The prime minister has said if the protestors are ready for talks, he would extend an invitation for their representatives to meet for discussions, the statement noted. (file photo)Sri Lanka Crisis Live News Updates: Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said Wednesday he is ready to speak with those who have been protesting against the government for the last five days over the economic and political crisis in the country, news agency ANI reported.
Saddled with a huge forex crisis, Sri Lanka on Tuesday suspended its repayment of external public debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowings, pending the completion of its discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the preparation of a comprehensive debt restructuring program covering the obligations.
Meanwhile, China reiterated that it is doing its “utmost” to provide assistance to debt-ridden Sri Lanka, even as Beijing maintained a steady silence on Colombo’s request for debt rescheduling as well as extending the promised USD 2.5 billion assistance.
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 Lanka's prime minister offered talks on Wednesday with protesters calling for the government to step down over its handing of an economic crisis as the opposition threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against it in parliament.
The island nation of 22 million people is in the throes of its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948, with a foreign currency shortage stalling imports of fuel and medicines and bringing hours of power cuts a day.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets, many staging a sit-in in the commercial capital, Colombo, to denounce the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Reuters)
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said Wednesday he is ready to speak with those who have been protesting against the government for the last five days over the economic and political crisis in the country, news agency ANI reported.
The unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka has led to a serious, ongoing crisis of governance. The country has no dollars, no access to international markets for finance, record-breaking depreciation of the rupee, spiralling inflation, 13-hour power cuts and shortages of fuel, gas, drugs, milk powder and other essentials. All of this has been brought to a head by the massive and spontaneous street protests by ordinary citizens with one simple message – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family must go. They must leave politics and be held accountable for the money they have stolen. They are lacking in both capacity and integrity as far as governance and government are concerned. People have defied the emergency and curfew — now withdrawn — to protest. Read more
On a patch of grass near Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office in the commercial capital Colombo, around two dozen tents have been erected in a small but growing camp that is becoming the focal point of national protests.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets nearby and across the country in recent days to call for Rajapaksa to step down, venting their anger at soaring inflation and lengthy power cuts caused by the spiralling economic crisis. On a handwritten board next to the tents, not far from the colonial-era presidential building adjoining Colombo's water front, stands the sign: "Gota-Go Village".
Close to the protest camp on Monday evening, a group of Christian nuns in white habits walked past a police barricade, atop which 11 protesters sat chanting. One held a poster saying "Our Govt Failed Us". A short distance away, three Buddhist monks in bright saffron robes stood amid the crowd. (Reuters)
Sri Lanka's government doctors association on Tuesday launched an urgent appeal seeking medicines to supplement hospitals in the island nation amidst its worst economic crisis that has left the country with a drug shortage.
Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA), which is the doctor's trade union, have opened up a portal seeking donations of medicines and consumables as part of their initiative to bring at least a temporary relief to the medicine shortage in such a time.
“Due to poor financial and economic management, the Sri Lankan healthcare sector is on the verge of a severe crisis in saving the lives of patients caused by severe drug and equipment shortages. We need your generous support at this crucial time to continue the patient care services in Sri Lanka,” a statement issued by GMOA said. (PTI)
China on Tuesday reiterated that it is doing its "utmost" to provide assistance to debt-ridden Sri Lanka, even as Beijing maintained a steady silence on Colombo's request for debt rescheduling as well as extending the promised USD 2.5 billion assistance.
Saddled with a huge forex crisis, Sri Lanka on Tuesday suspended servicing external public debt pending the completion of its discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the preparation of a comprehensive debt restructuring program covering the obligations.
The policy shall be in effect for all international bonds, all bilateral loans excluding swaps between the Central Bank and a foreign central bank, all loans with commercial banks and institutional lenders, the Sri Lanka Finance Ministry said. (PTI)
The shipment of 11,000 MT of rice from India was handed over to Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) representatives by the officials of the High Commission, in Colombo on Tuesday.
“This consignment comes under the $1 billion credit line extended by India. Already 16,000 MT have been supplied under this credit line,” said Eldos Mathew Punnose, Central Public Information Officer, Indian High Commission in SL.
“In addition to $1 billion dollar credit line, India has also extended $500 million credit line to purchase fuel, under this around 2,70,000 MT of petrol, diesel have already come into Sri Lanka,” he added. (With inputs from ANI)
As Sri Lanka’s political vacuum extended into its tenth day, 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.
Former cricketer and minister Arjuna Ranatunga on Tuesday urged all the Sri Lankan players, who are playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), to come and stand in support of their country during the ongoing economic crisis.
Sri Lanka is battling a severe economic crisis with food and fuel scarcity affecting a large number of the people in the island nation. The economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I really don't know but there are some cricketers who are lavishly playing in the IPL and haven't spoken about their country. Unfortunately, people are scared to speak against the government. These cricketers are also working for the cricket board under the ministry and they are trying to protect their jobs. But now they have to take a step as some of the young cricketers also came forward and gave statements in support of the protest," Arjuna Ranatunga told ANI. (ANI)
Sri Lanka is suspending its repayment of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowings, pending the completion of a loan restructuring program with the International Monetary Fund to deal with the island nation's worst economic crisis in decades, the government said Tuesday.
Sri Lankans for the past months have been enduring shortages of fuel, food and other essentials and daily power outages. Most of those items are paid for in hard currency, but Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with dwindling foreign reserves and $25 billion in foreign debt. Nearly $7 billion is due this year.
“Sri Lanka has had an unblemished record of external debt service since independence in 1948,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement. “Recent events, however, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the hostilities in Ukraine, have so eroded Sri Lanka's fiscal position that continued normal servicing of external public debt obligations has become impossible.” The ministry said the IMF has assessed Sri Lanka's foreign debt as unsustainable, and staying current on foreign debt repayment is no longer a tenable policy. (AP)
A shipment of 11,000 MT of rice from India arrived in Colombo on Tuesday to help the economic crisis hit Sri Lankans celebrate the traditional national new year. Sri Lanka celebrates the Sinhala and Tamil New Year on April 13 and 14.
"16,000 MT rice supplied under India's multi-pronged support to Sri Lanka in the past week alone," a statement by the Indian High Commission said.
Sri Lanka will temporarily suspend foreign debt payments to avoid a hard default, the Central Bank Governor said on Tuesday, with its limited foreign reserves required for imports of essential items such as fuel.
According to the interim policy released by the Finance Ministry, the country will "suspend normal debt servicing of all Affected Debts (as defined below), for an interim period pending an orderly and consensual restructuring of those obligations in a manner consistent with an economic adjustment program supported by the IMF."
"The policy of the Government as discussed in this memorandum shall apply to amounts of Affected Debts outstanding on April 12, 2022. New credit facilities, and any amounts disbursed under existing credit facilities, after that date are not subject to this policy and shall be serviced normally," the press release by the Finance Ministry said.
Even as widespread protests continue across Sri Lanka, two of the members who had earlier left Rajapaksa-led ruling coalition, returned to the party fold Tuesday.
The members, including Shantha Bandara of former President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), took oaths as state ministers, days after they had resigned from their positions to protest the government's economic mismanagement.
According to sources, with dissidents softening their stance, Rajapaksa may appoint his cabinet on Tuesday, news agency PTI reported.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s address to the nation Monday night was his first direct outreach to the people since the economic crisis triggered crippling food and fuel shortages and engulfed the country in protests.
Here are the main takeaways from Rajapaksa’s speech:
1) He made it plain that the Rajapaksa ruling family is not going to step down just because youngsters are out on the streets demanding they resign. He harked back to his leadership during the military defeat of the LTTE to make the point that he had saved the country from disaster then and was capable of doing so now.
2) By linking the anti-Rajapaksa protests, peaceful so far, to previous violent insurrections in Sri Lanka by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), and Tamil militancy, he tried to paint them as anti-democratic for dissing elected representatives. Read more
Sri Lankan officials on Tuesday said that the crisis-hit country will temporarily suspend foreign debt payments to avoid a hard default, with its limited foreign reserves required for imports of essential items such as fuel.
"It has come to a point that making debt payments are challenging and impossible. The best action that can be taken is to restructure debt and avoid a hard default," Central Bank Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe told reporters. (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.
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