Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that expenditure has to be cut in all sectors except education and health. The Prime Minister says that the economic crisis cannot be faced without that.

In an interview with Reuters, the Prime Minister stated that he was ready to present an interim budget within the next six weeks. He says that the interim budget will include proposals to provide relief to the people in the next two years and the implementation of infrastructure projects will have to be suspended.

Wickremasinghe states that inflation will cross 40% in the next few months, pointing out that public protests will also increase in comparison.

He said that he would have to seek the assistance of friendly countries to prevent a food shortage and that he would meet with the Chinese Ambassador next week to discuss obtaining assistance from the Chinese Government.

Pointing out that the government is facing not only a dollar crisis but also a rupee crisis, the Prime Minister says that the government does not receive revenue even in rupees. “As a result, at least a trillion rupees will have to be printed,” he told Reuters.

Think the global fertilizer shortage is someone else’s problem? Take a look in the mirror. If you are reading this in North America, Europe, Latin America, or Asia, chances are that the bundle of amino acids staring back at you is alive today because of chemical fertilizers.

In fact, according to noted Canadian energy researcher Vaclav Smil, two-fifths of humanity –more than three billion people—are alive because of nitrogen fertilizer, the main ingredient in the Green Revolution that supercharged the agricultural sector in the 1960s. The chemical fertilizer trifecta that tripled global grain production—nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)—enabled the greatest human population growth the planet has ever seen. Now, it is in short supply, and farmers, fertilizer companies, and governments around the globe are scrambling to avert a seemingly inevitable tumble in crop yields.

“I’m not sure it’s possible any more to avoid a food crisis,” says World Farmers’ Organization President Theo de Jager. “The question is how wide and deep it will be. Most importantly, farmers need peace. And peace needs farmers.”

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a body blow to an industry that has been hammered by various events for more than a year. Russia typically exports nearly 20 percent of the world’s nitrogen fertilizers and, combined with its sanctioned neighbor Belarus, 40 percent of the world’s exported potassium, according to analysts at Rabobank. Most of that is now off limits to the world’s farmers, thanks to Western sanctions and Russia’s recent fertilizer export restrictions…

NatGeo.com

The World Health Organization (WhO) has assured its fullest support for Sri Lanka to come out of the ongoing medical crisis.

The organization has also agreed to provide USD 2 million to the island nation as a part of the initial phase of this assistance program.

This was conveyed by WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Alaka Singh who called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The meeting took place at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo earlier today (May 24).

Dr. Singh has said she is confident that Sri Lanka would be able to resolve the medicine shortage by July or August based on the new health program implemented by the current government.

She further stated that the WHO is committed to improving the nutritional needs of infants and expecting mothers.

The prime minister has appreciated the support extended by the World Health Organization for improving the health standards of Sri Lanka.

Chairperson of the special committee appointed by the Prime Minister to propose measures to alleviate the shortage of medicines Ruwan Wijewardena, Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake and Medical Technical Services Director of the Ministry of Health Dr. Anwar Hamdani were present at the meeting.

A health sector trade union affirmed that Sri Lanka’s State-run hospitals are running out of essential medicine and medical equipment while the shortage threatens a major health crisis due to a possible medicine supply chain collapse. 

Sri Lanka imports 80 per cent of its medicines, but a severe shortage of dollars due to the ongoing economic crisis has led to a shortage of essential drugs and importers are struggling to meet the demand in the country. 

The Ministry of Health is also facing difficulties in importing the necessary medicine creating a drug shortage in state-run hospitals and pharmacies, forcing hospitals to limit the medications for only for immediate and essential cases.

Tenders have been called from the Indian suppliers by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) to obtain a list of essential medical supplies given by the Medical Supply Division (MSD) of the Ministry of Health, officials say. 

The Indian Credit Line only allows the Government to purchase medicine and leaves private medicine suppliers to struggle to import essential drugs.

 An industry representative said that the private sector drug supply to the market has fallen more than 30 per cent due to the dollar shortage.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Colombo

As country’s situation worsens, supplies have dried up – leaving drivers queuing overnight and unable to make vital journeys

It was, said the doctor, an avoidable delay that would haunt these parents for ever. When their two-year-old daughter first refused to eat, then began to go yellow with the signs of jaundice and then fell into a seizure, Kanchana and her husband, living in the Sri Lankan region of Haldummulla, knew she needed urgent medical care.

But they faced a terrible obstacle. Sri Lanka is in the grip of the worst economic crisis in its history, declaring bankruptcy and with no foreign reserves left to pay for imports. As a result, the country has been unable to afford necessary fuel and in recent weeks, supplies have all but dried up. As the girl’s father searched for hours on Sunday for fuel for his tuk-tuk to drive her to hospital, he was faced with one empty petrol station after another.

Eventually, when they arrived at a local hospital just a few kilometres away, their two-year-old was in such a critical condition she had to be transferred to an emergency treatment unit at the larger Diyatalawa hospital. But it was too late; she was already dead on arrival.

Shanaka Roshan Pathirana, the judicial medical officer of the Diyatalawa hospital who conducted the postmortem, confirmed that the length of time in getting the infant to hospital had led directly to her death.

“The depressing memory for the parents that they could not save their baby just because they could not find a litre of petrol will haunt them for ever,” Pathirana said in a social media post, which accused the government of failing to protect the lives of vulnerable people.

Pathirana spoke directly to the Guardian to confirm the details of the incident but said he was not authorised to speak to the media beyond his social media post. Kanchana, the baby’s mother, said she was too distraught at her daughter’s death to say anything more.

It was a haunting reminder that as Sri Lanka’s economic crisis drags on without respite, the human cost continues to mount. The newly appointed prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, warned last week: “the worst is still to come”, with medicine shortages worsening daily and food shortages predicted to be on the horizon. Already, many in the country can barely afford one meal a day as food inflation has soared to a record 45% and the country’s currency has become the worst-performing in the world.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has also precipitated a political crisis that continues to destabilise the country. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is accused of catastrophic economic policies and mismanagement that drove the country to bankruptcy, has continued to refuse to bow to mass protests and resign. While a new prime minister was appointed this month, the government is seen by many as weak and without the backing of the people.Advertisement

Nowhere are the woes of Sri Lanka more visible than the queues that continue to form outside petrol stations, often more than two miles long, long into the night as the island grapples with rampant fuel shortages and prices that have risen 137% over the past six months. For the drivers and tuk-tuk owners, petrol is their livelihood; without it they cannot survive. To worsen matters, on Tuesday the government announced an unprecedented fuel hike of 20-24% on petrol and 35-38% for diesel.

“No matter how much you work, it’s now never enough to cover the costs of the petrol,” said Ruwal Ranasinghe, 40, a tuk-tuk driver from Pethiyagoda.

As darkness fell over Colombo on Monday night, D M Sameera, 39, a driver from Kesbawa, about 15 miles away, settled in for what would be his 33rd hour waiting in a queue for petrol outside a station in the city’s Havelock town area.

His desperation was palpable. The previous morning he had driven to two different petrol stations and waited for hours, each time getting to the front of the queue just after petrol ran out. Eventually, he had parked outside this station on Sunday afternoon, kept there for more than 24 hours by the promise that petrol was definitely on the way imminently and the fact there was nothing left in his tank. But by 11pm on Monday, none had come and he was facing another night sleeping in his car as he waited for a tanker to arrive.

“I have to be away from my family for days now because during the day I work and at night I wait for petrol,” said Sameera. “Often I don’t have enough fuel to drive back home. This has made me feel fed up with my life and not wanting to go on. I am so angry and filled with hatred at the government for doing this to us.”

For the city’s tuk-tuk drivers, life has become what one described as “a living hell”, with every moment they are not working spent waiting in line for petrol, often until 3am or 4am, or sleeping overnight in line if they have “bad luck”. Their incomes have more than halved as a result, while petrol prices have skyrocketed.

“I don’t see my family any more: if I am not working I am just in my tuk-tuk waiting for petrol for up to eight hours a night,” said Mohammad Kamil, 38, as he sat outside a petrol station at 10pm. “I have lost so much sleep. It’s very sad, I cry alone in my tuk-tuk sometimes when I am waiting for petrol because it’s so desperate.”

As supplies of fuel have recently trickled in, donated by India and other neighbouring countries, a system has emerged to help people find petrol – including Facebook and WhatsApp groups dedicated to announcing where the latest fuel arrival has been dispatched.

In an attempt to maintain their family life, some tuk-tuk drivers resorted to desperate measures during their night-time fuel searches. In the back of Chanukah Pradeep’s tuk-tuk, which had sat in a petrol queue in Gamthaha district for hours, his two-year-old daughter lay curled up asleep next to his wife.

“I brought them with me here, because otherwise I don’t get to spend any time with my family,” said Pradeep, who works two jobs. “When I get back from the petrol queue they are both asleep, so at least this way I can be with them for a little bit of time.”

He looked mournfully at his daughter asleep in the tuk-tuk back seat, shifting restlessly as the huge diesel trucks honked their horns impatiently nearby and car fumes filled the air.

“I am so sad and full of regret that this is her life and that I am losing all this precious time with her for what? Just for petrol,” said Pradeep. “I will never get that time back.”

The Guardian

Statement issued by the Media Secretary of Former CBSL Governor Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal on 23rd May 2022 re. the Private Plaint filed in the Magistrate’s Court by Mr. Keerthi Tennekoon.

The Private Plaint filed by Mr. Keerthi Tennekoon (complainant) against Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal (respondent) was scheduled to be taken up on 2nd May 2022 before the Honourable Magistrate Mr. Harshana Kekunuwela at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court No. 4. However, that day was declared a public holiday by the Government, and hence certain cases, including the private plaint under reference fixed for that day were postponed by the Court authorities to 25th July 2022.

A few days later, the complainant and his Counsel had sought to advance the hearing in this particular case, and, based on an ex-parte application, it had been reported that the Court had granted an earlier date of 23rd May 2022 for the case to be called. In that regard, the respondent had to be notified to be present in Court on that date by way of an official Court summons. However, as at 22nd May 2022, such summons had not been served on the respondent personally ordering him to be present in Court. Nevertheless, upon learning that this matter may be taken up at the Honourable Magistrate’s Court on 23rd May 2022, even though summons had not been served on the respondent, out of an abundance of caution, Mr. Cabraal’s lawyers Mr. Shavendra Fernando, PC and Mr Jeevantha Jayatilake, Senior Counsel, were present in Court and explained to Court the serious circumstances in the country that had resulted in the respondent having to be away from his residence. They also assured Court that the respondent would be present in Court on the scheduled date of 25th July 2022, as previously fixed by the Court authorities.

On that day, the respondent’s lawyers would comprehensively refute the complainant’s allegations, and make it clear that such allegations levelled by the complainant are false &/or misfounded &/or politically-motivated &/or malicious.

In this context, with regard to the complainant’s allegations, it is noted that the same complainant (Mr. Keerthi Tennekoon) had previously filed a Petition in the Court of Appeal on 14th September 2021 based on certain alleged “findings” in a “Forensic Audit Report” dated 8th November 2019 carried out by an Indian company, “BDO India LLP”, pertaining to the issuance of Treasury Bonds and the conduct of Primary Dealers from 2010 to 2017. In that case too, Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal was named as a respondent. That Petition had been since dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 3rd November 2021. This vital information has however been suppressed from the Magistrate’s Court by the complainant, and it is very likely that, if the complainant had properly disclosed the Court of Appeal Order to the Honourable Magistrate, this allegation in the private plaint would not have even been entertained.

It is also noted that another allegation of Mr. Tennakoon pertains to a payment of USD 6.5 million made by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) in respect of a Communication Programme of the GOSL with a US National, Mr. Imaad Zuberi. In that context, as the banker to the government, the payments made by the CBSL on behalf of the GOSL have been made on the official written instructions of the appropriate government authority, and the respective payment protocols and procedures had been followed by the CBSL when making these payments. Therefore, there has been no procedural or other violation in making these payments on behalf of the GOSL, and accordingly, this allegation of the complainant is also not sustainable.

Mr. Tennakoon’s next allegation refers to the settlement of the GOSL’s USD 500m International Sovereign Bond (ISB) that matured on 18th January 2022, where it has been claimed that such settlement was done by the respondent notwithstanding the advice of various experts, in order to enable certain unspecified investors to make undue profits. In this context, it must be clearly understood that settling or not settling the country’s sovereign debt is not a matter where a single individual can arbitrarily decide. It is of course possible that self-proclaimed experts (who bear no responsibility for their unsolicited advice) could advocate the non-payment of Sri Lanka’s foreign loans, including a maturing ISB. However, such unofficial requests cannot be acted upon by responsible government officials without a formal direction or order from the Government (the Borrower) and perhaps even the approval of Parliament since funds for “debt servicing” had already been appropriated by Parliament when it approved the Budget 2022. Further, at the time in question, the official Government policy was to pay its sovereign debt diligently, which policy, the Ministry of Finance and the CBSL had followed faithfully since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. Needless to say, such policy could not have been unilaterally abrogated by the Governor of the CBSL on 18th January 2022 as claimed by the complainant, and therefore this allegation too, is baseless and misfounded.