Posts Categorized: Economy

Debt-hobbled Sri Lanka Risks Running Out of Options

by Tom Arnold, Marc Jones, Reuters, August 3, 2021 LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka paid a $1 billion bond last week, but the alarming state of its finances suggests it may have been just another step towards its first sovereign default. All the tell-tale crisis signs are there: bonds at nearly half their… Read more »

The Origins of the Great Divergence

A review of Peer Vries’ “Escaping poverty” by Branko Milanovic, his personal Substack, July 22, 2021 While the world is witnessing global convergence (essentially the catch up of Asia with the West), the debates  about the origins of the Great Divergence—the take-off of the West and absence of growth in the Rest—are going strong. I… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa Dynasty is Not as Secure as It Appears

by Banyan, The Economist, London, July 17, 2021 The family that runs everything is running out of cash Since winning the presidency in a landslide nearly two years ago, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has worried not that he has too many relatives in government, but that he has too few. One of the 72-year-old’s elder brothers, Mahinda, himself… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Falling Economy & Failing Good Governance

by Thambu Kanagasabai,  LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 21, 2021 President Gotabaya acclaimed as un uncrowned king of Sri Lanka after defeating the Liberation of Tigers in the genocidal war with the assistance of 22 countries particularly from India, Pakistan and China as confirmed by his brother Mahinda… Read more »

Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees in India

Conceptual Framework of Repatriation Success by Miriam George, Anita Vaillancourt, and s. Irudaya Rajan, Refuge, Vol. 36, No.3, 2016 Sri Lankan Refugees in India Repatriation Success 2016 Abstract Repatriation to Sri Lanka has become a primary challenge to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Indian refugee camps, and a matter of significant public discussion in India… Read more »

P2P Demands & Pledge

by North East Civil Society Forum, February 7, 2021 P2P Demands and Pledge Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) – Demands and Pledge 1) We Tamils have been fighting for over seventy years for self Determination. We are a nation of people living in the merged North and East in the island of Ceylon. We have our… Read more »

Strategies for the Renaissance of Irrigation Glory

by Nimal Wijesinghe, Daily News, Colombo, February 27, 2021 There is an awakening in the field of irrigation development in the country. The ancient kings treated rainwater as a highly precious national asset and constructed small, medium and large-scale tanks and anicuts for collecting and storing every drop of rainwater for irrigational, agricultural and drinking… Read more »

Opening Yan Oya Project Delayed

Families await compensation [Note that this article says the project is in Anuradhapura District, while in 2017, this Colombo Page article says it is in North Central & will irrigate land in both Anuradhapura District & Trincomalee District.] by Daily News, Colombo, February 26, 2021 A major inter-provincial Irrigation in Sri Lanka awarded to China… Read more »

Land and the National Question in Sri Lanka

by N. Shanmugaratnam, Groundviews.org, Colombo, July 13, 2012 Image courtesy Sainthan Sivanesan on 500px I am thankful to the Norwegian Tamil Study Forum for inviting me to address this Workshop and am looking forward to listening to the main speakers. In this brief intervention I wish to make some general comments and raise a few issues,… Read more »

Suez Mishap Is a Foretaste of the New Cold War Stakes

by Peter Fickling, Bloomberg News, March 25, 2021 Ships so big they get stuck in the Canal literally define “chokepoint” but other waterways will play much more serious roles as the rivalry between China and the U.S. heats up. After a tumultuous year of pandemic, economic crisis and international tensions, it’s somehow comforting to be confronted with… Read more »

Cooperative Movement in Jaffna District 1911 – 1970

by Kanthappoo Paraiiothayan, 1990 Cooperative Movement in the Jaffna District 1911 to 1970 Abstract Using the problem analysis method advanced by Professor Brian Holmes,the study looks into the politico—economic and socio-cultural factors that gave special significance to the Cooperative Movement in the Jaffna District of Sri Lanka when it was introduced nation—wide at the beginning… Read more »

An Appraisal of Education & Sports in the NorthEast Province 1999

of Sri Lanka by Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, Ph.D., May 1999 NEP Education Report__1999pdf PREFACE This report attempts to inform those who are in decision making positions the conditions of the violent conflict environment and the status of education in the NorthEast Province, and recommends actions that would stabilise and improve education and the life of the… Read more »

Endless War

by Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute, California, March 2021 Endless War Oakland Institute March 2021 *** The Destroyed Land, Life, and Identity of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka —FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— March 7, 2021; 10:00PM PT Media Contact: Anuradha Mittal, amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org” data-extlink=””>amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org(link sends e-mail); +1 510-530-5126 As the 46th… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Post-War Defence Budget

A systematic review by Kamanthi Wickramasinghe, Daily Mirror, Colombo, February 5, 2020 A systematic review of Sri Lanka’s post-war defence budget reveals that Sri Lanka spends too much on defence and the defence budget is spent inefficiently. The study done by Daniel Alphonsus, who had served as an advisor to Sri Lanka’s finance minister with… Read more »

Sri Lanka Turns to China Rather than IMF

To avoid default Relations with US-led multilateral lender strained by past misadventures by Marwaan Macan-Markar, Nikkei Asia, October 12, 2020  Sri Lanka’s government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa desperately needs cash to service over $15 billion in foreign debt. (Source photos by Reuters)  COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s ultranationalist government looks set to receive a financial lifeline from China… Read more »

In Sri Lanka, a People Living Off Borrowed Money

by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, August 22, 2020 As Sri Lanka struggles with outstanding foreign debt, rural households across the country have been living off borrowings after exhausting their savings. Meera Srinivasan reports on how those already struggling with severe economic hardships are now grappling with a pandemic-induced crisis After doing seven jobs in the last three years in and around Colombo,… Read more »

The Centrality of Devolution in Development

by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, August 17, 2020 In Sri Lanka, the Tamil people’s political and economic aspirations must not be separated The outcome of Sri Lanka’s August 5 general election had few surprises. The Rajapaksa family is decisively at the country’s helm for the next five years. The fragmented political opposition is struggling to come… Read more »

The Role of Civilians and Civil Society in Preventing Mass Atrocities

by Congo Research Group, Anushani Alagarajah, Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, and Laxana Paskaran, Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, Nyathon H. Mai, The Sudd Institute, Zachariah Mampilly with Daniel Solomon, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, July 21, 2020 Preventing Atrocities in a State Unwilling to Address its Past by Anushani Alagarajah, Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, and Laxana Paskaran, Adayaalam Centre for… Read more »

SL State Continues Mega ‘Development’ Crime in Mannaar

Amidst COVID-19 curfew by TamilNet, May 7, 2020 Hundreds of Sinhala workers from South and Indian subcontractors are roaming free in Mannaar, between Oalaith-thoduvaay and Thoadda-ve’li, where Tamil villagers are struggling to cope with their livelihood due to COVID-19 curfew. Millionaire investors from the South and the occupying SL State abetted by Asian Development Bank,… Read more »