Features

Navigating Sri Lanka’s rocky road to recovery

Published

4 years ago

2022/08/14

By Anoushka Vijesingh

Sri Lankafs economic crisis has been going on for some time. Years of policy missteps and a problematic growth model came to the fore with a debilitating foreign reserves crisis in early 2022. Families and firms suffer due to shortage of essential commodities. The precarious balance of payments situation has left little buffer to counter shocks from global markets. All this resulted in the peoplefs rejection of a regime that oversaw the economic collapse, an insurgency that lasted several months, and the installation of President Ranil Wickremesinghe under extraordinary circumstances in July. Since the governmentfs announcement of the suspension of foreign debt payments in April, discussions have progressed on a bailout ? an expanded funds facilitation program ? with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the finalization of an employee-level agreement (SLA). being given. In recent weeks, there has been a tendency for those in power to blame public protests as gchaosh and gunresth for delays in consolidating the IMF deal. This is not only insidious, but also not helpful in understanding the rocky road ahead.

Even once the SLA is in place, the IMF Executive Board will approve a program and release bailout funds only if it has eadequate financing assurancef. This means that Sri Lanka will have to secure certain agreements with major creditors (up to the level of comfort of the IMF) and the fundfs major shareholders such as the US will have to be convinced of the fair treatment of all Sri Lankan creditors. Until then, other multilaterals such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank will also refrain from lending new money. For Zambia, which defaulted in November 2020, the process took about eight months, from the conclusion of an SLA in December 2021 to a settlement with its bilateral creditor group (of which China was co-chaired) in July this year. . Clearly, Sri Lanka should quickly make appropriate progress on debt negotiations with private creditors (holders of international sovereign bonds and commercial debt) and bilateral creditors such as Japan, China and India, to convince the IMFfs executive board.

In this it will be important to get support from China. Chinese officials have sent hot and cold signals in the months since the loan pause was announced in April. While China has expressed support for Sri Lankafs talks with the IMF, it is yet to fully and publicly commit to engaging in talks with other bilateral lenders. Perhaps China, a relationship-based lender, is waiting for the new government to make new proposals at a higher level. Meanwhile, Sri Lankafs debt advisors ? Lazard and Clifford Chance ? will begin talks with private creditors holding sovereign bonds. Some of these are likely to be embroiled in legal disputes, the nature of which led Sri Lanka to unilaterally default in April.

Certainly, spending a few extra weeks on finalizing the SLA may not be a bad thing, if it helps to better ground the program in the current socio-political realities. Trying to coerce through a settlement that doesnft adequately appreciate the dramatic changes could jeopardize the programfs public acceptance and longevity. There are four key areas that the new administration needs to consider. First, the program with the IMF cannot focus solely on revenue-based fiscal consolidation (only, higher taxes); It also has to be dealt with on the spending side. There is a growing public demand for accountability of public finances, better debt management and combating politicization and corruption in government. These are no longer concerns limited to policy victories; They are shared throughout the society. Mis-prioritized public spending (for example, the dominance of military spending in the budget) has compromised investment in health, education and innovation. While higher taxes and a wider tax base are indeed necessary, peoplefs willingness to accept a tighter tax regime will improve when they see greater accountability on how revenue is spent.

Second, domestic political consensus on key reform areas must accompany any IMF programme. It is not just about esigning the point linef of the IMF agreement now, but also about ensuring smooth implementation in the years to come. The economic cost of letting narrow political leanings get in the way is enormous. The scale of the reforms required a consensus among political parties and major interest groups. It is encouraging that we have seen in recent weeks a group of lawmakers agree to advance a common minimum programme, with input from a range of stakeholders. It should gain more traction now to prevent the policy from backtracking later.

Third, policymaking should be more inclusive. One of the biggest governance errors of the deposed regime was its tendency towards island policy making. The Presidentfs COVID-19 Task Force was headed by a military commander, not a health professional or experienced civil servant. There was no input from people outside bureaucratic and military circles in the design and roll-out of COVID-19-era welfare payments. Poverty think tanks and civil society organizations that understand the impact on families, informal workers and vulnerable groups were not welcomed. A COVID-19 economic recovery task force had a handful of non-official members from a narrow section of the private sector and just one woman, a political appointee in a public agency. Incorrectly imposed fertilizer restrictions were reported by paediatricians and priests instead of those holding PhDs in agriculture and agro-economists. The Central Bankfs Monetary Board and the Monetary Policy Advisory Committee were reconstituted to exclude those with different views and to include those who shared the same economic and policy ideology of the government. The new administration should do the opposite: listen to societyfs more representative voices and allow for dissent and outside views in a structured manner.

Fourth, an honest and forward-looking picture needs to be painted. The new government needs to explain what policy steps are being taken, why and when, what will be the results and how these will help mitigate the economic crisis. What is needed is an honest dialogue with the electorate, where the government is with the people, and the public in turn feels that the government has its back.

To be sure, fully approving the IMF agreement from staff-level by the fundfs executive board has less to do with domestic politics and more to do with the progress of debt restructuring negotiations. Potential IMF financing is dependent on a fair and prompt renegotiation process with Sri Lankafs creditors (private and bilateral), to put the country on a path towards debt stability. But the future success of the IMF program, once approved, and overall reform within its scope may be determined by domestic politics and smart policymaking. Any attempt to pursue a reform program without a clear expression of its justification, expected results and measures to protect the vulnerable will be resisted by politicians and the public. Any attempt by Sri Lankan leaders to tighten their grip on society under the guise of intensifying the IMF program will most likely be met with resistance by a newly awakened and alert citizens. (The Hindu)

Anoushka Vijesingh is a Colombo-based economist and co-founder of the Center for a Smart Future, a public policy think tank.

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Features

New US sanctions on ICC, a fillip to worldwide political repression

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/15

Thilina Walpola

The International Criminal Court in session. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s warning to the International Criminal Court (ICC) was stark: ‘Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.’ It followed US central administration accusations that the court was unfairly targeting Americans on the basis of trumped-up war crimes charges.

However, a new plethora of sanctions has been clamped on the ICC by the US, which in turn has spurred accusations by sections of the world that the latter has unleashed an ‘assault’ on the international legal order.

What some of the sanctions would mean for the ICC was outlined by Rubio: ‘We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their ability to operate against us.’

The ICC has shown consistency of purpose over the years. Despite some operational constraints it has indicted a large number of political strongmen from around the world, accused of war crimes and other governance excesses that come under its purview. Two such recent figures are: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Rather than enjoy a mere nominal presence in the world community, the ICC has proved its effectiveness by detaining and bringing to justice scores of VIP politicians and others of their ilk who have been found guilty of human rights abuses and kindred excesses that come within the terms of reference of the ICC.

Accordingly, the international justice system would be stymied considerably as a result of the ICC being dis-empowered, particularly financially. Needless to say, potential and real perpetrators of the species of crime coming under the jurisdiction of the ICC would stand to gain most from such anarchic tendencies. That is, political repression globally would be enabled to enjoy a new lease of life.

A detailing of the types of crime coming under the purview of the ICC provides an idea of what it would cost the international community if the ICC’s operations are gravely hampered. They are mainly: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

That is, the part of the world to be worst affected would be the global South, since the latter is awash with the mentioned crimes. Needless to say, a chronically-disaffected South will sooner rather than later undermine the well being of the world dangerously. The world is already being put through these paces.

At the time of writing, ‘illegal migrants’ from the South, for example, are aggravating many a Western economy’s woes, besides creating for them acute law and order issues. The fact that these migrants’ presence goes on to become a virtual test of the migrant receiving states’ ability to forge domestic social inclusion in the face of jingoistic protests by mainly white supremacist groups is evidence of the latter. As is known, the US, to take just one example, has been up against this crisis for quite a while.

Accordingly, it will be in the best interests of the West if ‘illegal’ migrant arrivals on their shores are stemmed. If the socio-political and economic problems assailing the South are effectively managed through North-South collaborative, ‘trouble-shooting’ efforts the causes leading to ‘illegal’ migration and connected issues could be resolved at source as it were. For, it is the aggravation of the South’s material questions that lays the basis for the emergence of repressive and anti-democratic regimes in the hemisphere.

Until such time that the aforementioned issues in North-South relations are visited afresh and addressed urgently, a vibrantly functioning ICC would be needed. For, the latter would prove a deterrent to Southern political and military strongmen, highly prone to power abuse and like excesses, from coming into being in the wake of the South’s chronic material woes and the wars and conflicts that result from them.

It stands to reason then that the US would be acting in its own interests by enabling the ICC to perpetuate its mandate without hindrance. For a crop of issues that impinges negatively on internal law and order would be defused.

Meanwhile, there needs to be a meeting of minds among the rest of the West to put back in place a North-South dialogue process aimed at reducing some of the economic pressures that are weighing on the South.

Since economics usually drives politics it will be in the interests of the world community to scrutinizingly re-visit North-South issues of the past and put in place economic relief packages for Southern publics that would enable them to tide over their material hardships rather than permit the latter to aggravate into social disaffection and eventually armed militancy. It is the latter juncture that paves the way for the emergence of authoritarian rulers in the South who then go on to be a blight on their publics.

Accordingly, the Southern-based global development thinking of the past that envisaged a more equitable world economic order needs to be seen as an urgent need. That is, NAM’s international development paradigms need to be resuscitated to the extent possible.

It is unlikely that rightist governments of the West, such as the current Republican administration in the US, would find these projects feasible, but democratic states of Europe, led by perhaps the UK, are likely to think otherwise. For it would not be beneficial for the democratic world to be having on their hands repressive governments in the South who would be gravitating towards the major military and economic actors of the South, such as Iran and North Korea, who tend to be in constant power struggles with the West.

However, until such time that the mentioned, pro-people initiatives are given serious thought the ICC would need to be enabled by the international community to be in place comfortably and carry on with its mandate of bringing repressive rulers to book. Besides the ICC should pave the way for the peoples of the developing world to enjoy some substantial respite from the political repression and even terror which tend to be their lot.

Meanwhile, the wars of West Asia are relentlessly aggravating the economic hardships of people everywhere, driving the point home to enlightened sections that there is no alternative to peacemaking. A challenge is to convert the US under President Trump to this line of thinking.

Features

Clear, soft and shine-free skin

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/15

Thilina Walpola

This week, I give you five simple, time-tested homemade remedies that help reduce the appearance of blemishes, control excess shine and leave your skin feeling softer and smoother.

The Honey and Lemon Brightening Dab:

For stubborn blemish marks, this is a classic. Mix one teaspoon of pure bee honey with three to four drops of fresh lemon juice. Apply gently, only on the affected spots, and leave for 10 minutes before rinsing with lukewarm water. While honey soothes and softens, lemon helps to brighten naturally. Use twice a week in the evening.

Besan and Rose Water Oil-Control Pack:

An ideal remedy to combat shine, especially on the T-zone. Take two teaspoons of besan (gram flour) and mix with sufficient rose water to form a smooth paste. Add a pinch of turmeric for its antiseptic goodness. Apply evenly, keep for 15 minutes and wash off. It absorbs excess oil without over-drying, leaving a beautiful matte finish.

Aloe Vera and Cucumber Ice Soother:

Blend fresh aloe vera gel with the juice of a grated cucumber and freeze the mixture in an ice tray. Each morning, wrap one cube in a soft muslin cloth and gently rub over a cleansed face for 30 seconds. It calms, tightens pores and imparts a baby-soft smoothness.

Oatmeal and Curd Gentle Polish:

Roughness and old blemish marks need gentle exfoliation. Combine one tablespoon of finely powdered oatmeal with one tablespoon of fresh curd (yoghurt). Massage very gently, in circular motions, for one minute, leave for five minutes and rinse. It removes dead cells and unveils softer, clearer skin.

Multani Mitti and Green Tea Magic Mask:

Brew some green tea and allow it to cool completely. Mix one and a half teaspoons of Multani Mitti (Fuller’s Earth) with the tea water to make a fine paste. Apply for 10 to 12 minutes – do not let it dry and crack completely – and wash off. It draws out impurities, fades blemishes and bestows a fresh, shine-free glow.

A Gentle Reminder:

As with any natural remedy, always do a patch test on your inner arm first. For those with oily or combination skin, avoid heavy coconut oil application and harsh scrubbing, as they tend to aggravate shine and blemishes.

Features

Compete, shine and be discovered at WCOPA 2027

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/15

Thilina Walpola

Dream of performing on a world stage? Well, here is your unique, golden opportunity!

The World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) — the one and only official “Talent Olympics” — is the world’s premier global platform for aspiring singers, dancers, actors, models, instrumentalists, etc., to compete, shine and be discovered!

And, yes, this world stage is open to YOU, Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka and overseas!

Held annually in glittering Las Vegas, WCOPA brings together over 70 countries, all competing for Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals, just like the traditional Olympics.

Lakisha Bernard: Will represent Team Sri Lanka at WCOPA 2027

Outstanding performers vie for the coveted titles of Junior and Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World, with winners and standout participants awarded over $500,000 in scholarships, cash awards and prizes to catapult their education and careers!

Sri Lanka is already making waves! At WCOPA 2026, Natharie Wickramasinghe, representing Team Sri Lanka, made the nation proud by winning a Bronze Medal in the Ethnic/Folklore Dance category!

Lakisha: Accomplished freelance Model and Fashion Design graduate

Recruitment for this prestigious competition is handled through a system of scouts and licensed National Directors — and this is where our very own Chris Rajendra, now based in Las Vegas, and National Director for Team Sri Lanka, comes into the scene.

If you are a singer, dancer, actor, model, instrumentalist — if you have talent burning inside you — contact Chris Rajendra today for registration and, who knows, you may find yourself in Las Vegas, and proudly draped in the Sri Lankan flag, at WCOPA 2027!

The contact address is: Chris Rajendra, wcopa.nationaldirector.sl@gmail.com

or chris.rajendra@gmail.com

Meanwhile, a star is born for 2027, in the form of Lakisha Bernard who is all set to represent Team Sri Lanka at WCOPA 2027.

Originally hailing from the sun-drenched coastal city of Colombo and now carving out her creative career in Canada, 22-year-old Lakisha is stepping into the international spotlight.

This accomplished freelance Model and Fashion Design graduate has officially been appointed as the Team Sri Lanka Promoter for Canada as she prepares to represent Team Sri Lanka at WCOPA in Las Vegas.

Lakisha brings a unique blend of high-fashion sensibility, captivating camera presence and expert garment design to the Team.

Having built her career, from local college shoots to high-glamour concepts, Lakisha’s inspiring journey embodies the true spirit of cultural bridge-building and creative resilience, bringing immense pride and recognition to Sri Lanka on the global stage.

WCOPA 2027 will be held at the legendary Westgate Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, from 12th to 20th July – the very same iconic arena where the late, great Elvis Presley himself performed!

Your moment is now. Your stage is Las Vegas, so hurry and contact Chris Rajendra.