Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis.
The Sri Lankan government has been unable to pay for essential imports such as fuel, food items and other goods. What a shocker!
Prices of commodities has gone through the roof in the last week.
Rice is being sold for Rs 220 per kg and wheat for Rs 190 per kg.
1 Kg of sugar was being sold for Rs 240, while coconut oil for a whopping Rs 850 per litre.
A single egg costs Rs 30. Even more unbelievably, a 1 kg pack of milk powder now is being sold for Rs 1,900.
To know why Sri Lanka is facing these issues, you can click here on YouTube to see the entire video.
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is Mahinda Rajapaska and his brother Gotabaya Rajapaska is the President.
People are unhappy with their management of the economic crisis. There were huge mobs protesting.
#GoHomeRajapaksas and "#GotaGoHome" have been trending for days on Twitter and Facebook in Sri lanka.
Crowds attempted to storm Gotabaya’s home in the capital Colombo.
The government then imposed a nationwide curfew from 1st April to 4th April.
People are furious over the state of Sri Lanka's economy.
Defying curfew orders, Sri Lanka's opposition party staged an anti-government protest. At least 664 people were arrested for violating the curfew.
Social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc. were blocked.
Sri Lanka government officials had a late time meeting.
26 ministers except President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa submitted letters of resignation.
People are furious over the incompetence of the ministers in managing the debts of the country.
Now that the minsiters have resigned, the President will now select new cabinet members.
Sri Lanka also has a whopping $7 billion in debt due in 2022.
In the early 2010’s Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaska wanted to build a port in Hambantota
but requests for funds were rejected by many countries and companies as they felt that the port would not earn any profit.
Everyone knew that Sri Lanka would not make a profit so they would not be able to return the money. They did not want to take a risk.
Sri Lanka was very worried but then China agreed to lend them the money.
Finally, China agreed and gave Sri Lanka a loan of more than $1 billion.
However, Mahinda Rajapaska lost in the elections in 2015 and the new government did not want to pay back the loan as it was a huge amount.
They then said that the port and 15,000 acres of land around the port can be used by China for 99 years.
Between 2012 and 2018, Sri Lanka’s external debt to China was $2.2 billion to $5 billion and they are unable to repay it.
People are very angry over the government's dependacy on China.
This has become a cycle as Sri Lanka has to give up land to China or take more loans to repay China.
Instead of being self reliant country and repaying the loans, the country is stuck in this vicious cycle.
As per our last video, India has again decided to give a loan of $1 billion to Sri Lanka. We also gave $500 million to buy fuel.
Many wonder why is India helping Sri Lanka when our country is having so many financial problems.
Well according to many sources, China continues to give loans to Sri Lanka.
When Sri Lanka defaults, China takes over a certain area. Like that China can take over the entire country.
Since they so close to India, it can be a huge problem.
Already India is having problems with China in the north of India in Ladakh.
If China takes over Sri Lanka, then China will be a threat on both sides.
So India is doing everything to help Sri Lanka to keep the country out of China's influence.
This may sound familiar to you. Remember how Russia was afraid of NATO coming closer to their border,
this is why India is keeping a watch & giving them loans. Otherwise China takes control of Sri Lanka.