COLOMBO (TIP): Sri Lanka’s crisis-hit economy shrank a record 7.8 percent last year as long blackouts and critical fuel shortages put a chokehold on local commerce, official data showed March 16. An unprecedented economic crisis sparked huge protests in the island nation, culminating last July when a mob stormed the home of then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, forcing him to flee the country and resign.
Since then a new government has worked to repair Sri Lanka’s battered public finances and secure a sorely needed International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Last year’s contraction — the biggest in the country’s 75 years of independence — compared with 3.5 percent growth in 2021 and a 4.6 percent contraction in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hit.
It was “caused by the deepening of the economic crisis… frequent power disruptions, shortages in fuel, raw materials, (and) foreign currency”, Sri Lanka’s census and statistics department said in a statement.
The data showed some improvement in Sri Lanka’s fiscal position with inflation moderating to about 50 percent in February, down from a record high of 69.8 percent in September.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has raised taxes and ended generous subsidies on fuel and electricity to boost government revenue after his predecessor defaulted on Sri Lanka’s $46 billion foreign debt last year. The reforms are a precondition of a $2.9 billion rescue package from the IMF, which Sri Lanka expects to finalise next week.
But the tax and price hikes have been roundly unpopular, triggering protests and industrial stoppages around the country. About 40 trade unions warned Thursday that they planned a general strike next week if their demands for concessions on the austerity programme were not met.
Wickremesinghe has said Sri Lanka can expect to remain bankrupt until at least 2026 and insisted his government has no option but to implement the reforms demanded by the IMF. (AFP)
Tag: Gotabaya Rajapaksa
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Sri Lanka’s economy shrank by record 7.8 per cent last year
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Ex-Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa applies for US Green Card: Report
Colombo (Sri Lanka)(TIP): Former Sri Lankan President GotabayaRajapaksa, who fled the island nation in July amid mass protests demanding his resignation, is awaiting to obtain a US Green Card to return back to the United States along with his wife and son, a media report said.
Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia, UdayangaWeeratunga, who is also related to Gotabaya, hinted that GotabayaRajapaksa is all set to return to the country on August 24, cancelling his initial plan to remain in Thailand at least till November. After consulting his lawyers two days back, Rajapaksa had decided to return to Sri Lanka later this month, Daily Mirror reported citing sources.
Sri Lankan Newspaper, Daily Mirror, citing highly placed sources stated that Rajapaksa’s lawyers in the United States had already commenced the procedure last month for his application to obtain the Green Card as he was eligible to apply due to his wife IomaRajapaksa being a US citizen.
The procedure will also involve his lawyers in Colombo submitting the additional documents.
Upon his arrival in Bangkok, Thai Police had advised the former Sri Lankan President to remain indoors for security reasons whereas, on his arrival in Sri Lanka this month, the Cabinet will discuss providing Rajapaksa a state house and security accorded to a former President. GotabayaRajapaksa arrived in Thailand on the evening of August 11 following his departure from Singapore after a month-long stay.
Thailand was the second Southeast Asian country after the Maldives that Rajapaksa is seeking temporary shelter after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests.
The former President was issued a 14-day visit pass when he arrived at the Changi Airport in Singapore from the Maldives last month and he was allowed to stay there for two weeks. After the resignation of GotabayaRajapaksa, RanilWickremesinghe was sworn in as President of Sri Lanka on July 21 in Parliament.
The 73-year-old GotabayaRajapaksa had gone into hiding after crowds of protesters stormed his residence on July 9. RanilWickremesinghe was then sworn in as President of Sri Lanka on July 21 in Parliament before Chief Justice JayanthaJayasuriya. Earlier, Wickremesinghe was appointed as the interim president of Sri Lanka after Rajapaksa fled abroad after his palace was stormed by angry protesters amid the unprecedented economic crisis. (ANI)
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Fleeing, quitting
With Gotabaya quitting, new leadership should heed people’s aspirations in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has resigned at last, but not before keeping the country guessing for two days. In a not-unexpected turn of events, the beleaguered executive head of Sri Lanka fled by an Air Force plane, reached the Maldives and thereafter went to Singapore, presumably on his way to another country. Evidently hedging against the possibility of being turned back by any of these countries, he did not submit his resignation on July 13 as promised. As he sent in his resignation Thursday evening, it was clear he was holding out so that he would not lose his presidential immunity from prosecution until he reached safe haven. Given the widespread wrath against him, being in Colombo without the shield of office was not an option for him. Instead, he appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discharge the President’s functions in his absence, using a provision in the Constitution which allows such an arrangement if the incumbent has to leave the country or is otherwise unable to perform his duties. Mr. Wickremesinghe is now unlikely to respond to calls for his resignation, as the country’s Constitution provides that the current Prime Minister shall act as President until a new one is elected. While the legislature is to be convened soon for formally electing a new President, there are questions over whether the mass uprising will abate, as its protagonists have been asking for Mr. Wickremesinghe’s resignation too, seeing him as equally discredited. It is perhaps in anticipation of an intensification of the protest that Mr. Wickremesinghe has asked the military to do whatever is needed to restore order. But order is not born of bloodshed; confrontation must be avoided, and efforts made to heed the demands of the people.
The world has been amazed by the unprecedented display of righteous anger and courage by the citizens of Sri Lanka, as they channeled the widespread fury against the devastation caused by the economic crisis on their day-to-day existence. As civil society came together, it is apt to see this as a revolutionary moment in which an avaricious and apathetic political class has been humbled by people united by suffering. While external observers see this as a moment of truth for authoritarian leaders, power-hungry politicians and their ilk, it remains to be seen if political leaders in Sri Lanka themselves have drawn any lesson from it. Reports suggest that jockeying for power is going on on one side even as images of protesters overwhelming offices and residences associated with the rulers are going viral. Sri Lankans may expect that a change of regime will mean a new order that would usher in constitutional changes, policy reforms and reverse the trend of public interest being sacrificed for political ends. The next President should recognize this legitimate aspiration and refrain from any attempt to maintain the status quo, cover up the misdeeds that led the country to the current crisis or preserve the ill-gotten gains of office.
(The Hindu)