Category Archives: debt restructuring

Sri Lanka’s Topsy-Turvy Economy in the Last Decade

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*…. with her choice of title being Sri Lanka Back as Donor Darling Ignores the BRICS” and a sub-title that runs thusFrance’s Macron and the US Fish in the Indian Ocean …. presented here with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi 

Sri Lanka continues to swing wildly between being a ‘Donor Darling’ flooded with foreign ‘aid’ and ‘advisors’ on the one hand to a ‘bankrupt’ pariah or outcast on the other. Last year, the strategic Indian Ocean Island went from South Asia’s wealthiest nation with the best social and human development indicators to a beggar—humiliated and shunned by the ‘international community.’ This was after staging its first-ever Sovereign Default due to a Eurobond debt trap and purported lack of US dollars. The default triggered rapid rupee depreciation and instantly beggared citizens amid a distracting transnationally networked, remote-controlled ‘Aragalaya’ protest operation led by social media influencers. Ironically, there was a blockade on fuel shipments to the country amid the United States Marine’s ‘Sea Vision’ training program for the Sri Lanka Navy.

Newly formed Sri Lankan Marine Corps gets 241 years of experience in under a week. Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jacob L. – Photo: 2023  .

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Sri Lanka Crunched within Cold War Manouevres?

TPI Media, “The Hidden Hand of US Influence in Sri Lanka: Cold War Strategies Revisited | CIA,” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPUuMZiDSXg

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Imminent Threat Looms OVER Sri Lanka! Nuland Looms …

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Sri Lanka’s Woes: “Truthseeker’s” Insights in April 2022

An EMAIL NOTE from Gus Mathews in UK, 25 March 2023 **

This a fascinating read that throws some light into the present-day financial woes of the current predicament in Sri Lanka. It was published some time ago, but it is as illuminating as ever.

REFERRING TO https://thuppahis.com/2022/04/27/the-yahapaalana-legacy-and-three-major-international-events-processes-driving-sri-lanka-to-bankruptcy/#more-61140

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Prsessures on Sri Lanka: Weerasekera’s Analysis in Lucid Prose

Michael Roberts

By pure chance I came across a paperback book of 280 pages published by Dharshan Weerasekera via Sarasavi Publisher in 2020 that is entitled Sri Lanka’s Future Challenges and the Quest for a New Constitution. Further searches indicated that he had received university education in USA and had published a battery of books (now listed in Thuppahi at ………….. https://thuppahis.com/2023/03/24/dharshan-weerasekeras-array-of-essays-and-books.

 

 

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The American-IMF Monster Revealed in Dissection of Sarvanandan’s Reading of the World

X … [who, alas, has to protect himself from potential ‘hits’ from American and Aussie agencies] …. NB: the highlighting emphasis is my imposition

The Western template for stories on so-called predatory practices by China was crafted some years ago by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US, UK and Australian think tanks. Sarvanandan is simply rehashing the same thing.

His claim to be offering a “factual cum reality check” is another misleading fact-reality check.

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

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China’s Quasi-predatory Lending to Sri Lanka

Muttukrishna Sarvanandan,** whose preferred title reads thus: “Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka: A Factual cum “Reality” Check. A Rejoinder to Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala”

Abstract:  This is a response to the Briefing Paper entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality, written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala published by the China-Africa Research Initiative of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University, USA. This response identifies a few factual errors (both quantitative and qualitative) and provides alternative data, and contests the interpretations of the data and conclusion drawn therefrom by Moramudali and Panduwawala by providing concrete examples to the contrary. We characterise Chinese lending to Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2022 as quasi-predatory lending, having defined the characteristics of predatory lending………….Keywords – China, Hambantota Port, Predatory Lending, Sovereign Default, Sri Lanka

Introduction: This is a response to a Briefing Paper (No.8 dated November 2022) written by Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala entitled Evolution of Chinese Lending to Sri Lanka since the mid-2000s – Separating Myth from Reality published by the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the John Hopkins University (JHU) in the United States of America (USA).

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The Economic Sinking of Island Lanka: The IMF-US Monsters

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, whose preferred title is “Alternatives to the IMF and the future of the Welfare State: Beyond the blame game between Superpowers”

The economic proxy war between the rising and fading Superpowers is escalating and expanding in the “Asian 21st Century.’ This was apparent in an (un)diplomatic exchange between Chinese and United States officials over the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) debt restructuring delays in Sri Lanka which was the venue of the recent CARAT/MAREX war games. These happened in the run up to the country’s February 4 commemoration of 75 years of ‘Lost Independence, Democracy and economic sovereignty’ as a commentator put it.

 

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Sri Lanka Today as “Paradise” in Pieces …. Deeply Decimated

 Capt. Elmo Jayawardena, in The Island, early February 2023, where the title runs thus: 75 Years – What have they done? It is a paradise misplaced”

Our island was called Lanka in pre-King Vijaya times. Valmiki’s immortal Ramayanaya had King Ravana ruling the land from the city of Lankapura. That was almost four thousand years ago. The Arab traders termed it Jaziratul-Yaqut, island of rubies. Some called it Serendib, some Ceilan, from which the Portuguese picked Ceilao and the European mapmakers coined Ceylon. Many were the names from the many that came. Bar none, everyone agreed and noted in their chronicles that this Island was indeed the complete Paradise.

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Experts Urge Debt Cancellation as Essential Road for Sri Lanka’s Survival

Item in Newsfirst: “Experts say only debt cancellation offers Sri Lanka a chance of recovery”

DEBT JUSTICE speaks out …….

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fXyBHNj_xWU&feature=youtu.be

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