by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, October 11, 2022 World Bank flags need for higher social security in the island As Sri Lankans continue braving their worst economic crisis since Independence, urban poverty on the island has tripled in the last year, from 5% to 15 %, according to a recent World Bank report. Sri… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Economy
Economic Crisis and Resistance in Batticaloa
Eastern Sri Lanka by Thavarasa Anukuvi, Polity, Social Scientists’ Association, Colombo, October 10, 2022 Introduction The question whether ‘the people’ of the North and East should or could protest in solidarity with the #GotaGoHome protest movement has been the subject of much debate (Pundir & Kanapathippillai 2022; Sandranathan 2022; Ellis-Petersen & Sandran 2022; De Soysa… Read more »
Child’s Guide To Ranilnomics
Proposed Debt Restructuring Will Pose More Issues Than Answers By W A Wokewardema, Colombo Telegraph, September 26, 2022 Dr. W.A Wijewardena Aseni, whiz kid of economics, and her grandfather Sarath Mahatthaya, ex-official of the Finance Ministry, are continuing their conversation of the economics of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, tagged Ranilnomics. Previously, they discussed the ideological battle… Read more »
OCHA Multi-Dimensional Crisis Situation Report
by Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, New York, September 16, 2022 PDF report with map at Sri Lanka Multi-Dimensional Crisis Situation Report No. 5 This report is produced by the OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) on behalf of the ISCG. The updates below cover activities carried out between 09… Read more »
A Poisoned Chalice
How international aid bolstered Sri Lankan despots by Viruben Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, September 7, 2022 “I was born into a debt-free nation”, claimed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe as he accepted yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on behalf of the island. This will be the seventeenth time since independence that… Read more »
The IMF’s Staff-Level Agreement with Sri Lanka
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, September 5, 2022 What are the pre-requisites IMF laid down before the Sri Lankan government? How has India reacted to the agreement? The story so far: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on September 1 announced a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka, months after the island nation’s economic crisis intensified… Read more »
Why a Feudal Culture & Absence of Meritocracy Bankrupted a Nation
by Charles Seevali Abeysekera, UN InterPress Service, July 19, 2022 BROMLEY, UK, Jul 19 (IPS) – Sri Lanka is officially bankrupt and a failed state in all but name. How did a country of 22 million people with a level of literacy on par with most of the developed world end up in such a… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Crisis is Not Just About the Economy
But a long history of discrimination against minority groups by Niro Kandasamy, The Conversation, Australia, July 14, 2022 Sri Lanka is in the grip of an economic, political and humanitarian crisis. In a remarkable display of anger on Saturday, thousands of protesters disregarded government curfews, rampant military and police presence to storm the presidential palace… Read more »
Joint Tamil Civil Society Statement
Sri Lanka’s Political and Economic Crisis Joint-Tamil-Civil-Society-Statement-Sri-Lankas-Political-and-Economic-Crisis-14-July-2022 – Washington D.C.: July 14th 2022 – On July 13, 2022, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka leaving the island in political chaos. Many among the island’s Sinhala majority and the international community have heralded this moment, a culmination of months of protest, as a potentially revolutionary moment. And indeed, the… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Road to Ruin Was Political, Not Economic
The proximate cause for the protests is inflation, but the roots are in Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism. By Neil de Votta, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, July 12, 2022 On Saturday, Sri Lanka’s horrific saga took a consequential turn when protesters stormed and occupied the presidential offices and both the president’s and prime minister’s official residences. Global media are… Read more »
Lavish Projects and Meager Lives
The Two Faces of a Ruined Sri Lanka by By Mujib Mashal and Skandha Gunasekara, The New York Times, May 29, 2022 A frenzy of building on borrowed money in the Rajapaksa family’s home district illustrates the hubris and mismanagement that led the country into economic collapse. HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — The international airport, built a decade ago… Read more »
Scum of Asia?
by Nillanthan Maha in his blog, July 2, 2022 [translated from the original Tamil with Google Translate plus edits] Gotabaya did not go home. But a situation is developing where the people who fought to ask him to go home are paralyzed inside their homes. The country is moving towards a state of near social… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Road Ahead is Hazardous
An exclusive interview with Ambassador K.P. Fabian by A. Jathindra, Centre for Strategic Studies – Trincomalee, July 4, 2022 Ambassador K.P. Fabian served in the Indian Foreign Service between 1964 and 2000, during which time he was posted to Madagascar, Austria, Iran, Sri Lanka, Canada, Finland, Qatar, and Italy. During his time in the diplomatic… Read more »
Food Crisis Looms as Rice Production Nosedives
by Thayalini Indrakularasa, Global Press Journal, Washington, DC, June 19, 2022 When Sri Lanka banned agrochemicals last year, the law’s impact on the island’s ability to feed itself was immediately evident. READ THIS STORY IN English தமிழ் CHEDDIKULAM, SRI LANKA — Sellan Yogarasa returned to Sri Lanka in 2014, after more than two decades of… Read more »
Economic Crisis and Unregulated Alcohol Collide
by Vetrichelvi Chandrakala, Global Press Journal, Washington, DC, May 25, 2022 Civil war veterans, also grappling with the country’s imploding economy, fight to break their dependency on dangerous, illegal liquor. READ THIS STORY IN English தமிழ் MANNAR, SRI LANKA — Vijayakumar Velayutham fought for more than a decade in the Sri Lankan civil war. He… Read more »
Bakeries Shutter as War in Ukraine Drives Up Wheat Prices
by Thayalini Indrakularasa, Global Press Journal, Washington, DC, May 8, 2022 The country’s tropical climate makes it dependent on wheat imports, but an economic crisis at home and conflict abroad have upended the supply. READ THIS STORY IN English தமிழ் CHEDDIKULAM, SRI LANKA — Early morning sunlight streams in the windows as Thankaiya Mageswaran divides… Read more »
Military & Poverty
A Critical Study in Sri Lanka by Selvarathinam Santhirasegaram, Developing Country Studies, Vol.3, No.8, August 2013 Abstract Main objective of this study is to show that how military expansion in Sri Lanka contributed to achieve this macroeconomic goal, reduction of unemployment and poverty. Statistical evidences show that percentage of people, living under poverty level negatively… Read more »
Sri Lanka in Crisis
Why the Past Lives on in its Collective Future by Ambika Satkunananthan, 9Dashline, Europe, June 16, 2022 Sri Lanka is in the throes of an economic and political crisis not hitherto witnessed. The crisis has created instability and resulted in protests that began in March 2022. Citizens’ protests that are not organised by political parties… Read more »
To Solve Its Economic Crisis, Sri Lanka Must Demilitarize
by Ben Andak, Jacobin, New York, May 12, 2022 Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has produced an explosion of violence on the island. That violence won’t end until the country ends its war on Tamils and Muslims and drastically scales back its military budget. Soldiers check documents of a driver at a road checkpoint in Colombo,… Read more »
Unresolved National Question Impaired Sri Lanka’s Economic Progress
:Sambanthan by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 20, 2022 Senior Tamil leader points to the costs of war, and political solution being central to economic recovery. Addressing Sri Lanka’s Tamil national question is imperative for the island nation’s recovery from the crushing economic crisis it is facing, veteran Tamil leader R. Sampanthan said, contending… Read more »