A man waves a Sri Lankan national flag as he stands on a barricade blocking the entrance to president's office during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP)Sri Lanka Crisis Live News Updates: Three political parties that withdrew support to the ruling coalition amid the economic crisis in the country Monday proposed an interim government with a new Prime Minister. They are expected to hold further talks with the President and PM on Tuesday.
PM Mahinda Rajapaksa in a televised speech to the nation appealed for an end to the protests. He assured the government is launching a plan to rebuild the country, adding that “every second” protesters spend demonstrating on the streets takes away opportunities to receive crucial foreign currency.
Protesters, meanwhile, continued to demand the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, gathering outside his office. Former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking to The Indian Express, asserted that President Rajapaksa must resign or explain to the people why he won’t. He also said that to tide over the current food shortage, Sri Lanka must tap its friends in South Asia — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh — to “borrow” foodgrains that could be returned after two or three years.
A baby holds a packet of biscuits as he sits in front of the metal barrier at the Presidential Secretariat during a protest against Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid the country's economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 11, 2022. (Reuters)
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa appealed for protesters to end the weeks of mass demonstrations that have called for the government to resign over the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
Mahinda Rajapaksa blamed the foreign exchange crisis on Covid-19 restrictions and the loss of crucial tourism income. "We are embarking on an enormous program to overcome the crisis we face today. Every second spent by the president and this government is used up exhausting avenues to rebuild our country,'' he said.
"Friends, every second you protest on the streets, our country loses opportunities to receive potential dollars,'' he said.
In his speech, Rajapaksa refused to yield power, saying the governing coalition will continue to rule Sri Lanka because opposition parties rejected the call for a unified government. "We invited all political parties represented in Parliament to join us and uplift the country. But they did not join us,'' Rajapaksa said. "As the party in power, we took up that responsibility.'' (AP)
Sri Lanka’s rice production has fallen 13.9% in 2021-22 (April-March) and average yield per hectare by 14.4%, even as imports have soared to a five-year-high.
To what extent is this crisis an outcome of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government’s banning import of inorganic fertilisers and agro-chemicals on May 6, 2021, before its revocation over six months later on November 24?
Table 1 shows that Sri Lanka’s rice output dropped significantly to 2.92 million tonnes (mt) in 2021-22, from the previous year’s 3.39 mt. The US Department of Agriculture further estimated the island nation’s imports at 0.65 mt as a result of lower domestic production. Read Harish Damodaran's explainer here
As Sri Lanka’s political vacuum extended into its tenth day, and protesters demanding the resignation of the Rajapaksa family pitched tents near the presidential office on the main seafront, the country’s former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe summed up the way forward in one line: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa must resign or explain to the people why he won’t.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Wickremesinghe also said that to tide over the current food shortage, Sri Lanka must tap its friends in South Asia — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh — to “borrow” foodgrains that could be returned after two or three years.
He also suggested that a consortium of India, Japan, China, South Korea and the EU could help Sri Lanka until negotiations with the IMF are concluded and the implementation of a bailout begins. He flagged that Indian credit lines for fuel and food would run out by May, and Sri Lanka had to take steps right now to prevent the crisis from overtaking the country. Read more
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Political parties are set to resume talks with the Sri Lankan President on forming an interim government. On Monday, they expressed willingness to form a short-term government to tide over the crisis with a new Prime Minister.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates on the Sri Lankan crisis!