I received this video on WhatsApp. I am sharing it bcz I feel the deep pain & suffer of this gentleman strongly. He looks a little younger to my father so I connect with the emotional sentiments. They didn’t do any wrong to suffer like this. When markets fail everything fails.
🚦Sri Lankan middle class resides in the range of Kadawatha, Kaduwela, Malambe, Maharagama & Mount takes a minimum of 3 hours a day to commute to Colombo & back
3 Hrs*22 days = 66 hrs a month
66Hrs*12= 792 hrs = 33days
1 entire month of the year we have been jailed in a vehicle
🇱🇰 The next phase of the longest blackouts is the interruption in telco signals. Telco towers may not be able to hold. Interruptions in internet, 4G & voice calls has to be expected. Can a telco expert explain how we should prepare?
📚 Inviting all to join Lakmahal Community Library.
🌞 Open 10AM - 07.00 (Closed on Thursday’s)
🚲 Lakmahal Community Library, 8A, Alfred House Road, Colombo 03.
📖 Excellent place for readers and literature lovers across all age groups
🟠Hungry man is an angry man
🟠The worst enemy of poor is inflation
🟠We need a cash transfer system to save poor
🟠We need SOE reforms to find money for a cash transfer system
🟠We need Central Bank reforms to assure soundness of our money
🟠Simply we need ECONOMIC REFORMS. NOW!
It’s not right to say “WE DON’T HAVE USD💰TO IMPORT FUEL ⛽️” We don’t have USD at the rate of Rs.200. We will have adequate USD at least to avoid long lines at filling stations at Rs.250. We don’t need and IMF to make that little change. REFORM NOW
@steve_hanke
1)
Hi I’m an economics student from Sri Lanka sir I’ll try and explain what went wrong in a few tweets.
The present government of Sri Lanka made a series of cascading policy errors which led to this crisis.
ERROR 1 - Disastrous Tax cuts loss of revenue 550 billion rupees a year
🇱🇰 Things are getting very tight. At the rate it’s going who ever the new finance minister might have to sworn in the plane to Washington DC. We need a lot of luck it seems to avoid an economic disaster. We told this 2 years ago & the clock is ticking in the final weeks ⏰
What if India 🇮🇳 consider Sri Lankan 🇱🇰 company Elephant House JKH partnering with Reliance group & entering the Indian market as a threat to their sovereignty.
Truth is winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners. We want Sri Lanka to win & to be a winner. Markets work.
There are multiple reasons why these type of technology doesn’t come to our 🇱🇰 agricultural land. One main reason is our land is not owned by the farmer but by the Government. So capital infusion is difficult. Do you believe about 82% of our total land is owned by the government?
🇱🇰 If not managed well, Economic crisis comes in a package of 5 crises
1⃣ Balance of payment crisis. 💰💰
Simply, US$ shortages for essentials such as fuel and electricity ⛽️🔌
2⃣ Debt crisis 💳
Already our debt is unsustainable & debt restructuring will be painful for all
1/n
🇱🇰 There is a discussion whether the SL sovereign debt suspension have been done without informing Parliment since parliament has ultimate power on state finances. We should ask what was Parliment doing till we went bankrupt with multiple prior warning on SL debt sustainability⚠️
🇱🇰Out of 16 IMF programmes SL has only completed 9. As I have been saying IMF is just a mile stone. Only Economic Reforms can save us. Here is my top 3
1⃣Social safety net to save poor (Cash transfers)
2⃣SOE reforms (Privatize, PPP, Consolidate)
3⃣Trade (Simple unified tariff)
SL 🇱🇰 is becoming an interesting geopolitical case study. 🇮🇳 threw 2 life lines worth of $1.4B💰 in 5 days.🇨🇳 threw 10B Yuan💴 swap to boost reserves🚀. Then🇨🇳 had a hard negotiation on $6.9m payment blacklisting a State Bank 🏦. There is nothing called a free lunch🍴Reform now
If we have allowed the private sector and market system to work this country would have been a much better place. This is just one example out of many. Let’s do the economic reforms at least now 🚂➡️🚊
Those who labeled
@waw1949
as a doomsday economist should now realize actually they have contributed to the doomsday. Just listen to his profound advice 6 months before. I wish courage to doomsday contributors to admire this man & admit they made a mistake.
🛺My father retired when I was in school. Mother retired few years later. Both had no pensions. The little left over of my mothers EPF with a lease was just adequate to buy a tuk. Thats how they financed my education. Anyone had a tuk & courage had market access to earn a living
🇱🇰This image says "Since the applications for 'birth certificates' are out of stocks use the 'death certificate' applications instead by altering the title". This may be a one off case but indicates a deep lesson why we need to move on E- governance & E -signature 1/3
@AzzamAmeen
Sri Lankan UL has LKR 60B debt guaranteed by poor Sri Lankns. Some in $ terms which has to be restructured now. I love UL but travellers may not feel comfortable to know their air-tickets are subsidised by people dying in queues who haven't seen a passport
Congratulations 🎉🍾. While one Sri Lanka wanted to protect others entering to Sri Lankan market & protect from competition there is another Sri Lanka embracing competition & entering competing markets. It’s not rocket science to know who would decide our future.
We had to wait till we pass the eleventh hour with a historic crisis to remind us “Markets Work” & “Private property” matters. Better late than never. We should allow anyone to import & distribute fuel⛽️. Government’s job is not to run businesses. Governments are for GOVERNANCE
1) Cabinet Approval was granted to open up the Fuel Import and Retail sales market to Companies from Oil producing Nations. They will be selected on the ability to Import Fuel and operate without Forex requirements from the CBSL and Banks for the first few months of operations.
🏘️Price of property in Colombo compared to income exceeds London, NY & Tokyo. This indicates the struggle of the middle class of building a house over a bank loan sacrificing a lot other choices in life due to high cost of construction in SL. Effects tourism with high room rates
When many are building a case how difficult to compete with India & need for tariff protection to compete at asking poor Sri Lankans to pay for the protection, Harpo has entered to Indian market. Sri Lanka can 🇱🇰. We need to first believe that we can
A BIG APPRECIATION for Dr.W.A Wijewardena
@waw1949
🤓
This economic crisis is heartbreaking💔 for anyone who is reading W.A Wijewardena column on
@FT_SriLanka
of
@nisthar_cassim
for a considerable period of time. He not only highlighted the problem but always proposed a solution
🧵Countries become prosperous when countries become competitive. Not when they cut imports. When countries become competitive they can earn USD to import what they need. Just cutting down imports won't make them competitive.🏇
As a then opposition member
@RajapaksaNamal
challenged the then FM
@MangalaLK
on taxation on menstrual hygiene products. I hope
@RajapaksaNamal
will negotiate with the current FM on the same cause and stand for the values he stood for
In Sinhala there is a saying "දෙවියොත් වඳින මිනිස්සු ඉන්නවා". If it is true Hanif Yussof is definitely one of them. Among many nay sayers for competing at a global stage Hanif proved silently not only Sri Lanka is able to compete but also capable of competing & winning in style
A permit system is simply a permit for corruption. The inner circle of politicians gets the permit or they sell the permit in the secondary market
🚌 Bus route permit
⛽️ Fuel station permit
🍺 Bar permit
🚢 Import permit
💎 Mining permit
🚘 Electric car permit (Latest)
Sri Lankan Government's Electric Car 🚗 for Migrant Workers scheme seems to be working well for Sri Lanka's economy, but not in the way it was intended.
⭕️ The dollars parked outside Sri Lanka by uber-wealthy Sri Lankans now come into Sri Lanka in the form of Luxury electric
🔋The courage of
@kanchana_wij
for reforms is commendable. Power generation, transmission & distribution has to be unbundled
🛑Abolishing the competitive bidding for RE is not advisable
🏇Without competitive bidding, prices per unit for RE will increase drastically in future 1
1) If the existing CEB act does not need amendments and has the capability to implement renewable energy projects without delay, why did the CEB deprive many who had requested to do so for years? Why did they not plan for grid capacity development and least cost power generation?
🚨Rs 5000 allowance for the state sector is a Salary decrement⬇️ rather than an increment⬆️.This will reduce the purchasing power🛒 of every income & wage earner. A very high risk to kicking the wage spiral & drying our limited forex if this is finance through CB money printing🖨️
🇺🇸must be thinking
“We offered you $480m FREE money for a study done by your own experts for a application applied by your own gov. You guys thought we’re creating some corridor & appointed a prez com. Then you BORROWED 6B from 🇮🇳 & 🇨🇳 overnight. Even interest rates are unknown 1
US 🇺🇸to Ukraine 🇺🇦 for War: $ 40 Billion
US 🇺🇸 to Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 for Food: $ 20 Million
Just so you know, 1 Billion = 1000 Millions
The world is invested in crisis, hatred and war Not in kindness, empathy and relief.
#USA
#SriLanka
#UkraineRussiaWar
Only 30% of Sri Lankans can afford a 500 Sqft house throughout their lifetime savings.
Reason: High cost of construction
A ton of cement is $ 53 in Thailand. In SL $ 114
A ton of steel in Singapore is $ 561. In SL $ 760
We pay interest for inefficiency on the housing loan
Reflection: Stories without ECONOMIC REFORMS
Since 1950s - Diyasen Kumaraya +Mannar oil reserve +Trinco port to rescue 🇱🇰
2016 - Unknown Belgian investor to rescue ($1B)🇱🇰
2021 - World's largest Star Sapphire in🇱🇰
2022 - $3.6B Oman credit line
2022 - China to bail out 🇱🇰 1/2
Import controls didn’t work in 2020
Won’t work in 2022
It’s a misconception that fruits like 🍎🍊 are only consumed by wealthy elite. If 🍎 🍊 only consumed by wealthy people, they of course wouldn’t be sold on the Pettah pavements & at central bus stands
“State owned electricity board (CEB) has disconnected power supply of state owned television for not paying electricity bills worth of LKR 55m. Later they have come to an agreement to pay later” SOE reforms is a must. Poor households won’t get that preferential service from CEB
🇱🇰There is a reason why these type of technology doesn’t reach our Agro land. Simply bcz our land isn’t owned by our people. More than 80% of our land owned by bankrupt government. Without land rights for people
🔴No productivity
🔴No development
🔴Poor farmers
🔴A poor Sri Lanka
Food prices at a time 7M people live below poverty is shameful compared to UK (capita GDP🇬🇧:🇱🇰10X) Import tariffs on food must be slashed & licences on food importation has to end. Saving forex through high tariffs (para tariff) is a myth & asking to pay it for poorest is a crime
⛽️Since filling stations are rejecting to pump fuel on cans, a generator owner had to go to filling station with the generator it self to buy fuel. When economies are planned centrally we can't expect better outcomes. Optimum utilisation of resources happens when markets work
🇱🇰 There are 3 dangerous Economic myths in Sri Lanka
1️⃣ Price control can control prices
2️⃣ MMT is the solution for all economic ills
3️⃣Import controls can save USD
Below graphs shows our imports are declining since 1990’s so as exports. If import controls worked why a crisis?
@indica
Wrong diagnosis & wrong solutions. Where else to cut imports from here. We are in this crisis following the same advice. Imports were cut in 2020 & in 2022. Already fuel imports and life saving medical imports have been cut down. Anything else in the list we should cut
🚨Corruption Alert
Gov raised special commodity levy (SCL) on sugar to Rs.50 from Rs. 0.25
If the information was known before hand (info-asymmetry), stocks can be imported way before the SCL revision & pass the tariff hike to consumers without paying it
🇱🇰In my view Import Controls announced is a slap on IMF face & it will delay the process. IMF Article IV report in Feb 2022 clearly mark their stance on import controls. Announcing new import controls while they are here shows we have forgotten a lot between the cup & the lip
Finally someone is speaking the truth & reality. One reason why I do not prefer import controls is the damage it does to “Aspirational Sri Lankans” 🇱🇰.The aspirations we sacrifice are bigger than the USD value. We are becoming a net loser by killing the dreams of Sri Lankan youth
🧵 Foreign diplomacy is economic diplomacy & building friendships. We need to learn to say NO without hurting & get the support when we are in need.
No country going out of their way to help us bcz we annoyed them than winning them
🇨🇳 Fertilizers + PortCity delay
🇯🇵 LRT
🇺🇸 MCC
1
1⃣If milk powder isn't good for health why Gov is milk pow: business?
2⃣If self-sufficiency is the way of protecting consumers from price hikes & global supply chain disruptions why do local companies increase prices?
🙏 Let's admit the truth. Self-sufficiency strategy has failed
Unbundling CEB is a MUST. At a time when we have a very good rainfall, weekend blackouts highlights the need for reforms in power & energy sector. People need choices. The delayed reforms on energy sector is equally responsible for instability in banking sector & Economic crisis
Watch our recent interview with Governor of
@CBSL
Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe on
1️⃣ CBSL bill
2️⃣ Exchange rate & bank interest rates
3️⃣ External Debt restructuring
4️⃣ Status of the economy
Some said by controlling imports we can make local industries competitive globally.
Till last week most of the imports were completely banned.
Did any industries become competitive? We are a much closer economy than in 1977. Rough seas make stronger sailors
I must admit
@steve_hanke
inflation numbers reflect real cost of living 🇱🇰 whether we like it or not. He tracks something right. Inflation is what affects us individually based on our life style. We have to cut down consumption to survive this wave. We have to be poorer.
For the first time in its history, Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debt. Sri Lanka is in a classic death spiral. Today, I measure inflation in LKA at a stunning 122%/yr. LKA must mothball its Central Bank and install a currency board.
🇱🇰One SL waits to win the world through import substitution
The other SL is already competing & winning the world.
We can either be
Fearful ➡️Protectionist ➡️uncompetitive
or we can be
Brave ➡️competitive ➡️Trend setting
We can’t do both
🎬 Sharing a quick video recoded on my phone at Lakmahal Library. Inviting all to join and enjoy the library.
⏰ Opening hours : Friday to Sunday 10.00 a.m - 07.00 p.m
කඩුව කතා කරන අයට විතරක් නෙවෙයි සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම්, චීන කතා කරන අයටත් ලක්මහල් පුස්තකාලය විවෘතයි. 😀😀
Modern Monetary Theory 2.0.
The day people understand how inflation created by Central Bank 🏦 stole their hard earn money and wealth a new village will be created oppose Central Bank.
CentralBankGoHome
🚨SOE's are ;
1⃣Vehicles for corruption
2⃣Discourage entrepreneurship
3⃣Discourage productivity, efficiency & service quality
4⃣Cost of all above + interest cost of corruption to be borne by the tax payers
🧐From 2016-19 = 8300 recruitments
💪SOE reforms are a must
Two weeks ago I requested the CEB management for information regarding loan facilities extended to CEB employees & on new recruitments. Data provided by the CEB finance division shows that financial facilities extended to CEB employees amounts to about Rs 12 Billion & that 2/3rds
High tariffs on anything is bad. But high tariffs on food when 7M people are under poverty is sad & shameful. This is not to generate revenue. Just asking poor to bear the cost of inefficiencies when they already share the burden of mismanagement is unfair
Imposing taxes on food items when we have 7 million people under poverty is a crime. Our repeated failures to expand tax base & violation of tax principal of "neutrality" by offering tax holidays with no analysis under Strategic Development Project Act cannot be paid by poor
Postponement of reforms WILL NOT change the circumstances. "We" protested against competing with 🇮🇳 & Singapore 🇸🇬. The same "We" now leave for 🇨🇦, 🇬🇧,🇺🇸 & 🇦🇺 complaining the status of the country. After we migrate "We" cannot compete only with Sri Lankan's there.
#ReformNow
Without any sustainable economic reforms programme, this level of borrowing is scary. 🇱🇰 Our choices are limited. I smell a second round of debt restructuring even before the commencement of first round of debt restructuring
#ReformNow
"No country can progress if its politics is more profitable than its industries. In a country where those in government are richer than entrepreneurs, they manufacture poverty" -
@PeterObi
That's why we have to limit the size of the government & do economic reforms.
🇱🇰SL Economic crisis - Consumer impact 🛒 🚨
1⃣Typical consumer: Buying cut down from 48 categories to 26 (46%)| Lower-end consumer: 50%🛍️
2⃣1.1 mil households moved out from a key category like milk powder🥛
3⃣Children stunted growth increased from 7.0% to 9.2%🤱
1/3
If Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 to overcome this crisis reforms in TRADE is a must. We are one of the closed economies in the region. Protectionism and rent seeking must end. Self sufficiency strategy [සෑම දෙයක්ම ගෙදරදීම සාදා ගැනීම] is not working. Let’s compete and win together
I am sad for the for the public & private properties damaged by mobs & by thugs. Strongly condemn it. Some policy makers were in tears. At least they have the option of getting it recovered on tax payers money without tax payer consent. 1/n
If we give a electricity tariff hike protection for religious institutions that concession has to be borne by the PEOPLE.
Similarly if we give import tariffs protection for some selected industries that too has to be borne by the PEOPLE.
🇱🇰Additionally to disastrous policy errors made by consecutive governments there’re 6 main shocks over the last few years. Some could have been avoided
2015 1️⃣Central Bank Bond scam
2017 2️⃣Droughts
2018 3️⃣Constitutional coup
2019 4️⃣Easter attack
2020 5️⃣Covid19
2021 6️⃣Covid19
🇱🇰Sri Lankans analytical thinking is way too influenced by politics. There were so many analyses, interpretations & conspiracy theories on the $480m MCC grant (0%). No one even bothered to inquire about the interest + conditions of
🇮🇳Indian swap = 3 x MCC
🇨🇳China swap = 3 x MCC
SL 🇱🇰 is becoming an interesting geopolitical case study. 🇮🇳 threw 2 life lines worth of $1.4B💰 in 5 days.🇨🇳 threw 10B Yuan💴 swap to boost reserves🚀. Then🇨🇳 had a hard negotiation on $6.9m payment blacklisting a State Bank 🏦. There is nothing called a free lunch🍴Reform now
This debt has always been borne by the people of SL🇱🇰. We tried to pass it but not a single investor is interested. Without State Owned Enterprise reforms simply Sri Lanka has no future. Gov running biz is one key reason for high taxes, negative growth & for the economic crisis
🇱🇰 Some Sri Lankans think IMF is the only solution to overcome SL's economic crisis. Definitely NO. The ONLY SOLUTION is to RESET our economy. Allow market system and prices to work. Allow the resources to be utilised optimally through prices. Not by Gov intervention.
At
@CeylonChamber
Economic Summit 2023, I asked
@kanchana_wij
what he'd do if a new government asked him to reverse energy sector reforms but kept him in charge. His reply : "I need two words, but I can't share them with this gracious audience"
CEB reforms are a must for 🇱🇰
Either
@CBSL
doesn’t know the seriousness of their action.If they know they won’t do this.Either people don’t know the impact on their hard earned money & wealth by this action.If they know they won’t tolerate. Most likely we all will be එහෙම වෙන්නෙ ඇයි? I don’t know why?
🏎️You need not to hold a PhD in economics to understand that it is an incentive for corruption when you have an import ban & a permit system (including a highly deviated tariff system) It's common sense. Even parliamentarians are doing the same. Permits are permits for corruption
Customs explains to the Weighs and Means Committee how vehicle importers created a scheme to import high-end EVs by misusing the EV permit granted to migrant workers.
⭕️119 vehicles were imported, 75 were by one company. All are high-end vehicles, including BMWs & Porsches.
🇱🇰There is recovery from this crisis without reforming SOE’s
💰Expected Revenue from PAYE=100B
💡8 months loss of CEB 2022= 109B
✈️6 months loss of Sri Lankan = 113B
⛽️8 months loss of CPC = 632B
Total revenue from all corporates 603B is not enough to cover CPC loss
The best way gov to make more money is allowing the private sector to earn more money on a competitive basis. Gov takes 15% of income as VAT & 30% from profits from companies by doing nothing. Why burning fingers by trying to do business where gov has no control or expertise over
If loss making SOE's making losses due to corrupt politicians does it mean the profit making ones are managed by honest politicians. NO. Both loss making & profit making SOE's are corrupt & cost is paid by poor tax payer. SOE reforms are MUST and Gov has no business in business.
CEB makes 16B loss after price revisions (30th Sep CEB unaudited accounts & as per CEB spokesperson). Energy sector needs to be unbundled. Thinking we can make electricity prices competitive by gov running businesses efficiently is a nice storyline but very far from the reality.
⛽️ Answer is markets. SOE reforms are a must. How competition can bring down prices even by few rupees 😀😀. A more relevant question is if Government is good at business why can't they sell fuel less than competitors. Remember SOE's are vehicles for corruption 🚕
Though it’s not the POPULAR decision the RIGHT decision is to revise fuel prices ⛽️. It will lead to a price revision on electricity and water as well. The political and economic loss of long lines & power cuts are very high than a price revision. We need competition in long run
Lets at-least admit once in our lifetime. No one can rescue us unless we do it by our selves. Economic Reforms are a must & that's the only way out. No other country or individual cannot rescue us. We should not expect them to do so and it is not their responsibly. 2/2
🇱🇰Who thought it would be ever possible to earn about $ 1m by teaching people to cook on mouth watering recipes. Market system & globalisation is an amazing tool who knows how to use it. Congratulations & well deserved. When markets work locals can compete globally & win.👩🍳🍛🥗
🇱🇰 If we print/create money more than the growth of the economy it is not rocket science to understand excess money is going to push the price levels up. That’s stealing from poor man’s pocket as they cannot afford the basic goods. That’s how 7M people ended up in poverty.
"Excessive Money Printing not only Creates Inflation but also a Balance of Payment Crisis"
Dhananath Fernando (CEO, Advocata Institute), during his appearace on 's 'The People's Platform (14.02.2024).
#SriLanka
#economy
#governance
#Reforms
As long as CBSL doesn't give all of us a salary DECREMENT by printing money I feel all senior Gov officials salaries have to be adjusted with market rates & market skills. Increments must be financed by downsizing the state sector which is tail heavy by political appointees 1/2
Despite the Ministry of Finance recommending against increasing the salaries of government employees due to the ongoing economic crisis, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has decided to increase the salaries and allowances of its employees by 27% - 70%.
🚦SL insurance company (SLIC) runs a nice emotional advert in this season. Message: 🚧 Don’t drink & drive. Every part of your vehicle is replaceable except you” Now with import controls and $ shortages💰most spareparts are also not replaceable. So Don’t drink and drive 🥃🥂🍺
🏏Our approach to cricket crisis & economic crisis are same. Cricket crisis started way before we got bowled out 55 for 🇮🇳. Econ crisis started way before our debt default. For both we are reacting without fixing the root cause
Central bank - 72% inflation
SLC cricket - 55 🇮🇳
Increasing electricity tariff isn’t a REFORM. Reforming CEB requires unbundling generation, transmission & distribution plus connecting us to a larger grid. Monopolies cannot be fixed by tariff hikes. A bad monetary policy will trigger a BOP crisis & can take us back to blackouts
Unfortunately we are trying to solve a government monopoly problem through a gov regulatory agency. People will be the victim. Answer is freedom of choice. Unbundle, allow private sector to enter, connect to a larger grid, privatize, public private partnerships are solutions. 1/2
🛀For those who do not believe that IMPORT CONTROLS only INCREASES PRICES not the PRODUCTION just look at what has happened tile prices with import controls
Price of a 2*2 tile
Before covid = Rs.425
after import controls = Rs.2100
After removing import controls = Rs.1100
1/3
🇱🇰Many of us do not realize INFLATION is also a form of tax. The worst tax. It was triggered by our CB & treasury under a cool name called MMT. We should not underplay the contribution by monetary instability created by our institutions to this crisis.
🙈 Since Modern Monetary Theorist (MMT Proponents) are hiding and have forgotten they’re part of this crisis I had to answer on them behalf. Once upon a time they believed Money Printing can take us out from the crisis and no relation to inflation. Let’s wish them good luck 🍀
🇱🇰 Productivity improvement is required at every level. Our average number of nuts per coconut tree is about 62. Best practice is about 100. Productivity improves when gov stops intervening & when markets are allowed to work 😀😀
This "scooter" allows you to ascend a 275ft (84m) tall tree in 30 seconds.
This tree-climbing “scooter” can navigate on any straight or slightly bent trees or poles and allows the operator to quickly ascend one.
#gigadgets
#worker
#innovation
#climbing
#scooter
There are few actions that has no room for negotiations if Sri Lanka is serious about making progress in 2024.
1⃣Continuation & improvement of social safety-net
2⃣SOE reforms
3⃣Governance & anti corruption reforms
4⃣Sticking to IMF programme & debt restructuring
5⃣Trade reforms
Currency 💴swaps are not a solution for 🇱🇰 economic crisis. We have to do structural Economic reforms URGENTLY. Surprised the Oman 🇴🇲 swap of $3.5 B is not in the list. Join me to wish MMT experts the courage to admit their prescription is “not even wrong”
A new Sinhala keyboard ⌨️ “Kathakatamu” launched for the benefit of non speaking community in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 by EASE foundation. Amazing. This will help fellow disable community to communicate in Sinhala faster. For us to experience their creativity 1/2
🍭First Gov revised super commodity levy (SCL) & created room for a massive sugar scam intervening markets
👨⚖️Then we impose a price control, intervened markets & created shortages
🕹️Next they will say markets are not perfect we need the government to intervene in markets
🇱🇰Independence of the Central Bank is very important to overcome the crisis. After a bond scam & MMT spell we all know how bad things were in the current set up. Politicians do not like CB independence as they can cover up their incompetence 1/2
@waw1949
Price controls have not worked & it WILL not work. We tried the same recipe with
Rice 🍚
Milk powder 🥛
Tin fish 🎣
Dhal 🍛
US $ 💰
Sri Lanka’s new price controls on eggs could lead to shortages: poultry association | EconomyNext
I am sorry. I have made a mistake. Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 has gone to IMF 16 TIMES & ONLY COMPLETED 9 OUT OF 16. In few public forums & on media I mentioned “We have completed only 6 IMF programmes out of 16”. VERY SORRY. The slide is straight from
@CBSL
Governor’s speech at Parliment 🙏
🇱🇰I am amazed with the recent Twitter conversation on Property Rights. By Gov still owning 82% of our land & increasing state employment to 1.5 mil out of 8 mil workforce everyone who ruled us so far ruled a socialist country. That is why we are in the mess. 1/2
🇱🇰People work Smart & Hard
1⃣When they have incentives.
2⃣When they know the money they earn is secured. 3⃣When they know they own the property.
Innovation & efficiency takes place in lands PROPERTY RIGHTS are SECURED.
Do you know 82% of our land 🇱🇰 is owned by Government?
🍵Poor Economics causing high cost of production, low earnings for pluckers & low productivity in Sri Lanka's tea industry.
@SudarakaA
Daily Plucking Average Per Worker
🇰🇪45-60 kg
🇮🇳34- 60 kg
🇱🇰18Kg
Cost of production per kg
🇰🇪$1.33
🇮🇳$1.63
🇱🇰$1.89
Last week it was reported white canes & equipment for vision & hearing impaired are in shortage due to import controls. I understand we don’t have $ due to Econ crisis. But we need to realize import controls is not the solution. We have to reform trade & monetary policy
Imposing taxes on food items when we have 7 million people under poverty is a crime. Our repeated failures to expand tax base & violation of tax principal of "neutrality" by offering tax holidays with no analysis under Strategic Development Project Act cannot be paid by poor