Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka : News & DIscussions
- Thread starter RISING SUN
- Start date
Go thru this Paddy & you'd know just what I was referring to when I wrote that not all ethnicities were / are equal.
SL has the best social indicators for any south asian country or even ASEAN nations except Singapore. They've had near 100% literacy since long yet how have they progressed materially ? By never diversifying outside traditional economic pursuits like agriculture , tourism , etc .
I won't touch upon the civil war & how the Tamils being early birds to adapting to British rule took advantage of education in the English language & were in senior administrative positions , academia , business etc whose success in spite of being a minority rankled the majority Sinhalese who then actively pursued an active state policy of discrimination followed by repression which led to the nearly 4 decade civil war which utterly ruined Serendipity.
JFC look at the RoI . Somewhere around the late 1990's the Irish there came to the conclusion ( under foreign advice no doubt for it's impossible for an Irishman or Irishmen collectively to come up with such ingenious solutions to existential problems ) that in spite of their best efforts at improving social indicators of their population viz basic + higher education , health care etc all heavily subsidized or practically free of charge , it just wasn't enough to jumpstart the economy.
That's when it struck them they could promote RoI as a tax free haven for tech companies - the idea being to expose native Irish to the new economy , encourage such ventures by the natives , incubate new ventures like these ,etc apart from generating revenue from these businesses & the secondary & tertiary benefits , migration of such companies bring to the local economy.
The idea was also to get out of old traditional economic sectors like agriculture , dairy , tourism etc . Yet more than 2 decades later what has the effect this has had in terms of developing RoI as the next silicon valley & the number of unicorns it has spawned by the natives. It's negligible . It's that pathetic . Compare yourselves to Israel or Singapore , city states or nation states with a similar population size for perspective.
This isn't to say the move has failed. On the contrary it has propelled RoI into one of the few nations in Europe or the world with the highest per capita income in GDP terms , a fact you never forget to brag about. Yet how many native billionaires & millionaires has it produced ? How long will all this continue minus local talent developing & taking RoI to the next level ?
For all this wealth is ephemeral . Just as the Arabs in gulf oil rich states are now discovering so too will you tomorrow that some other nation will come along who can offer these nations much better tax breaks & then all hell will break lose with traditional occupations like potato farming becoming fall back options & the mainstay of your economy once more like in the bad old days.
@BMD
Lack of proper ports in India meant that a lot of bigger cargo ships stopped in Srilanka first where the cargo was reloaded into smaller ships meant for India.
With an improvement in Port infrastructure in India, this would surely have reduced. How much would this have affected the economy of Srilanka, anyone?
With an improvement in Port infrastructure in India, this would surely have reduced. How much would this have affected the economy of Srilanka, anyone?
You're referring to the Vizhinjam port . That's the only deep sea water port in India capable of handling super tankers & cargo ships or what's known as the mother ships . That's still under construction. It was supposed to have come on line by know but it's been delayed . And this only the first phase . There are 2 more phases to go .
Commissioning of Vizhinjam port likely to be delayed
It was set to be completed by November 2022
We don't have big transshipment ports in India yet. However India has effectively barred India bound ships to use Chinese operated ports in Sri Lanka when Sri Lanka refused to heed Indian concerns, hence lack of numbers for those ports, resulting in loss of revenue, unable to pay off debt and then getting captured in bad debt cycle.
Sri Lanka wants India to play ‘guarantor’, urge its partners to offer financial help to Colombo
New Delhi: Sri Lanka has asked India if it can reach out to some of its bilateral and multilateral partners like the US, Japan, Australia, and ASEAN, and play “guarantor” to seek financial help for Colombo, ThePrint has learnt.The Rajapaksa government, which is battling an unprecedented economic crisis, has also sought New Delhi’s help in extending some of the previous lines of credit by way of “bridge financing” till the time Colombo is able to negotiate a financial package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), top-level sources told ThePrint.
According to the sources, Sri Lanka will soon be running out of the $500 million credit line by the end of April, after India gives 120,000 tonnes of diesel and 35,000 tonnes of petrol, the sources said.
The Sri Lankan government believes that, if it were to reach out, the international community may not act, a source said. However, the source added, the international community would be more willing to extend financial help if India, as the biggest power in South Asia, were to do reach out to them and also act as a “guarantor” for loans to the island nation.
Sources also said Sri Lanka is now in the process of undertaking a massive debt restructuring exercise in order to be able to present its case in front of the IMF, which may roll out a bailout package for the island nation, but with riders.
As a result, Sri Lanka has asked India to continue with bridge financing till the time the IMF programme is in place, the source said.
Bridge financing is a type of short-term loan given to borrowers for managing immediate needs under a stipulated period till a bigger loan is in place.
India was the first country to support Sri Lanka in this manner to secure bridge financing.
Sri Lanka has sought a $4 billion package from the IMF to tide over the economic crisis, according to their new Finance Minister Ali Sabry.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Sabry said his country has sought bridge financing options from China as well.
Another financial package
India, said another source, is planning to draw up another financial package for Sri Lanka by way of currency swap arrangements and credit lines. Both governments are constantly in touch with each other, the source added.
This was also discussed during a meeting between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda.
New Delhi has already offered financial assistance to the tune of around $2.5 billion to Sri Lanka.
During his meeting with Sitharaman, the Sri Lankan envoy asked if New Delhi could “enhance and restructure” some of the assistance already provided by India in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel as well as balance of payment support, said a statement issued by the High Commission of Sri Lanka to India.
Earlier this week, India also supplied 11,000 MT of rice to Sri Lanka under a concessional credit line of $1 billion. With this, a total of 16,000 MT rice — out of 40,000 MT to be imported by Sri Lanka’s State Trading Corporation from India — stood delivered.
India and Sri Lanka are now also holding discussions to establish a cooperation framework and to monitor the progress of economic cooperation between the two countries in the present context.
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability, governor of the Central Bank, and the secretary to the Treasury are engaged in these discussions with the Chief Economic Adviser of the government and the secretary (economic affairs) of the Ministry of Finance.
The high commissions of the two countries in each other’s capitals are also participating in these discussions.
Finance Minister Sitharaman is expected to meet Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Sabry next week in Washington DC on the sidelines of the annual IMF meetings.
Sri Lanka wants India to play 'guarantor', urge its partners to offer financial help to Colombo
Rajapaksa govt, battling an unprecedented economic crisis, has also sought India's help in extending some of the previous lines of credit till Colombo is able to negotiate a financial package with IMF.
theprint.in
India-Sri Lanka ministerial meet on the cards
Newly-appointed Sri Lanka finance minister Ali Sabry is expected to meet an Indian ministerial delegation in Washington next week, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings, to firm up a fresh round of assistance from New Delhi, ET has learnt.
Sri Lanka seeks bridging finance from India till IMF bailout
Colombo [Sri Lanka], April 17 (ANI): While India plays a prominent role in helping its neighbour Sri Lanka come out of a deep economic crisis, it was learnt from reliable sources that Colombo has asked New Delhi to provide bridging finance for the crisis-ridden country till the International...
www.aninews.in
I'd rather the Rajafuckse clan serve their full tenure in office. It'd be disastrous for SL but this is one mess the Rajafuckse clan has created which they need to clean up & a lesson for the whole of SL not to trust their future & behold themselves to one clan ever again. With that I hope the sun has set forever on this odious clan .
India to provide additional $500-mn assistance to Sri Lanka for fuel
India will provide an additional $500 million in financial assistance to Sri Lanka for it to buy fuel, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister told reporters on Wednesday, adding Bangladesh was also willing to postpone a $450 million in swap repayments."Assistance by the IMF will take about six months to come to us and it will come in tranches," Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris (pictured) said. "During the intervening period, we need to find funds to keep our people supplied with essentials."
Meanwhile China, whose large loans and investments to the island nation led to allegations of debt diplomacy, has said it will provide “emergency humanitarian assistance” to Colombo, but remained silent on its plea for debt rescheduling.
The Chinese government has decided to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka to help the country cope with the current difficulties, Xu Wei, a spokesperson for China International Development Cooperation Agency, said. China has noticed Sri Lanka's economic difficulties, Xu said, adding that as a traditional friendly neighbour to Sri Lanka, the Chinese government has decided to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the country to help it cope with the current difficulties, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xu as saying on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin repeated the same at a media briefing here, adding that the “Chinese side has announced that it will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka.” “We will continue to offer support and assistance to the best of our capability to help Sri Lanka reinvigorate its economy and improve people's livelihood," he said.
India to provide additional $500-mn assistance to Sri Lanka for fuel
Meanwhile China, whose large loans and investments to the island nation led to allegations of debt diplomacy, has said it will provide "emergency humanitarian assistance" to Colombo
China must be treated as equal Sri Lanka creditor: India to IMF, World Bank
China must be treated just like any other creditor once talks begin to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she told the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.“All creditors must be treated equally and with transparency,” Sitharaman said in an interview in Washington Friday. “I’ve emphasized that point in general and in the context of Sri Lanka.”
China Ready to Offer Sri Lanka ‘Urgently Needed Help’
Sri Lanka was looking to borrow $1 billion from Beijing so that it can repay existing Chinese loans due in July, as well as a $1.5 billion credit line to purchase goods. The South Asian nation, which is running out of dollars to pay for imports, is also seeking aid from neighbor India, the World Bank and the IMF.
Sitharaman said she has also requested the IMF consider rapid aid for middle income-classified Sri Lanka -- typically given only to low-income countries -- as the pandemic has destroyed the island’s tourism revenue.
With foreign-exchange earnings plunging, Sri Lanka struggled to manage its external debt, which had grown in part due to loans from China to fund ambitious infrastructure projects. Sri Lanka had about $3.5 billion in debt from China by end-2020, excluding loans to state enterprises, according to central bank data.
How Sri Lanka Landed in a Crisis and What It Means: QuickTake
This year, it also has to pay $2.2 billion of principal and interest payments for dollar-denominated bonds and loans, with the number rising to about $2.7 billion annually in both 2023 and 2024, available data compiled by Bloomberg show.
China must be treated as equal Sri Lanka creditor: India to IMF, World Bank
"All creditors must be treated equally and with transparency," Sitharaman said in an interview in Washington Friday. "I've emphasized that point in general and in the context of Sri Lanka."
Seeing many tweets about houses of ex gov officials being set on fire. One Minister has been apparently lynched.