Sri Lanka defaults on its $51 billion external debt

[Semar Mesem]

It is sad to see that Sri Rare's economy is heavily dependent on debt and is now failing to pay its debts. The thing that must be improved is the production and expansion of natural resources to the maximum in order to make Sri Rare's economy better in the future.

[el kaka22]

As you said even if people get aid from donations still there is no supply of products which is badly needed right now starting from the fuel, electricity, milk, veggies,etc.So individuals can't import goods for themselves without the government help so they are in need of some leader who understand the situation and has the ability to control which will atleast save people from starving to death then they can slowly gain back what they lost due to improper government policies made by group of stupid belong to single family.

If donations start, then we could start with sending money but we could also start sending stuff as well. Like food and other stuff. That would probably result with something decent and we would definitely end up with a proper rebuilding process. I am not saying that it will be perfect, but it would certainly be something at least. I said the same thing when Venezuela first got terrible, if the world wanted to, we could definitely help them.

There is enough money in the world to help each nation in terrible condition, the downside is that people with billions may end up with less billions, I am sorry but cry me a river, it wouldn't be a big deal at all.

[Renampun]

I wonder why OP didn't mention about Chinese debt. 10% of their entire debt is along with China. Sri Lanka has already lost control of Goadar Port to China owing to the debt and now they have declared bankruptcy. Read more here,

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/explained-how-sri-lanka-fell-into-debt-trap-defaulted-on-foreign-payments/articleshow/90805938.cms

It is definitely a prime example of government mismanagement. Also their main source of income was tourism which got hit by Covid very seriously. We are seeing the cumulative effect now.

Countries that only rely on income from tourists are very vulnerable to bankruptcy...

I agree that the phenomenon that is happening in Sri Lanka is the result of "mismanagement" by their government. they can't afford to pay debts and interest on debt from china, the biggest income only comes from tourism and the sizeable corruption is a fatal mistake from the sri lanka government. It will take a long time for Sri Lanka's economy to recover.

[Bitcoin2009]

From some TV news that i saw in Sri Lanka experiencing many crises, from oil, electricity and so on, of course this is a serious problem from the Sri Lanka economy team and i hope that soon there will be help to save sri Lanka.

[TheCoinGrabber]

snip

This is fault of their government because they didn't to much on their actions made and this is the result for their not bothering to do more economical studies about those past actions they made. Governments should look at Sri Lanka and think more than became greedy to take unnecessary action because this incident might happen to other corrupt countries if they continue to milk their country for their own personal gains.

They never learn though. Unless the Sri Lankan leader go to jail should the military launch a coup, he'll be able to flee. Most times these leaders already have back up plans on how to escape and live comfortably abroad. Take for example the Marcoses of the Philippines.

[ajochems]

Nepotism was a cancer to the Srilanka.Because the ministry of the government was occupied by the PM brothers.Long term this was happening in the Srilanka.The youth wing of Srilanka had started the revolution against the government.But the thing is their is no change in the government.All the people involved in the revolution was arrested,it should be looked by world people.

[jrrsparkles]

As you said even if people get aid from donations still there is no supply of products which is badly needed right now starting from the fuel, electricity, milk, veggies,etc.So individuals can't import goods for themselves without the government help so they are in need of some leader who understand the situation and has the ability to control which will atleast save people from starving to death then they can slowly gain back what they lost due to improper government policies made by group of stupid belong to single family.

If donations start, then we could start with sending money but we could also start sending stuff as well. Like food and other stuff. That would probably result with something decent and we would definitely end up with a proper rebuilding process. I am not saying that it will be perfect, but it would certainly be something at least. I said the same thing when Venezuela first got terrible, if the world wanted to, we could definitely help them.

There is enough money in the world to help each nation in terrible condition, the downside is that people with billions may end up with less billions, I am sorry but cry me a river, it wouldn't be a big deal at all.

But how long people can send stuffs like that? Government has to make a deal with countries to bring a permanent solution to this.
Billionaires also will help only with certain agreement like based on investment or something which benefits them and China is already doing it and looting all their natural resources.

[alexeyneu]

indians feed them when are in mood. it's not africa . 1600m can feed 20 more
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/india-sends-11-000-mt-of-rice-to-sri-lanka-ahead-of-new-year-101649752359499.html

[macson]

i continue to follow developments regarding the news of Sri Lanka which is currently bankrupt and feel sad to see so many citizens suffering as a result of their government being very ignorant in managing the country of Sri Lanka.  The last good news i read is that the IMF and the world bank are ready to help Sri Lanka, i hope this is not another debt trap.

[Mometaskers]

snip

As you said even if people get aid from donations still there is no supply of products which is badly needed right now starting from the fuel, electricity, milk, veggies,etc.So individuals can't import goods for themselves without the government help so they are in need of some leader who understand the situation and has the ability to control which will atleast save people from starving to death then they can slowly gain back what they lost due to improper government policies made by group of stupid belong to single family.

In this case the government (assuming it survive this) should either put up a good system for distribution OR just get the fuck out of the way and let NGOs come in and handle it. With most things in life, preferably the latter or else it'll be like Haiyan where donations both domestic and international just ended up rotting in warehouses.

[Shakil29]

There are many reasons behind the bankruptcy of Sri Lanka. All we know, Sri Lankan economy mostly depends on Tourism industry. Because of COVID-19, their Tourism industry is totally off. At this time, they loss huge amount. Another hand, the government of Sri Lanka take a lots of Developmental workWith foreign debt. At this moment they didn't give Debt settlement.

[The Cryptovator]

Notice this thread just now. I watched the news about Sri Lanka a few days back on your native TV news. I realized the main reason for bankruptcy is corruption there. Government peoples fill their pocket by corruption behind so-called development in their country. That's the reason why a lot of development becomes worthless and default loans. If the government servants become corrupted then this is the result expected. I can't see any other valid reason bankruptcy of Sri Lanka at all. It will be hard for them to overcome this situation due to wrong decisions by the government.

[DrBeer]

There are many reasons behind the bankruptcy of Sri Lanka. All we know, Sri Lankan economy mostly depends on Tourism industry. Because of COVID-19, their Tourism industry is totally off. At this time, they loss huge amount. Another hand, the government of Sri Lanka take a lots of Developmental workWith foreign debt. At this moment they didn't give Debt settlement.

Unfortunately, I did not find up-to-date data - tell me, where can I see the structure of budget-forming industries in Sri Lanka, in recent years before Covid-19? Tourism - I agree that an important direction, but I vacationed in Sri Lanka from the beginning of 2000 to about 2014, and watched how the tourism industry developed. I have the opinion that it is, of course, not in its infancy, but it is difficult to call it gigantic, such as in Turkey or Thailand.

[eaLiTy]

It is sad to see that Sri Rare's economy is heavily dependent on debt and is now failing to pay its debts. The thing that must be improved is the production and expansion of natural resources to the maximum in order to make Sri Rare's economy better in the future.

Sri Lankan economy is dependent on tourism and the pandemic situation played a part of their increasing debt, but the majority of the current situation should be blamed upon the Rajapaksa family who is ruling the country for an extended period of time and their economic blunders took the country to this position and they have to take the full responsibility.

The only solution is that the creditors should give Sri Lanka ample to restructure the loan for them to repay the loan and only then they can overcome this situation even though it is a really difficult task.

[suzanne5223]

It is sad to see that Sri Rare's economy is heavily dependent on debt and is now failing to pay its debts. The thing that must be improved is the production and expansion of natural resources to the maximum in order to make Sri Rare's economy better in the future.

Yes, it's sad that this happened to some countries but let's be honest here. The whole system of the Central Bank, politics, and education is a scam and even since the Covid-19 breakout a lot of people have already known that our Central Bank have failed us and the result of their failure is what we see that reflect in the country like Sri Lanka and Lebanon.

[ninis45]

due to covid-19 many Asian countries are in debt, including my own country. But unfortunately under this crisis there are some unscrupulous government officials who take the opportunity to commit corruption, especially Sri Lanka, where most of the government apparatus are mostly people in the kingdom.
but at this time the tourism sector has started to receive tourists from abroad which might change the economy there for the next year

[jostorres]

Countries that only rely on income from tourists are very vulnerable to bankruptcy...

I agree that the phenomenon that is happening in Sri Lanka is the result of "mismanagement" by their government. they can't afford to pay debts and interest on debt from china, the biggest income only comes from tourism and the sizeable corruption is a fatal mistake from the sri lanka government. It will take a long time for Sri Lanka's economy to recover.

Countries that can't sustain a diversified income with a bit of savings or future debt can't sustain and vulnerable. Look at the USA, they are in big debt, and they do not have easy time paying that neither, each year they are growing that, why are they not worried or not defaulting? Because, they are spending that money to earn more in the future, the 500 billion debt you make today, could mean 50 billion a year in the future, the 2 trillion you spent could comeback as 300 billion a year.

So, basically it is a situation where Sri Lanka could have relied heavily on manufacture and still would bankrupt, or farming and still bankrupt, you need to invest into multiple different sources of income or you will do badly.

[7788bitcoin]

~
Yes, it's sad that this happened to some countries but let's be honest here. The whole system of the Central Bank, politics, and education is a scam and even since the Covid-19 breakout a lot of people have already known that our Central Bank have failed us and the result of their failure is what we see that reflect in the country like Sri Lanka and Lebanon.

Policies taken by the banking system and the political system are the majority of the reason for these kind of huge debts, i am not personally not aware of the political situation in Sri Lanka but this was news headline all over the world and they are blaming the entire situation on the untimely pandemic, what they are trying to hide is the fact that they were already in trouble well before the pandemic and the pandemic might have fast tracked their position.

[Lubang Bawah]

The sad thing to see the current rare condition of Sri, from a lot of news on TV and Social Media shows very high unemployment, the first thing Sri Lanka must improve is to improve the education system so that the people can be productive and of course reduce imports that are very burdens on the country.

[Haunebu]

due to covid-19 many Asian countries are in debt, including my own country. But unfortunately under this crisis there are some unscrupulous government officials who take the opportunity to commit corruption, especially Sri Lanka, where most of the government apparatus are mostly people in the kingdom.

Unscrupulous government officials were present in Sri Lanka way before the pandemic just like any other country out there to be honest. Recent corrupt officials though were some of the worst among the worst which screwed the country in several ways.

Russian war with Ukraine just accelerated their economic collapse which some of the posters above pointed out.

The sad thing to see the current rare condition of Sri, from a lot of news on TV and Social Media shows very high unemployment, the first thing Sri Lanka must improve is to improve the education system so that the people can be productive and of course reduce imports that are very burdens on the country.

That isn't as simple as you think. Their country is reeling from debts at the moment which implies that they don't really have time to focus on improving their education system.