politicodiary

Sri Lanka isn’t getting any help from the World Bank. The world lending agency has shown deep concern over the economic situation of the country, but it has also made it clear that it has no intentions of extending more funding, unless there is some development in the way the democratic setup of the country is put back on track. A robust ‘macroeconomic framework’ is the need of the hour as suggested by the UN led World Bank in its twitter message. Deep structural reform is needed to ensure the worthy 22 million starving and suffering Sri Lankans are taken care of. Corruption within the ranks has been seen as the major reason for the drain of funds and no economic growth. While the World Bank isn’t going to lend any money for the economy to run, it has shown clemency and diverted US$160 million from existing loans to finance urgently needed medicines, cooking gas and school meals. People have been forced to buy low quality food. There is dearth of fuel and long queues have left pe...

 Sri Lankan economic crises is not getting any better by the passing day. Residents are now reeling under severe power cuts, shortage of medical equipment and medicines to name a few issues facing the country. What has led to this mayhem is a critical lack of foreign currency that has crippled their economy, forcing them to miss out of payments for vital imports, leading to dire shortages in everything from life-saving medicines to cement. Troubled over long lines for fuel that start forming before dawn, Sri Lankans are now complaining bitterly about government mismanagement and are fretting over how to feed their families as food prices skyrocket. Meanwhile, India has come to their rescue, as hospitals are going without medicines and facing medical crises. Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are already reached out to Sri Lankan government offering help in life saving surgeries. Many hospitals have suspended surgeries due to lack of medicines in Sri Lanka. Trucks at the por...

India now seems to be in a position of handing off loans as it helps Sri Lanka in its darkest hour (literally). With reeling power cuts and shortage of oil, the country has been troubled over scarce electricity. The island has now secured a $500 million loan from India to save its sinking economy. Indeed, the island is looking cash strapped.   No wonder, this has left their thermal power generators dry, with the country finding it difficult to keep the lights on, disrupting transport networks as well. Even traders are seen running desperately low on foreign currency to fund imports. The country still uses fossil fuels to fire its thermal power plants. There have been frequent breakdowns at a huge coal power plant too. Blame it on lack of coal supply as well. So, the unannounced electricity power cuts and understandable. Even cooking gas and kerosene is not easily available to households. Officials said a formal agreement was being signed after two weeks of talks, in addition ...

On Monday, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s requested to China for its assistance in mitigating the debt amidst deepening forex crisis. The request by Sri Lankan PM was made during a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Colombo on Sunday, saying that this will help Colombo immensely at this time, and the assistance from Beijing will be really appreciated. The request from Rajapaksa is mainly about restructuring the debt payments to resolve the current economic crisis arises due to Covid 19 pandemic. As per estimates, payment of USD 1.5 to 2 billion are due this year. As per the experts from international rating agencies, Sri Lanka does not have the ability to pay USD 1500 million. As per the initial agreement Sri Lanka has to pay USD 500 million next week. President Rajapaksa has made a request for a concessional trade credit scheme for imports from China, as per him, this will enable industries to run smoothly. The visit of Chinese Foreign Minis...