Category Archives: debt restructuring

January 4, 2023 · 10:36 am

Ranil’s Moves to Resolve Ethnic Issues in Rapid-Action Measures

DBS Jeyaraj, in Daily Mirror, 24 December 2022, where the title runs thus: “President Ranil’s initiative to resolve Tamil national question” …. & a kind-of sub-heading read  “The All Party conference was a success of sorts with all participants agreeing on the need for a power-sharing solution”

The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader and Colombo District MP, Mano Ganesan received a telephone call from Ranil Wickremesinghe on 19 July 2022

It was a day before the Presidential election where the MPs were scheduled to vote and elect a new executive President to fill the vacancy created by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the then Prime Minister and acting as the interim President, was a candidate for the Presidential election.

 

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December 22, 2022 · 5:37 pm

Re-ordering Sri Lanka’s Debt: The China-Lanka Relations Now

Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala, in The Diplomat, 20 December 2022, where the title reads: “Demystifying China’s Role in Sri Lanka’s Debt Restructuring”
Demystifying China’s Role in Sri Lanka’s Debt RestructuringChina’s President Xi Jinping, left, waves as he walks with then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa upon arrival at the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sept. 16, 2014 ….. Credit: AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena
Currently, Sri Lanka is in the process of restructuring its foreign debt after announcing the country’s first sovereign default on April 12. As the largest bilateral creditor, China is playing a key role in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process.

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December 19, 2022 · 6:47 pm

Argentina by the Balls! In The Tight Grip of USA & IMF

 Esteban Almiron: “How Argentina has been trapped in neocolonial debt for 200 years: An economic history” .… 19 December 2022, https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/18/argentina-neocolonial-debt-history/

Argentina has constantly been trapped over two centuries in unpayable external debt owed to foreign imperial powers. This affects the everyday life of everyone: inflation, salaries, employment, public services, elections. Here is a brief history of the deuda.

SEE https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/18/argentina-neocolonial-debt-history/

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October 9, 2022 · 1:26 pm

Debating World Politics: “Human Rights” as USA’s Tool in Power Games

Circa 7th October 2022, I inserted  Natasha Gooneratne’s Memo in Thuppahi on Facebook: “An Exposure: Human Rights as a Tool of US Intervention”. …. ………………………………..So, readers should focus initially on this MEMO = https://thuppahis.com/2022/10/04/an-exposure-human-rights-as-a-tool-of-us-intervention-

THAT Item drew the following two comments in Facebook which I then circulated to Natasha and a select few others by EMAIL.

Comment in FACEBOOK by Arun Devan, October 2022: “If you don’t like USA, then don’t go with the begging bowl to US and West. Sri Lanka can choose to stave or be slave. Little choices – thanks to the brutal war and useless spending on military now.”

Comment in FACEBOOK by Richard Simon, October 2022:“Why does the US want to intervene in Sri Lanka? Serious question.”

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October 4, 2022 · 12:41 am

Colonialism Anew. Sri Lanka enmeshed in Western Debt ‘Nets’

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in Colombo Telegraph,  3 October 2022, where the title reads: “The Paris Club, Dollar Debt Colonialism & Asia’s New “Donors”: Reforming The International Aid Architecture?”

As the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF), team boarded a return flight to Washington DC after a week in Colombo, the Paris Club, stepped in though a revolving door at the strategic Indian Ocean island’s Bandaranaike International Airport in the first week of September. 

The signing of a ‘Staff Level Agreement’ with the deeply unpopular ‘Ranil Rajapaksa’ regime accused of Economic Crimes was announced before the IMF team’s departure. However, the contents of the agreement like the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis Report on Sri Lanka remain shrouded in mystery except for news of a $2.9 billion loan to be disbursed over 4 years!

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September 24, 2022 · 1:45 am

Deeply Wounded. Also Divided? Sri Lanka Today

Neloufer De Mel, in History Today, Vol 72/8, September 2022, where the title reads “Sri Lanka’s Deep Wounds” **

On 31 March 2022 a public protest occurred in the vicinity of the home of the Sri Lankan president Gotabhaya Rajapakse. The protest marked frustration at the shortages of essential commodities (gas, medicines, fuel) and the gruelling ten-to-13-hour power cuts imposed by a cash-strapped government with insufficient dollars to pay for imported fuel. The protestors also sought answers as to why certain neighbourhoods (such as Mirihana, where the president lived) continued to enjoy uninterrupted power.

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August 27, 2022 · 12:54 am

Adani Group from India is A Potential “Black Rock” for Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in The Morning Leader, 24 August 2022, with this title “IMF privatising and the Adani Greenwash”

Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been rocked by massive protests against austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Structural reforms with austerity have resulted in soaring inflation, currency depreciation, poverty, and inequality that is eroding the Argentinean society and economy, while enabling the bailout of private lenders and vulture funds like BlackRock.

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August 22, 2022 · 4:34 pm

China Jettisons 23 Loans to African States!!! Wunderbar!!!

Benjamin Norton, in Multipolarista, 21 August 2022, where the headline reads thus “China forgives 23 loans for 17 African countries, expands ‘win-win’ trade and infrastructure projects”

The Chinese government has announced that it is forgiving 23 interest-free loans for 17 African nations, while pledging to deepen its collaboration with the continent.

This is in addition to China’s cancellation of more than $3.4 billion in debt and restructuring of around $15 billion of debt in Africa between 2000 and 2019.

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August 22, 2022 · 2:11 am

Debt Trap around the Globe is Mostly to Commercial Creditors

Fair Dinkum

Interesting World Bank statistics here – see film

According to the World Bank, poor and middle income countries have to pay $940 billion dollars in principal and interest repayments in the next 7 years including $356 billion to Western commercial creditors and $273 billion to multilateral institutions which adds up to  67% of the total payments due.

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August 18, 2022 · 2:34 am

Three News Items on Sri Lanka’s Crisis in The Economist

ONE = From The ECONOMIST magazine, Summer Issue, 30 July – 12th August … & the Mid-August Issue The Economist

On the evening of July 21st, a relaxed mood prevailed in Sri Lanka’s presidential secretariat on the seafront of Colombo, the capital. A handful of protesters milled about in the entrance hall, which they had occupied on July 9th and turned into a library full of donated books. They said they were planning to return the premises to the state the following day, having succeeded in driving from office Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the disgraced former president.

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