Sri Lanka Economic Crisis is Getting Worse

[naira]

“Today in this country we have a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food Program coming here and we have several matters to discuss with the IMF,” Wickremesinghe said. “Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government.”

Saturday the 9th of July the Sri Lankan palace finally became the final point where everything broke and was unavoidable. The crisis that befell this country is getting more and more unstoppable, plus the impact of the pandemic and the death of the tourism industry due to terrorist attacks in 2019. Protesters burst into the palace. Sri Lanka's president and prime minister inaugurated himself and fled by plane.
 
Some of Sri Lanka problems which I summarize as follows:

• Debt swells to $51 billion
• Corruption has increased dramatically
• High imports to meet needs are not supported by exports to global markets
• Gasoline out of stock
• Breakthrough inflation reaches 60%
• Civil servants are not paid
• Power failure
• School closed
• Hospitals as health facilities are also collapsing
• Silenced freedom of speech, and
• People experience experiences from all sectors, especially the economy in supporting their daily needs (food, drink, clothing, and housing).

From this incident, a corrupt government that only cares about personal interests on the basis of ambition will lead to destruction. An unbalanced economic system and uncertainty about campaign promises are the main weapons.

What do you think about the economic crisis in Sri Lanka?

Source:

• https://apnews.com/article/asia-economy-sri-lanka-074d8194c64572dc80118f88a01df1c2?taid=62c9b9b4c95ca00001c0a1cb&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter
• https://www.adb.org/countries/sri-lanka/economy
• https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1545689501758111744

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[coupable]

What the Srilankan masses have done today is a revolution to change the political class that in their view was responsible for all these economic failures. But the problem is that there is no leader for this revolution, and it is not organized but rather spontaneous, not led by an enlightened elite capable of finding a way out for the country from the bottleneck.
And despite the escape of the president and his deputy, the changes returned to take a legal form, with the speaker of parliament governing the country until the next political change, and this is mainly due to the absence of an alternative among the masses.

[Baofeng]

I guess this is the effect of the war in Europe. Perhaps they have been in worsening scenario already with the pandemic, but it then added when they can't buy fuel, they don't have enough foreign currency to pay. And worst, it was reported that they only have a week supply of fuel left.

Not sure if a revolution is needed to change who is heading the government, but they are in dire problems, and in the verge of collapse. China might step up to help though.

[edgycorner]

It's corruption, nothing else.

Whoever was in power, pocketed china's "loan" and staked the future of the entire nation on a few industrial projects. They kept on feeding this mistake, by cutting down on imports(like fertilizers) and as a result affecting the production of their main export too(tea).
To console the public, they would cut taxes( ).

Corruption and greed destroyed SL.

[hatshepsut93]

It's good to see that Sri Lankan people are brave enough to kick out their corrupt government, because in a lot of countries this is no the case, and the government would rather kill the protestors to stay in power. I hope the new government will make sure that the necessary reforms will happen, although such reforms could take many years until their effects would be felt, so sadly there's still years of economic struggle ahead.

[dothebeats]

It still surprises me that Sri Lanka is undergoing such terrible events like this one on their country. Then I realized that there really isn't anything that they can do to revive their economy easily given that they only rely on tourism, an opportunity which was cut by the pandemic. They cannot take loans anymore due to the fact that there isn't anything they can pay with. All they need is a bail out and an economic reset, something that doesn't come for free. Kicking the corrupt officials out of the office is a start, and finding for a new government to restart everything is another.

[Hispo]

It's good to see that Sri Lankan people are brave enough to kick out their corrupt government, because in a lot of countries this is no the case, and the government would rather kill the protestors to stay in power. I hope the new government will make sure that the necessary reforms will happen, although such reforms could take many years until their effects would be felt, so sadly there's still years of economic struggle ahead.

I agree. We can only hope that this is just the beginning for Sri Lanka to get better politicians, after all governments are supposed to fear the people. However, reading the briefing of the situation that country is goinf through I am afraid they will likelyhav to adquire even more debt to have a chance to climb put that economic hole they are trapped in, this may create a situation in which predatory lenders would take advantage of the moment of weakness of the nation in order to fill their pockets in the mid/long term.

At this point, they need actual patriots to take the steering wheel of the politics and macro-economics, other-wise a dark future lies ahead for that people.

[niceli]

There is a bit of a coin flip in these type of situations, you see the alternative, and you see the possibility of what could this be, bads and goods of each side, and you never really know whats going to happen. Just to take Syria for example, we know there is a huge war there right? Been over a decade now. Who was the leader there? A guy who was a secular person who wanted to rule the nation without islamist rule, and for this, do bad things and killed people and deported many, and never gave free rights at all. Wel lwe have seen what the other side wanted and won, that is Afghanistan, a nation ruled by islamists right now. I don't see how any side wins, both side looks to be doing terrible stuff.

I have very little information about Sri Lanka, and I am sure they must be doing badly, otherwise why would this happen, and we always like to see people takeover power, but if those people are the ones that really believe in giving it back to democracy. I don't know if that will be the case in Sri lanka. Al lI know is, give it a few years to see if this is a good thing or not, you can't for sure know if this is good or not, it could turn out to be the best thing that ever happend to Sri Lanka, or it could turn out to be horrible.

[electronicash]

this started even before covid though so reasons got accumulated but this gas supply made it worse. saw the news where the tuktuk lined up stretches to miles waiting for their turn to refuel.

Protesters burst into the palace. Sri Lanka's president and prime minister inaugurated himself and fled by plane.

sounds like Trump's Capitol siege. yep we have seen it many times in this century where leaders fly by plane and its not surprising anymore, people will blame and kill him by hand if he stays. isn't India helping the country?  both country seem related who comes from same root.

so what does Wickremesinghe of IMF mean? do they want to replace Sri Lanka like colonize them or Sri Lanka can elect another leader?  this could lead to a more terrible, they better reelect a reliable leader  this time.

[Findingnemo]

Saw some real videos of the situation by social media influencers yesterday but the problems are not going to solve just by kicking the corrupted politicians, the upcoming government has lot to do and for that they need funds as well so again the debt will increase but the people should find a way to solve issues as soon as possible or else the chaos will create among the people as well.

[LodisMcguire]

This is what happens when the corruption in the government by most politicians reached the peak.The people got no fuel,water and electricity,as for the politicians they fled with their wealth to live in another country.It's the same for every country with the case of corruption,but the difference is some know where the line is.

[Text]

I can't imagine if this would happen to our country *finger crossed", I hope not, I'm scared.

Corruption is like a cancer disease especially in government, if what the people vote for is not worthy then this is the result. The leader of the country must be a true servant of the people.

Their situation is very difficult now, everyone is affected by what is happening in the country. If you think about it now, you can’t tell how they will start their new government now that the country is bankrupt.

Isn't it, that he has been demoted, why doesn't he want to step down if he doesn't have the ability anymore? This should be a lesson to all of them, that is if they learn to choose those who should be appointed to the position.

[Alisha-k]

A big revolution in disguise. The people of Sri Lanka were able to achieve this mile stone of success because the protest was done without sentiment and this as well will send strong message to future leaders. There are chances better leaders are on the pipeline. This will serve as a filter for intended corrupt leaders for fear of what might erupt if they toil in the path of Rajapaksa

[Leviathan.007]

Saw that on the news yesterday about the people who were entering the president's place and they were unhappy because of their situation even some of them didn't have the gas for the cars to come there so they used the bicycles to go to the president's place, I know Sri Lanka was always a country with a bad economic situation but these days because of the economic crisis all over the world they will have more economic pressure and these all bad news can be a reason to their corrupted government. Hope good things happen for them after this time because usually, a protest like this will have many consensuses for everyone.

[so98nn]

Yeah, its bad man and I am actually watching the telecast right now. The crowd has just went all democratic in the Presidential property and show casing what they need right now is justice!

I am truly in the court of peeps of sri lanka to be honest because it's in the leaders hand on how to approach his peeps and how to overcome the crisis situation in the country.

The footage shows how the President had kitchen's full of food, grains and rice and living the good life. It's sad reality and those peeps had perfect approach. Next step is country falling into the hands of another country. When they gonna pay 51 billion dollars, thats not even their ten years GDP?

[davis196]

I don't know about the economic and financial situation in Sri Lanka in detail, because there aren't any news about Sri Lanka in where I live.
In my country, most of the news are about the war in Ukraine and the global inflation. What's happening in the underdeveloped Asian, African and Latin American countries gets very little press coverage.
I heard today that the president of Sri Lanka is about to resign and there were big protests in his residency. Perhaps Sri Lanka would declare bankruptcy and start negotiating better terms with the creditors. The International Monetary Fund will have to step in and provide some kind of financial aid. I'm no fan of the IMF and I don't think that they can help the poor countries getting out of their debt problems and poverty, but I guess that Sri Lanka doesn't have many options in the current situation. 

[Zlantann]

Although the government of Sri Lanka is alleged to be corrupt and insensitive to the sufferings of the masses but I commend them. The President and his deputy fled out of the presidential villa. These are true democrats that understands that power belongs to the people. When the same thing happened in Mayamar, Belarus and Nigeria, protesters were massacred and nobody was help responsible till date. The police and military of Sri Lanka are the true heroes, they quietly left the presidential palace immediately they discover that they have been overpowered by the protesters. 

[Botnake]

We are now seeing what would happen to a country if the economy goes down.

People in this country are suffering now, but this is all because of bad governance.
Honestly, I can't imagine that they will get worse than this, it's the children that will be affected more, hopefully, they will be able to recover although it's very hard to make it happen.

The corrupt people who cause this are probably now leaving this country. 

[Argoo]

It still surprises me that Sri Lanka is undergoing such terrible events like this one on their country. Then I realized that there really isn't anything that they can do to revive their economy easily given that they only rely on tourism, an opportunity which was cut by the pandemic. They cannot take loans anymore due to the fact that there isn't anything they can pay with. All they need is a bail out and an economic reset, something that doesn't come for free. Kicking the corrupt officials out of the office is a start, and finding for a new government to restart everything is another.

Of course, a country that only hopes to profit from tourism will always be subject to various external influences taking place in the world. The coronavirus pandemic has knocked down almost all countries economically. Perhaps, problems that arose from the war that Russia unleashed by attacking Ukraine in the center of Europe were added here.
I like that the people themselves can forcibly remove their corrupt government. We see that if this was possible in Russia, then such consequences from the current war, which will certainly be there in the near future, might not have happened.
But in any case, Sri Lanka needs to develop its economy, and above all, production, so that profits to the treasury are sustainable. We need to reorient ourselves to the necessary production, this is the basis for everything. The current consumer attitude to life will never give a high level of this life, otherwise this country will always remain poor.

[Raflesia]

Saw some real videos of the situation by social media influencers yesterday but the problems are not going to solve just by kicking the corrupted politicians, the upcoming government has lot to do and for that they need funds as well so again the debt will increase but the people should find a way to solve issues as soon as possible or else the chaos will create among the people as well.

I saw from the Tiktok video that I was really horrified to see the situation there, the people managed to occupy the presidential palace because they were threatened with wanting the President to step down, even though now that they have overthrown President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at least the people will have hope for a new government even though they also need funds to pay off their debts, so this will be a serious crisis will last a long time because Sri Lanka has exhausted its stock of resources it will suffer greatly for a long time.