Category Archives: IMF

IMF’s Position on Sri Lankan Crisis on 17th July 2022

Dilini Madushanki, in Ceylon Today, 17 July 2022, with this title  “Sri Lanka a ‘warning sign’ for countries with high debt levels and limited policy space — IMF,”

Claiming Sri Lanka is a ‘warning sign’ for countries with high debt levels, IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva warned officials from the Group of 20 major economies to take urgent action to combat inflation, warning that the “exceptionally uncertain” global economic outlook could turn worse if higher prices persisted.

Georgieva, speaking at a G20 finance officials meeting in Indonesia, said “I wish the global economic outlook was as bright as the sky in Bali, but unfortunately, it is not. The outlook has darkened significantly, and uncertainty is exceptionally high. Downside risks about which the IMF had previously warned have now materialized.” 

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, debt restructuring, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank under the Spotlight

Chandrasena Maliyadde, in Daily Ft, 20 July 2022, with this title “Central Bank, its independence and us”

An expert panel discussion on ‘Surviving the Current Economic Crisis: Ex-Central Bankers in Dialogue’ was held in early June. Some speakers stressed that the need of the hour is an independent Central Bank (CBSL). But its relevance or impact on surviving the current economic crisis was not spelt out. Maybe we ignorant laymen could not understand. Perhaps independence may be for the survival of the Central Bank and its officers who spend time in aiconditioned rooms away from the crisis.

Former Central Bank Governors: Nandalal Weerasinghe, Ajith Cabraal &  WD Lakshman

 

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disaster relief team, economic processes, export issues, foreign policy, governance, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

Sri Lanka’s Crisis: Meeting Fair Dinkum & Thuppahi Foursquare

Prithi Perera

Allow me please to be as brief as possible in responding  to the Positions taken by Fair Dinkum” and Thuppahi.
Falsehood 1. As genuine Sri Lankans, we should not want to be colonized by anyone of the big powers, be it US, China and or for that matter, Western Europe or India.
Falsehood 2. As such, based on 1, being a fifth column of Russia becomes irrelevant. Therefore, no need for any pipe !!

Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, IMF, IMF as monster, island economy, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

Thuppahi Accused of Partiality to China: Full Frontal Assault

Thuppahi Note

Writing from Canada (where he has been resident for a while),  Retd Brigadier Ranjan  De Silva, an Aloysian like me and a Peradeniya graduate from my time in the late 1950s, has sent me a Note with explicit criticisms of the positions adopted in some items within Thuppahi and with (as you will find out) contentious claims about the political economy associated with the programmes of the Mahinda Rajapaksa administrations in the recent past.

I place his series of charges in the public domain. I will respond in due course because I am inundated with email demands and Thuppahi tasks at the moment. But I place his readings of the past in the public realm NOW because I am confident that some of his assessments are horrendous and will attract  a host or replies which will provide pertinent information about the economic processes and political manoeuvres that are buffeting the island nation of Sri Lanka.

Moreover, I reckon that Ranjan has drunk water and whisky at some American bar and been overwhelmed by the ambience of that world….. Michael Roberts 

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, debt restructuring, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

Colossal Deception: Gross Lies about Sources of Sri Lanka’s Debt Burden foisted on the World by Western Agencies

Benjamin Norton, in Multipolarista, July 12 July 2022 where the title reads thusReal debt trap: Sri Lanka owes vast majority to West, not China” ... with highlighting emphasis in colours imposde by the Editor, Thuppahi

Sri Lanka owes 81% of its external debt to US and European financial institutions and Western allies Japan and India. China owns just 10%. But Washington blames imaginary “Chinese debt traps” for the nation’s crisis, as it considers a 17th IMF structural adjustment program.

  A protest in Sri Lanka in April 2022

 

 

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, citizen journalism, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, energy resources, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, IMF as monster, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, news fabrication, Pacific Ocean politics, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

Vital Requirements for Sri Lanka Today

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in IDN, July 2022, where the title reads “Sri Lanka Needs a Balanced Economic and Foreign Policy”

A shortage of exorbitantly privileged American Dollars, the global reserve fiat currency, which is not backed by gold, silver, oil or drugs, is the purported reason for Sri Lanka’s compounding crisis and the international media narrative of ‘famine’ in the country.

The upturned vehicle could be siaid to highlight the situaiton of Sri Lanka today ,,,, and yesterday … PIX ‘stolen’ from Al Jazeera  Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, democratic measures, disparagement, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, social justice, Sri Lankan scoiety, taking the piss, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

Full Spectrum Dominance enmeshing Sri Lanka in USA’s Web?

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in LankaWeb, 19 May 2022, where the title reads  “Masks of democracy and energy geopolitics: Is Full Spectrum Dominance the endgame?”  ….. with highlighting beng the intervention of The Editor, Thuppahi

“For the faction that controls the Pentagon, the military industry and the oil industry, the Cold War never ended. It went on ‘below the radar’ creating a global network of bases and conflicts to advance their long-term goal of Full Spectrum Dominance, the total control of the planet: land, sea, air, space, outer space and cyberspace. Their methods included control of propaganda, use of NGOs for regime change, Color Revolutions to advance NATO east, and a vast array of psychological and economic warfare techniques, a Revolution in Military Affairs as they termed it. The events of September 11, 2001 would allow an American President to declare a war on an enemy who was everywhere and nowhere, who justified a Patriot Act that destroyed that very freedom in the name of the new worldwide War on Terror. “ ……. William Engdahl in Full Spectrum Dominance; Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes

Neo-Colonial Modalities Overwhelming Sri Lanka

Asoka Bandarage, in The Island, 16 May 2022, with this title “Sri Lanka: Debt crisis, neocolonialism and geopolitical rivalry” …. with highlighting in blue being impositions from The Editor, Thuppahi

Sri Lanka is in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis. Faced with a shortage of foreign exchange and defaulting on its foreign debt repayment, the country is unable to pay for its food, fuel, medicine, and other basic necessities. Notwithstanding the austerities that would be entailed, a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been accepted as the only way out of the dire economic situation.Opposition political parties, and citizens across the country, blame the Rajapaksa government’s widespread corruption and mismanagement for the crisis, and demand that the President and the Parliament resign. The Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa did so on 09 May 2022. However, the protesters at Galle Face Green, and elsewhere, have not been able to put forward an alternative leadership or a viable road map for the future. The country remains mired in confusion, chaos and a highly volatile political impasse.

 

Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, export issues, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

South Asia’s Arab Spring: Protests amid Hybrid Economic War in Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham Senanayake

South Asia’s Arab Spring is here, amid global Cold War tensions and slow tectonic shifts in power and wealth east, to Asia and the Indian Ocean Region, hastened and heightened by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

The IMF Hands in Pakistan & Sri Lanka: Conjectures

A Pacific Island Pal

ONE:  There is a very good analysis of the IMF by Paul Masson in “The IMF: Victim of its own success or institutional failures?”  published in International Journal, Autumn 2007. Its focus is on how to reform the IMF and the problems involved, which recognises the need to reform the IMF. How successful that has been is open to debate.

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, life stories, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, world events & processes