Island of Sri Lanka on the verge of death

(Paari)

As Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have been depleted, severe political and economic crisis’ have pushed people into irreversible poverty. In this context, experts are concerned that more than 12% of the approximately 22 million people on the island of Sri Lanka have been pushed below the poverty line and millions more are losing access to food, health and job security.

According to Reuters, a World Bank spokesman said: “The current economic crisis is having a devastating effect on human development and will completely disrupt the basic livelihoods of families.” It is noteworthy that he feared that ‘malnutrition in families would become inevitable’.

Inflation, which was 46% last April, is now at a record high. A good example of these prices is when the price of an egg increased from just ten rupees to sixty rupees. As the working class people struggle to survive, severe shortages of medicine and medical equipment are also beginning to take their toll. Now that the government is running out of money to pay civil servants, the civil servants are also at risk of losing their jobs. With all of this chaos prevalent on the Island, tens of thousands are fleeing the country. Just as people have been waiting a long time for fuel, now they are waiting to get a passport.

Prime Minister Ranil, who is considered to be the safe house for civilians in the current situation , is running here and there and asking for credit from everyone. It has been four weeks since Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe started reassuring the Sri Lankan nation that ships were queuing up outside the harbour, that the fuel crisis would be resolved in two weeks time. People are still waiting in line for fuel and losing their hope.

Sri Lanka requested a loan of over $ 3 billion from the ‘International Monetary Fund’ as an emergency fund to meet the country’s economic challenges which as of now is a pending request. Prior to this, Sri Lanka had borrowed a debt of $ 50 billion from foreign debt investors, however, with the current situation, they were unable to pay it back. More worryingly, they have lost the trust of two of the most important credit rating agencies by failing to pay an instalment for the first time in history, with this one being $ 78 million just interest alone.

This is one of the main reasons why Sri Lanka, who have been reluctant to borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is yet to receive a full loan. IMF has agreed to lend $600 millions so far. Above all, the World Bank expects Sri Lanka to restructure their debt list and build strong foundations to address long-term economic weaknesses. It is difficult to get a loan until this is done. On top of this, the ban imposed on Sri Lanka due to the fertiliser importation problem in March and this ban effects on tea-rubber exportations from Sri Lanka , all are contributing negatively to the IMF’s decision.

In any case, no country other than India seems to have helped Prime Minister Ranil so far. India has pledged $ 16 million in humanitarian aid and $ 3.5 billion in loans. Despite some help from India in the form of compost and fuel, they are all ‘corn on the cob for a hungry elephant.’

Since coming to a position of power, Prime Minister Ranil has been saying that the next three weeks will be very tough. This is an understatement. To avoid the famine that people have not faced in 70 years, fuel problems have plagued the entire island. With the fuel shortage limiting people of all occupations, people desperately wait in never-ending lines many taking their last breath in the process. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera urges farmers to shift their attention from the lack of fuel to producing paddy in the fields. However, noncritical departments during this food shortage have the little fuel available easier to access than the farmers who are one of the priorities.
Putting all this aside, two new ministries have sprung up and Dhammika Perero and Pavithra Vanniyaraichi are to be in charge. At this point, we are obliged to remind you again of the inauguration of ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe’, The government of Sri Lanka grandly proclaimed that they will reduce the cabinet and resolve the biggest economic problem in the country by “minimising all the big problems”. Clearly, appointing two new ministries directly contradicts their aforementioned claim with the latter statement being even more false.

Furthermore, whenever government leaders change, the Sri Lankan rulers have made it a habit to pretend that there is nothing wrong with their selfish principles. Instead of amending their rules to serve the nation of Sinhalese and the Tamils and the rest, they always mould it to suit their personal agendas. Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe is no exception to this, who is on the verge of bringing in the 21st Amendment.

Whatever happens, the Tamil people must act with vigilance and protect themselves.