who worked on a USAID project in the Indonesian government before joining the World Bank in Jakarta.
But then a financial crisis — triggered when Thailand suddenly devalued its currency in July 1997 to combat speculators — swept across East Asia. Plagued by widespread corruption and weak banks, Indonesia was hit especially hard. Its currency plummeted against the U.S. dollar, forcing Indonesian companies to cough up more rupiahs to pay back dollar-denominated loans.
Businesses closed. Unemployment soared. Desperate city dwellers returned to the countryside where they could grow their own food. The Indonesian economy shrank more than 13% in 1998, a Depression-level performance.
Desperation turned to rage and demonstrations against the government of Suharto, who had ruled Indonesia with an iron fist since 1968. “It very quickly rolled into scenes of political unrest,’’ Pomeroy said. “It became an issue of political transition and Suharto.’’ The dictator was forced out in May 1998, ending autocratic rule.
Although they live in a democracy, many Sri Lankans blame the politically dominant Rajapaksa family for the disaster. “It’s their fault, but we have to suffer for their mistakes,” said Ranjana Padmasiri, who works as a clerk at a private firm.
Prominent Rajapaksas have resigned — former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, who was finance minister. Protesters demanding that President Rajapaksa also step down have camped outside his office in Colombo for more than two months.
Resignation, Padmasiri said, isn’t enough. “They can’t get away easily,’’ he said. “They must be held responsible for this crisis.’’
———
Wiseman reported from Washington.
Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis - ABC News (go.com)
Last edited:
ainitfunny
Saved, to glorify God.
Samuel Adams
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Best to have your entire country burned all the way to the ground BEFORE they get opportunity to talk with IMF.
Just a fyi.....
Just a fyi.....
mzkitty
I give up.
Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis
A few years ago, Sri Lanka had an economy strong enough to provide jobs and financial security for its 22 million people
By Bharatha Mallawarachi and Paul Wiseman Associated Press
July 09, 2022, 11:40 AM
A daily wage laborer waits for work at a wholesale market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Sri Lankans have endured months of shortages of food, fuel and other necessities due to the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves and mounting debt, worsened by the pandemic and other longer term troubles. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Chamila Nilanthi is tired of all the waiting. The 47-year-old mother of two spent three days lining up to get kerosene in the Sri Lankan town of Gampaha, northeast of the capital, Colombo. Two weeks earlier she spent three days in a queue for cooking gas — but came home with none.
“I am totally fed up, exhausted,’’ she said. “I don’t know how long we have to do this.’’
A few years ago Sri Lanka’s economy was growing strongly enough to provide jobs and financial security for most. It's now in a state of collapse, dependent on aid from India and other countries as its leaders desperately try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.
The collapse has brought political turmoil and protests demanding the resignations of both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Wickremesinghe agreed Saturday to resign as protesters stormed the president's residence, saying he would leave office when all parties have agreed on a new government.
What’s happening in this South Asian island nation of 22 million is worse than the usual financial crises seen in the developing world: It's a complete economic breakdown that has left people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities and resulted in unrest and violence.
“It really is veering quickly into a humanitarian crisis,’’ said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington.
Such disasters are more commonly seen in poorer countries, in sub-Saharan Africa or in war-torn Afghanistan. In middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, they are rarer but not unheard of: 6 million Venezuelans have fled their oil-rich country to escape a seemingly unending political crisis that has devastated the economy.
Indonesia, once touted as an “Asian Tiger’’ economy, endured Depression-level deprivation in the late 1990s that led to riots and political unrest and swept away a strongman who had held power for three decades. The country now is a democracy and a member of the Group of 20 biggest industrial economies.
Sri Lanka’s crisis is largely the result of staggering economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the pandemic, which along with 2019 terrorism attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad.
The government took on big debts and slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as COVID-19 hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its beleaguered currency, the rupee.
Ordinary Sri Lankans — especially the poor — are paying the price. They wait for days for cooking gas and petrol in lines that can extend more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). Sometimes, like Chamila Nilanthi, they go home with nothing.
At least 16 people have died so far waiting for gasoline. One was a 63-year-old man found inside his vehicle on the outskirts of Colombo. Unable to get fuel, some have given up driving and resorted to bicycles or public transportation to get around.
The government has closed urban schools and some universities and is giving civil servants every Friday off for three months to conserve fuel and allow them time to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Food price inflation is running at 57%, according to government data, and 70% of Sri Lankan households surveyed by UNICEF last month reported cutting back on food consumption. Many families rely on government rice handouts and donations from charities and generous individuals.
Unable to find cooking gas, many Sri Lankans are turning to kerosene stoves or cooking over open fires.
Affluent families can use electric induction ovens for cooking, unless the power is out. But most Sri Lankans can’t afford those stoves or higher electric bills.
Sri Lankans furious over fuel shortages have staged protests, blocked roads and confronted police. Fights have broken out when some try to jump ahead in fuel lines. Police have attacked unruly crowds.
One night in June, a soldier was seen assaulting a police officer at a fuel station in a dispute over gasoline distribution. The police officer was hospitalized. The police and military are separately investigating the incident.
The crisis is a crushing blow to Sri Lanka’s middle class, estimated to account for 15% to 20% of the country’s urban population. Until it all came apart, they enjoyed financial security and increasing standards of living.
Such a reversal is not unprecedented. In fact, it looks like what happened to Indonesia in the late 1990s.
The U.S. Agency for International Development — which runs aid projects for poor countries — was preparing to close up shop in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta; the country didn’t seem to need the help. “As one of the Asian Tigers, it had worked its way off the aid list,’’ said Jackie Pomeroy, an economist who worked on a USAID project in the Indonesian government before joining the World Bank in Jakarta.
But then a financial crisis — triggered when Thailand suddenly devalued its currency in July 1997 to combat speculators — swept across East Asia. Plagued by widespread corruption and weak banks, Indonesia was hit especially hard. Its currency plummeted against the U.S. dollar, forcing Indonesian companies to cough up more rupiahs to pay back dollar-denominated loans.
Businesses closed. Unemployment soared. Desperate city dwellers returned to the countryside where they could grow their own food. The Indonesian economy shrank more than 13% in 1998, a Depression-level performance.
Desperation turned to rage and demonstrations against the government of Suharto, who had ruled Indonesia with an iron fist since 1968. “It very quickly rolled into scenes of political unrest,’’ Pomeroy said. “It became an issue of political transition and Suharto.’’ The dictator was forced out in May 1998, ending autocratic rule.
Although they live in a democracy, many Sri Lankans blame the politically dominant Rajapaksa family for the disaster. “It’s their fault, but we have to suffer for their mistakes,” said Ranjana Padmasiri, who works as a clerk at a private firm.
Prominent Rajapaksas have resigned — former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, who was finance minister. Protesters demanding that President Rajapaksa also step down have camped outside his office in Colombo for more than two months.
Resignation, Padmasiri said, isn’t enough. “They can’t get away easily,’’ he said. “They must be held responsible for this crisis.’’
———
Wiseman reported from Washington.
Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis - ABC News (go.com)
Oh, why worry? Gates will save them. Ship over all his faux food, and there's always the insects, right?
Babs
Veteran Member
I just scanned through the articles, but why am I not hearing about the policies put in place to prevent climate change as adding to their problems? I heard from another source that they instituted policies similar to the Netherlands, just last year and this has resulted in food shortages.
jward
passin' thru
What next if Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns | EXPLAINED
Amid the ongoing protests in Sri Lanka over the economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's sudden departure has put forward questions as to whether he will remain in office and if not. Here’s what will happen if President Rajapaksa resigns.
India Today Web Desk ColomboJuly 9, 2022UPDATED: July 9, 2022 22:27 IST
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Photo: Reuters/File)
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo on Saturday moments before thousands of protesters broke through police barricades and stormed the compound. The protestors have been demanding the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid the unprecedented economic crisis.
With Ranil Wickremesinghe stepping down as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, questions have now emerged about whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will remain in office or not.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE PRESIDENT RESIGNS?
If the President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, tenders his resignation prior to the expiration of his term of office, then Parliament should select one of its members as the President. The new appointment has to be made within one month from the resignation of the President.
FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES ON SRI LANKA ECONOMIC CRISIS HERE
PARLIAMENT MUST MEET IN THREE DAYS
If the President resigns, a meeting of the Parliament must be convened within three days of his resignation. In the meeting, the Secretary General of Parliament must inform the Parliament about the resignation of the President. A date has to be fixed to receive the nominations for the vacant post.
HOW WILL THE PROCESS HAPPEN?
If only one member of Parliament is nominated for the post, then the Secretary-General must declare that the individual has been elected to the office. If more than one person is nominated, then a secret ballot will be held and the person should be elected by an absolute majority of votes cast.
ALSO READ| Ranil Wickremesinghe's audio message after stepping down as Sri Lanka PM
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TILL A NEW PRESIDENT IS ELECTED?
According to the Sri Lankan constitution, the current prime minister will become the acting president. So, in this case, if Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns as President, then Ranil Wickremesinghe would become the Acting President for less than a month until the Parliament elects a new President.
One of the ministers of the Cabinet shall be appointed to act in the office of the Prime Minister. The newly elected President can hold the office for the remaining period.
www.indiatoday.in
Amid the ongoing protests in Sri Lanka over the economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's sudden departure has put forward questions as to whether he will remain in office and if not. Here’s what will happen if President Rajapaksa resigns.
India Today Web Desk ColomboJuly 9, 2022UPDATED: July 9, 2022 22:27 IST
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Photo: Reuters/File)
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo on Saturday moments before thousands of protesters broke through police barricades and stormed the compound. The protestors have been demanding the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid the unprecedented economic crisis.
With Ranil Wickremesinghe stepping down as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, questions have now emerged about whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will remain in office or not.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE PRESIDENT RESIGNS?
If the President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, tenders his resignation prior to the expiration of his term of office, then Parliament should select one of its members as the President. The new appointment has to be made within one month from the resignation of the President.
FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES ON SRI LANKA ECONOMIC CRISIS HERE
PARLIAMENT MUST MEET IN THREE DAYS
If the President resigns, a meeting of the Parliament must be convened within three days of his resignation. In the meeting, the Secretary General of Parliament must inform the Parliament about the resignation of the President. A date has to be fixed to receive the nominations for the vacant post.
HOW WILL THE PROCESS HAPPEN?
If only one member of Parliament is nominated for the post, then the Secretary-General must declare that the individual has been elected to the office. If more than one person is nominated, then a secret ballot will be held and the person should be elected by an absolute majority of votes cast.
ALSO READ| Ranil Wickremesinghe's audio message after stepping down as Sri Lanka PM
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TILL A NEW PRESIDENT IS ELECTED?
According to the Sri Lankan constitution, the current prime minister will become the acting president. So, in this case, if Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns as President, then Ranil Wickremesinghe would become the Acting President for less than a month until the Parliament elects a new President.
One of the ministers of the Cabinet shall be appointed to act in the office of the Prime Minister. The newly elected President can hold the office for the remaining period.
What next if Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns | EXPLAINED
Amid the ongoing protests in Sri Lanka over the economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's sudden departure has put forward questions as to whether he will remain in office and if not. Here’s what will happen if President Rajapaksa resigns.
jward
passin' thru
How one powerful family wrecked a country
Ishaan Tharoor
7-9 minutes
You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest, including news from around the globe, interesting ideas, and opinions to know sent to your inbox every weekday.
There are falls from grace and then there’s what’s happening to Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka. For the better part of the past two decades, he loomed large over the island nation’s politics — first as president for a decade between 2005 and 2015 and then, after a brief interregnum, as prime minister in a government where his brother, Gotabaya, served as president. The Rajapaksa clan had its hands on various apparatuses of state, from exerting control over the security forces to commanding influence over major sectors of the economy.
The first part of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s years in power were defined by his ruthless defeat of the long-running Tamil Tiger insurgency; in the latter years, the populist quasi-autocrat, who seemed at times to style himself as an uncrowned warrior king, leaned heavily into majoritarian nationalist politics aimed at courting the votes of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority. A defeat in presidential elections in 2015 seemed to signal a political ebb for the Rajapaksa family, but they came roaring back to power in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019, campaigning on their supposed national security bona fides.
Now, their era of dominance could be finally coming to a close. Sri Lanka is in the grips of the worst economic crisis in its history as an independent country. A cascading set of woes — including spiraling inflation, deepening government debt and emptying foreign exchange coffers — meant that the country has struggled to import basic essential goods, while prices for food and fuel have skyrocketed over the past year. Power cuts have blanketed the nation of 22 million people in darkness. Shortages of medicines and medical equipment led some aid groups to liken the situation in Sri Lankan hospitals to a humanitarian disaster.
Following weeks of mass protests against his government, as well as deadly violence in the streets on Monday, Rajapaksa was compelled to resign his post as prime minister. His capitulation made him the fourth member of his family to give up a high-powered role in the space of a month — following his brothers Basil and Chamal (now former ministers of finance and irrigation, respectively) and his son Namal (former minister of sports and youth affairs). The attention falls on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the biggest link in a long nepotistic chain.
For days across the country, the largely peaceful demonstrations have pulled in irate Sri Lankans from all walks of life. In Colombo, they gathered at a popular waterfront promenade known as Galle Face and turned it into a kind of Tahrir Square on the Indian Ocean, a carnival of activism replete with tent encampments, makeshift public libraries, and health and food facilities. Their message was clear: They would go only after the Rajapaksas did.
On Monday, pro-government supporters likely bused into the city by Rajapaksa and his allies violently attacked the site at Galle Place and protesters elsewhere in the capital. That assault, my colleagues reported, “triggered a wave of furious retaliation. Vigilantes poured into the streets, chased and beat government loyalists, erected their own checkpoints on roads, and burned down homes owned by the Rajapaksas and their allies. By Tuesday morning, the former prime minister had reportedly fled to a military base in the country’s northeast, which was soon surrounded by angry citizens.”
The mood in the country is uneasy: Gotabaya is struggling to hold on politically, urging an interim unity government that few members of the opposition wish to now join as long as he remains in power. All the while, Sri Lankan negotiators are scheduled to begin talks with the International Monetary Fund this week. The country defaulted on its debts last month — a victim, to a certain extent, of the global disruptions sparked by both the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Analysts say the uncertainty around the country’s leadership is clouding any possibility of economic recovery. “The political situation has to be resolved before anything can happen,” Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, told my colleagues. “You need a credible government. The presidency right now is a poisoned chalice.”
Rajapaksa’s critics would argue that much of that poisoning is his family’s fault. That includes widespread and documented allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes that accompanied the Sri Lankan military’s 2009 offensive against Tamil rebels, where thousands of civilians were killed in the final stages of the war; years of violence toward and intimidation and harassment of journalists and civil society groups; and the stoking of ethno-religious tensions, including the tacit cultivation of orders of extremist militant Buddhist monks, who have launched attacks on the country’s minorities.
Then there was their mismanagement of the economy. The Rajapaksas expanded funding for the military even in peacetime and engaged in a form of crony capitalism that likely enriched the family’s fortunes. They touted major Chinese-funded infrastructure projects — including a port in their family’s hometown of Hambantota — that not only turned into wasteful white elephants, but made Sri Lanka into one of the world’s leading exhibits of what happens when a nation gets indebted to Beijing.
The roots of the current crisis, critics argue, predated both the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. “No serious observer believed the country was going to be able to pay back the $29 billion in debts it owed over the next five years, or the nearly $7 billion in debt it owed this year,” wrote Amita Arudpragasam in Foreign Policy. “But Sri Lanka’s government, filled with Rajapaksa family members and loyalists, was buttressed by Sinhalese Buddhist supremacists, crony capitalists, the state-owned media, and some influential private media houses. It continued to gaslight its people.”
The vehemence and endurance of the protest movement seems to suggest that gaslighting is no longer working. “The organic growth of the protest and its scale showed that the Rajapaksas were no longer the popular political family that they once were,” wrote Sri Lankan journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti for the Wire, an Indian online publication. “In addition to calls for collective resignations were demands for forensic audits, recovery of stolen assets and legal action against Rajapaksas. People faulted the family for the island’s state of bankruptcy.”
There are troubled times ahead, as the country grapples with both political dysfunction and profound economic pain. “In Sri Lanka, we were an extremely divided country, not in a facile sense, but because of decades of war and ethnic violence and deep cruelty toward each other in many ways,” Sharika Thiranagama, an anthropologist at Stanford University, told me.
But she described the protests as a source of hope and solidarity. “This is what a democratic mobilization can look like. … It’s people demanding accountability for corruption, demanding basic rights to dignity,” she said. “This is something that has been very nourishing at a really bad time.”
Ishaan Tharoor
7-9 minutes
You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest, including news from around the globe, interesting ideas, and opinions to know sent to your inbox every weekday.
There are falls from grace and then there’s what’s happening to Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka. For the better part of the past two decades, he loomed large over the island nation’s politics — first as president for a decade between 2005 and 2015 and then, after a brief interregnum, as prime minister in a government where his brother, Gotabaya, served as president. The Rajapaksa clan had its hands on various apparatuses of state, from exerting control over the security forces to commanding influence over major sectors of the economy.
The first part of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s years in power were defined by his ruthless defeat of the long-running Tamil Tiger insurgency; in the latter years, the populist quasi-autocrat, who seemed at times to style himself as an uncrowned warrior king, leaned heavily into majoritarian nationalist politics aimed at courting the votes of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority. A defeat in presidential elections in 2015 seemed to signal a political ebb for the Rajapaksa family, but they came roaring back to power in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019, campaigning on their supposed national security bona fides.
Now, their era of dominance could be finally coming to a close. Sri Lanka is in the grips of the worst economic crisis in its history as an independent country. A cascading set of woes — including spiraling inflation, deepening government debt and emptying foreign exchange coffers — meant that the country has struggled to import basic essential goods, while prices for food and fuel have skyrocketed over the past year. Power cuts have blanketed the nation of 22 million people in darkness. Shortages of medicines and medical equipment led some aid groups to liken the situation in Sri Lankan hospitals to a humanitarian disaster.
Following weeks of mass protests against his government, as well as deadly violence in the streets on Monday, Rajapaksa was compelled to resign his post as prime minister. His capitulation made him the fourth member of his family to give up a high-powered role in the space of a month — following his brothers Basil and Chamal (now former ministers of finance and irrigation, respectively) and his son Namal (former minister of sports and youth affairs). The attention falls on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the biggest link in a long nepotistic chain.
For days across the country, the largely peaceful demonstrations have pulled in irate Sri Lankans from all walks of life. In Colombo, they gathered at a popular waterfront promenade known as Galle Face and turned it into a kind of Tahrir Square on the Indian Ocean, a carnival of activism replete with tent encampments, makeshift public libraries, and health and food facilities. Their message was clear: They would go only after the Rajapaksas did.
On Monday, pro-government supporters likely bused into the city by Rajapaksa and his allies violently attacked the site at Galle Place and protesters elsewhere in the capital. That assault, my colleagues reported, “triggered a wave of furious retaliation. Vigilantes poured into the streets, chased and beat government loyalists, erected their own checkpoints on roads, and burned down homes owned by the Rajapaksas and their allies. By Tuesday morning, the former prime minister had reportedly fled to a military base in the country’s northeast, which was soon surrounded by angry citizens.”
The mood in the country is uneasy: Gotabaya is struggling to hold on politically, urging an interim unity government that few members of the opposition wish to now join as long as he remains in power. All the while, Sri Lankan negotiators are scheduled to begin talks with the International Monetary Fund this week. The country defaulted on its debts last month — a victim, to a certain extent, of the global disruptions sparked by both the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Analysts say the uncertainty around the country’s leadership is clouding any possibility of economic recovery. “The political situation has to be resolved before anything can happen,” Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, told my colleagues. “You need a credible government. The presidency right now is a poisoned chalice.”
Rajapaksa’s critics would argue that much of that poisoning is his family’s fault. That includes widespread and documented allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes that accompanied the Sri Lankan military’s 2009 offensive against Tamil rebels, where thousands of civilians were killed in the final stages of the war; years of violence toward and intimidation and harassment of journalists and civil society groups; and the stoking of ethno-religious tensions, including the tacit cultivation of orders of extremist militant Buddhist monks, who have launched attacks on the country’s minorities.
Then there was their mismanagement of the economy. The Rajapaksas expanded funding for the military even in peacetime and engaged in a form of crony capitalism that likely enriched the family’s fortunes. They touted major Chinese-funded infrastructure projects — including a port in their family’s hometown of Hambantota — that not only turned into wasteful white elephants, but made Sri Lanka into one of the world’s leading exhibits of what happens when a nation gets indebted to Beijing.
The roots of the current crisis, critics argue, predated both the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. “No serious observer believed the country was going to be able to pay back the $29 billion in debts it owed over the next five years, or the nearly $7 billion in debt it owed this year,” wrote Amita Arudpragasam in Foreign Policy. “But Sri Lanka’s government, filled with Rajapaksa family members and loyalists, was buttressed by Sinhalese Buddhist supremacists, crony capitalists, the state-owned media, and some influential private media houses. It continued to gaslight its people.”
The vehemence and endurance of the protest movement seems to suggest that gaslighting is no longer working. “The organic growth of the protest and its scale showed that the Rajapaksas were no longer the popular political family that they once were,” wrote Sri Lankan journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti for the Wire, an Indian online publication. “In addition to calls for collective resignations were demands for forensic audits, recovery of stolen assets and legal action against Rajapaksas. People faulted the family for the island’s state of bankruptcy.”
There are troubled times ahead, as the country grapples with both political dysfunction and profound economic pain. “In Sri Lanka, we were an extremely divided country, not in a facile sense, but because of decades of war and ethnic violence and deep cruelty toward each other in many ways,” Sharika Thiranagama, an anthropologist at Stanford University, told me.
But she described the protests as a source of hope and solidarity. “This is what a democratic mobilization can look like. … It’s people demanding accountability for corruption, demanding basic rights to dignity,” she said. “This is something that has been very nourishing at a really bad time.”
jward
passin' thru
My understanding, if correct, is that this issue is certainly one of the straws on the camels back, but that the systemic corruption of the ruling family was the 2 ton bale that was really crushing the country... :: shrug ::
Old Greek
Veteran Member
Shades of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu!!
Nearly all countries that collapse do so because of bad leadership and/or corruption in government. The Bible tells us that in the end times our leaders will have the minds of children. Look around the world and it is clear we are at that point. Is there even one leader in any country that people respect? Look at the G7. A circle of fools. Thank goodness we are in good shape with Biden.