‘There is no money left’: Covid crisis
leaves Sri Lanka on brink of bankruptcy
Guardian [U.K.],
by
Minoli Soysa
&
Hannah Ellis-petersen
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
1/2/2022 6:08:27 PM
Sri Lanka is facing a deepening financial and humanitarian crisis with fears it could go bankrupt in 2022 as inflation rises to record levels, food prices rocket and its coffers run dry. The meltdown faced by the government, led by the strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is in part caused by the immediate impact of the Covid crisis and the loss of tourism but is compounded by high government spending and tax cuts eroding state revenues, vast debt repayments to China and foreign exchange reserves at their lowest levels in a decade. Inflation has meanwhile been spurred by the government printing money to pay off domestic loans and foreign bonds.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
mean Gene 1/2/2022 6:25:50 PM (No. 1026309)
Sri Lanka really has debts to China.
And China doesn't put up with not paying them back.
Whatever is in the fine print, be it ownership of all national lands, all the workers, whatever, China will collect.
That's why so much of Africa is falling into Chinese receivership.
31 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Grounded 1/2/2022 6:29:38 PM (No. 1026313)
Beware of chinamen bearing bels and roads.
18 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Grounded 1/2/2022 6:30:12 PM (No. 1026314)
try belts and roads.
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 1/2/2022 6:39:00 PM (No. 1026321)
Borrowing money from China....a deadly trap.
28 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
jimincalif 1/2/2022 6:57:19 PM (No. 1026328)
Obviously they need to enact their own BBB legislation. It will provide jobs, fix the economy, bring equity and save the planet. And as Brandon tells us, BBB actually doesn’t cost anything!
21 people like this.
Reading a little deeper into the article, the Sri Lankan government has made every wrong choice offered them, not the least of which was destroying their nation's agricultural production. The debt owed to foreigners, i.e. China, is payable in dollars. The US could pay off all their debt with a microscopic smidgen of the TEN TRILLION we've blown on stimulus to create our own inflation problems.
While we disdain the Chinese "belt and road", the US is on its heels around the globe as a result. Lend money for projects that you engineer, build and operate. No, playing "Leader of the Free World" is more our style. Let's start the discussion with the Panama Canal...
19 people like this.
It isn't a "Covid crises"... it's a hoax crisis.
20 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 1/2/2022 7:43:03 PM (No. 1026347)
And now just a matter of time before Sri Lanka's largest creditor, the peoples communist republic of china moves in with its military to takeover and seize assets there to recover their investment. Sri Lankans, you might better start learning how to speak mandarin.
11 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 1/2/2022 7:54:37 PM (No. 1026354)
My Irish friend went to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) on vacation and says it was a wonderful place in years past. I’ll ask him what he thinks now.
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
downnout 1/2/2022 8:10:24 PM (No. 1026366)
Vast debt repayments to China….using their “Bridge and Road Initiative” this is how China is getting its hooks into countries around the world. Their latest victim is Cuba.
12 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 1/2/2022 8:13:23 PM (No. 1026368)
The country's official name is Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. They wanted to sweep away all reference to Ceylon, which apparently included a stable, functioning society.
15 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Omen55 1/2/2022 8:23:59 PM (No. 1026374)
So which of dem will propose we help out Sri Lanka?
14 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
jimincalif 1/2/2022 8:34:48 PM (No. 1026376)
As #6 notes, they’ve made the wrong decisions whenever they’ve had a chance. Much like the Brandon administration has done.
12 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
RussZilla 1/2/2022 11:23:47 PM (No. 1026452)
The dam is about to break in China. They will call in debts from Sri Lanka. Will it go around the world?
5 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Venturer 1/2/2022 11:58:47 PM (No. 1026468)
They sound like us.
8 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 1/3/2022 8:19:30 AM (No. 1026648)
It’s heading our way!
1 person likes this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Strike3 1/3/2022 8:32:39 AM (No. 1026661)
I know, we can donate "our fair share" to the WHO who will give part of it to Sri Lanka. How are they doing on Climate Change?
1 person likes this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Mekkkk 1/3/2022 8:33:38 AM (No. 1026666)
Biden's dream
1 person likes this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Speedypetey 1/3/2022 9:05:37 AM (No. 1026703)
194 nations need to say, you engineered this virus on us, paybacks a b___h! Or no payback is!
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Trapper 1/3/2022 10:17:39 AM (No. 1026805)
Transfer all Sri Lankan assets into Sri Lankan banks on Sri Lankan soil, then repudiate the debt, refuse to honor the terms, don't give China anything. Sri Lanka would become an international financial pariah but hey, that's not the end of the world. With no ability to borrow, Sri Lanka would be forced to look inward, to become self sufficient. No one would lend to them, but NEWS FLASH, borrowing is what got them in trouble in the first place. Make Sri Lanka Great Again (?). The only question is, would China invade and occupy Sri Lanka?
6 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Zigrid 1/3/2022 11:28:15 AM (No. 1026887)
China is the new world order...they have bought up lands from all countries and now they are collecting...they will own as much of the world as they can...hitler marched in and took over militarily ...china just bought up land and loaned money and now they are collecting...the china virus was their game plan...
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Scout Finch 1/3/2022 11:41:23 AM (No. 1026910)
We’re next. With our TRILLIONS of debt, mostly to China.
3 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Scout Finch 1/3/2022 11:45:29 AM (No. 1026916)
Sorry for the 2nd post. It’s like China is playing Monopoly and buying up all the railroads and utilities.
3 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
DVC 1/16/2022 11:17:51 PM (No. 1040946)
Don't spend any their damned shots.
0 people like this.
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