Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
Since the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s economy is being transformed through a rapid process of financialisation. Such widespread financialisation facilitated infrastructure development, a real estate boom linked to urbanisation and expansion of credit leading to increasing indebtedness of the (...)
Around 20% of estate families not connected to national power grid: Selvaraja Says looking after workers essential to keep tea industry sustainable LP gas shortage and price hike push many households to use kerosene No shortage, kerosene being misused for buses and trucks: Minister
Meenachchi, (...)
Petrol stocks only sufficient for a few days Diesel stocks on order, continuous supply promised Stop panic buying, Energy Ministry urges Industry and agriculture sector significantly affected Self-employed face severe hardships
A telephone call at 3.40 a.m. had rudely awoken 29-year-old Saman (...)
Sri Lanka’s shortage of essentials like fuel, cooking gas, medicines and food has opened up a new business venture of queuing up for others at a fee.
Sri Lanka’s fuel queues started in mid-February and are currently so long that people spend days waiting to fill their tanks; that, too, on a (...)
The fuel crisis impact on three-wheeler and cab drivers’ livelihoods
To most Sri Lankans, hailing a taxi to commute to work has become an arduous and frustrating task, and exorbitant taxi fares have compelled them to think twice about taking a taxi even if they could find one. With the lack of (...)
Island-wide hartal calling on government to leave on 6 May
The Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC) has called for a collective of workers unions to take trade union action on Thursday (28) in the lead-up to an island-wide hartal campaign on 6 May, The Sunday Morning learns.
According to (...)
Sri Lanka is quickly becoming a poster child for the sovereign debt crisis, much like countries before it such as Lebanon, Greece, and Argentina. While the consequences may appear similar, it is critical to understand the specific characteristics of the unfolding crisis in Sri Lanka. For many, (...)
Twelve unions across Sri Lanka have launched a joint campaign to demand a rise of 10,000 rupees (US $49) in the monthly minimum wage of private sector employees, and to oppose the government’s decision to exclude private sector employees from a scheme that grants a monthly allowance of 5,000 (...)
Weerasumana warns of fresh youth unrest
Former Minister DEW Gunasekera has alleged that the four major millers representing the interests of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) decides the price of rice, according to the Communist Party organ, Aththa (13 Feb).
DEW Gunalasekera last (...)
Laws and regulations governing strikes are not adequate to address the island’s complex realities
Sri Lanka is going through unprecedented trying times. While the Covid-19 pandemic is often blamed for most of the economic and social issues, some issues are the result of the authorities failing (...)
A significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has left factories compelled to delay the timeline in meeting orders.
There are huge absentees of about 15-20 per cent in each and every factory as a result of COVID-19, Free Trade Zone Manufacturers Association Secretary Dhammika Fernando (...)
Amid shortages, families are forced to ration tea, meals
As Sri Lanka’s economic crisis makes global headlines, estate worker B. Sundararajan is watching it manifest in his teacup.
In recent weeks, he has cut his usual, two cups of tea a day to one. “Milk powder is not easily available. When it (...)
Seeking compensation for the environmental damage caused by the fire-stricken vessels has become almost unthinkable due to the procedure adopted in seeking compensation for the environmental damage. It is reported that the manner in which the Sri Lankan officers have prepared the relevant (...)
Having read many opinions over the issue about what should be done with regard to the debt crisis in Sri Lanka, I think even a scary task of summarising the argument of a book of 384 pages in 1,000 to 1,200 words column would be a useful endeavour. In my previous columns, although I referred to (...)
Tomoya Obokata, the visiting UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, said he is alarmed about the micro-financing system in Sri Lanka, where many desperate women resort to sex work or demanding forms of labour, such as domestic work, which (...)
Reviving the pandemic-stricken country often seems like the job of those who have the ability to directly and considerably contribute to the national economy, and almost all programmes aimed at rebuilding the economy focus more on the economic aspects of this matter. But, whether economic (...)
The year of 1977 has become a highly charged symbol for understanding the current crisis. After the transition from a “closed” to an “open” economy, many now claim that Sri Lanka is moving backwards. But we must be clear on what is responsible for the ongoing breakdown. Over the decades since Sri (...)
The Stand Up Movement Lanka organisation has written to the European Union (EU), requesting that it intervene to ensure that the rights of workers in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are addressed prior to deciding on whether or not to extend the grant of the EU’s Generalised Scheme of (...)
Two questions were posed to me referring to the views expressed in my previous columns. A couple of weeks ago, commenting on the economic impasse in Sri Lanka, I wrote: “Sri Lanka needs a totally different perspective in order for it to come out of the extant impasse.
The novel perspective (...)
Among elite policy makers and experts, there is an unshakeable belief that going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide a pathway for Sri Lanka out of crisis. The IMF, however, applies its policy in a fragile global economy: one entirely different from the dawn of the neoliberal (...)
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