Delusion appears to be a national affliction in Sri Lanka.  When confronted with stark realities, the state consistently refuses to take proactive measures to avert dire consequences.  It refers to national liabilities, like the national airline, as national assets.  Despite regular doses of life-saving intravenous injections in the form of hard cash by the Treasury, […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Former Foreign Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris says that whatever the political arrangement, envisaged by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, to address the developing political-economic-social crisis, the expansion of the Cabinet-of-Ministers wouldn’t be acceptable to the public, under any circumstances. “It would be a grave mistake on the part of political parties re...

The World Food Programme (WFP) is seeking donor support to reach 3.4 million people in Sri Lanka with food and nutrition assistance as nearly a quarter of Sri Lanka is facing food shortages for millions.Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence is spinning off a “serious food crisis,” says the World Food Programme Representative and […]

The National movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) said that it is gravely concerned about a number of actions taken by the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration in recent days.NMSJ chairman, former Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya said that it is their belief that the arrests of Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, Palitha Atampola and […]

by Chandre Dharmawardana, chandre.dharma@yahoo.ca. The forex crisis had forced the government to jettison its initial set of economic managers of the Central bank who looked for home-grown solutions and opposed dealing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The President re-instated a set of managers whose ideas were more orthodox and aligned with the neo-liberal bankers […]

Calls for unity in a country torn apart by nationalism and monetary instability

by Jayampathy Molligoda Inflation is too high in Sri Lanka; people are finding it unbearable. How can we control the inflation from further slipping? Singapore experience and structure of our CBSL:  Singapore has the Monetary Authority Singapore (‘MAS’) as their Central Bank, where in Sri Lanka, we have the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (which […]

By Kalinga Tudor Silva One of the important ways, the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka has directly impacted our lives is having to go through long and seeming unending queues, to access petrol, diesel, kerosene and even our dear passports. Queues have multiplied, sprung up on either side of the road and across the […]

By Anupama Rajput Sri Lankan Lawmakers voted in acting President Ranil Wickremsinghe as the new President on July 20. The six-time Prime Minister was able to garner 134 votes in the 225-member parliament, despite public anger with the ruling elite in the hope that his long experience in government could help pull the country out […]

The Government and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) have been implementing several measures to ease the burden of the current economic hardships on the people. One major factor that is contributing to the current crisis and the resultant hardships is the lack of foreign exchange liquidity in the banking system. Such shortage of […]

We need to only remind ourselves of what happened to Greece and China (KMT) - D S Sennayake

Police search FSP office By Rathindra Kuruwita The government was carrying out a psychological operation to prevent the people from taking to the streets as the economic crisis deepens, Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Propaganda Secretary, Duminda Nawagamuwa said yesterday, following a police raid of their Colombo office. Nawagamuwa said that a policeman, and 10 men […]

Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka housed ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa following the recent crisis, until he was forced to flee the country entirely. That continues a trend of the city, and especially its strategic deep-sea port, being in the news for all the wrong reasons. In 2017, when Sri Lanka found itself struggling to make […]

Global un-employment set to rise

‘Pohottuwa party can’t take cover behind new Prez’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Top Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) spokesperson Mujibur Rahuman MP yesterday (26) said that the Cabinet-of-Ministers owed an explanation regarding Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera’s latest declaration that fuel imports would be restricted in the next 12 months. Minister Wijesekera has asse...

By Sanath Nanayakkare There is still possibility for Sri Lanka to arrive at a staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by August 2022 to qualify for an extended fund facility, but the new government will need to demonstrate its ability to implement the required policies within an agreed upon time frame.” the […]

The government defaulted an interest payment of 78 million US dollar of a sovereign bond on May 19