-Ananda translated an editorial in දිවයින into English
(Lanka-e-News -02.July.2022, 3.30PM) Steve Hankey, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, is an economist with a special interest in inflation. Hanke's inflation index is now well known around the world.
According to his observation, inflation in Sri Lanka at the moment is 128%. Inflation in Turkey is 118%. Inflation in Lebanon is 103%. Inflation in Venezuela is 98%. The country with the highest inflation in the world is Zimbabwe which is an African country. Its inflation is 377%.
According to the above data, Sri Lanka is in second place in the inflation race. It seems that Sri Lanka will win this championship soon.
The crisis in Sri Lanka has become so severe that foreign manufacturers are not ready to accept Letters of Credit from our country's banks. Therefore, a Letter of Credit issued by a state bank in this country was rejected by a Russian oil tanker on its way to Sri Lanka waters recently.
Although Gora has gotten palsy-walsy with Putin, Russian oil companies do not lend oil. It appears that they do not issue oil even for our Letters of Credit.
Recently, the government stated that it would take time for oil tankers to arrive in Sri Lanka.
Here is the real story. In the modern world there is no such thing as a "ordering of fuel." Hundreds of oil and gas-filled ships are anchored in the edge of the international waters. The thing the buyer has to do is to send a radio message to the ship, bring the ship to its territorial waters and buy oil.
Prior to that, a letter of credit must be sent by the bank to the ship, or to the oil company that owns the ship. Here 'bank' doesn't mean a cooperative lending bank or a rural bank. Letters of credit should be sent from a bank with a very strong financial position.
Unfortunately, due to the inability to repay foreign loans on time, Sri Lanka has been black listed in the international financial industry. Therefore, the Russian oil tanker mentioned earlier requested a guarantee from a foreign bank to guarantee the letter of credit issued by a bank in Sri Lanka.
This foreign bank has the largest headquarters in the Asian region in this country. The same bank had earlier lent US$ 500 million during a government emergency. Today, that bank has also turned its back on us and has said that it cannot guarantee letters of credit issued by a Sri Lankan bank.
Because of this, we no longer have oil. There is no oil so no transportation. As there is no transportation, there is no goods delivery outbound from or inbound to Colombo.
Power and Energy Minister, Kanchana the ‘Babbler II’ has been giving an important speech every three day since one and a half months. That is, the oil will not be distributed to the sheds for the next three days, so do not go to the oil queues. Every day he said so, people lined up in about half of the 4,000 sheds across Sri Lanka. Later they were able to refuel their vehicles with even a little oil and drive home.
Today, he says, the crisis will continue for another year. If so, this government will not last more than two months. The ministerial post of Kanchana the ‘Babbler II’ will also evaporate after 60 days like a little petrol poured into a lid.
The people of this country sent 225 people's representatives to parliament, and made Gora a president with their sixty-nine lakhs votes, not to listen to the politicians' voices of ‘nay’. About 90% of the cabinet ministers appointed this time are talking nonsense.
As soon as Kanchana the “Babbler II” opened the mouth, he says that there was no oil; there is no gas.
Although the Minister of Health says that there are enough medicines and health equipment, the doctors say that there is none. They say all hospitals will have to close from next week.
The Minister of Trade is responsible for the supply of rice. But there is no rice in the market at a reasonable price. No sugar, flour, and other food ingredients are available. Although he did not say ‘no’ directly, given the situation in the country, it appears that the Minister of Trade is quietly saying ‘no’ to the above goods.
What is the benefit of such politicians for this country?
Kanchana the “Babbler II” can be directed to a fuel queue giving him a gallipot. But others cannot do even such bullshit.
We are currently using the last bit of oil on the credit line provided by India. Once it is over, the vehicles have to be kept in homes, and everyone has to walk.
If this work cannot be done properly, this government must resign. Then we will be able to hold a general election and elect another new government like “killing the fly on the wall instead of removing the shit from the room."
For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, she has become a very poor economic orphan. It is the politicians of this country who have brought her to the old folks' home.
After the defeat of World War II, which was started by Hitler, a court martial was established in Nuremberg, Germany, to punish war criminals. We believe that such a court should be established and these criminal politicians should also be punished.
To do any of those things, people have to eat, travel, work and live. What we are going to lose is life. Why political criminals are not punished?
-The editorial titled “බූලියක් අතට දී කාංචන තෙල් පෝලිමකට යවමු”, published in දිවයින on 27 June 2022, translated into English by,
Ananda's collection of Sinhala translations
https://www.lankaenews.com/category/68
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by (2022-07-06 12:15:15)
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