Amidst the ongoing protests against the government for its inability to handle the economic crisis, the prime minister has announced that he is up for talks with the protesters.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan Prime Minister on Wednesday offered to meet the protesters who are protesting against the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The protesters have been occupying the entrance to the office of the President. Rajapaksa added that he is willing to listen to any solutions to solve the crisis at hand.
The protests have been going on for the past 5 days and one of the demands of the protestors is that the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the Prime Minister’s brother and is held responsible for the catastrophic economic situation that Sri Lanka is going through right now, the worst situation in decades. There are also demands for the President and his family members to leave offices of power, that they occupy. The President and his family are accused of misrule and corruption by the protesters.
The prime minister’s office released a statement saying that he is “willing to talk” to the protestors. As per the statement released by his office, a representative of the protesters can talk with him outside the Office of the President. However, protesters rejected this offer by the Prime Minister. “What should happen now is as a seasoned politician, at a time when a majority in the country is rejecting him, he should not be offering to talk but should go home with his entire clan,” said Nuwan Kaluarachi, to the Associated Press.
Background of the protests
Sri Lanka is facing high inflation and a severe shortage of food and electricity for the past few months. The economy of the country is in this situation due to various reasons including bad policy decisions from the government along with the economic downturn due to the pandemic. The government was facing a trade deficit even before the pandemic. Just months before the pandemic the government banned the import of fertilizers and asked farmers to shift to organic farming. This resulted in lower food production later on.
A huge part of Sri Lanka’s economy depended on tourism and that source of income stopped during the pandemic. Adding to this is the rising fuel prices at the global level due to the Russia -Ukraine war. All of these factored in to create this economic crisis that Sri Lanka finds itself in now.
Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy with foreign reserves dwindling. The country has 25-billion-dollar foreign debt, that needs to be paid back within the next five years. Around 7 billion dollars have to paid back this year. However, this Tuesday Sri Lanka announced that it would be suspending foreign debt repayments. These debts include borrowings from other governments, bonds, and loan restructuring program that had been made with the International Monetary Fund [IMF].
Ministry of Finance said that staying on current debt payments is no longer possible for Sri Lanka as per IMF’S assessment. The Sri Lankan government has approached the IMF, India and China to borrow money to solve some basic issues and deal with shortages.
The situation of shortage is such that citizens have to wait in long lines for hours to buy basic commodities like fuel, milk powder, medicines, gas etc. The world Bank has provided the country with 10 million dollars to continue buying essential products. The Sri Lankan government has made an appeal to Sri Lankan’s working abroad to donate for the country.
The Rajapaksa family, who have been in power for most of the past 20 years, have garnered much public outrage for the inefficient handling of power. Many of the cabinet ministers resigned in wake of the crisis and ministry positions are left vacant. However, the Rajapaksa family has refused to resign and decided to stay in power.
Published by : Gargi sharma
Edited by : Aaradhana singh
