Editorial Desk :
What we need to understand today is that Sri Lanka, a country with a population of 2.25 crore, is currently in the midst of a grave economic crisis. It is running short of foreign currency. As a result, it has been unable to pay for essential imports such as petrol, diesel, food items and other necessary goods. As the country has run out of fuel, big power plants have been closed consequently. And 13 hours of load shedding is happening in a day. The situation is so bad that even street lights have been switched off. It’s also so shocking that surgeries in hospitals have also been stopped. There are long lines for medicines and food items, leading to riots at many places, say international media reports.
In short, Sri Lanka’s pocket is empty. And now it neither has money left to buy crude oil nor is it able to import gas and other things. It is finding itself in such a situation because its foreign reserve has fallen by 70 per cent in the last two years. And at present, it has only 2.31 billion dollars in the form of foreign currency. Deep tax cuts promised by President Rajapaksha during his 2019 election campaign months before the Covid-19 pandemic decimated Sri Lanka’s major tourism sector and also stopped foreign remittances. In addition, Sri Lanka also has a whopping $7 billion in debt due in 2022. And that is where the main problem lays, Sri Lanka’s ever growing debt.
Country’s noted economists have suggested that Bangladesh needs to rethink its investment in the mega projects as many of them will not be beneficial in the long run and might give rise to a situation similar to Sri Lanka. The projects like Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Cox’s-Ramu railway, and Padma Bridge Rail Link
will not be helpful if we fail to get the return on investment within a short period of time. Then many projects would turn into white elephants. A low return rate can create crises similar to Sri Lanka, warned the economists. We need to focus on green growth initiatives as Bangladesh has become the most polluted country in the world.
It is not unknown that many of the mega projects have been undertaken for corruption among power elites to remain in power against the wishes of the people or to meet their immediate needs. Not only money wasted on such useless projects their cost allowed to soar. The banks were freely looted and the money laundered. They became careless with foreign remittances sent by hard working labourers working abroad. No anxiety has been shown for the sufferings of these workers forced to leave the country in search of jobs in humiliating conditions.
Some of the thieves have been identified by the USA and place them under sanction. More money is spent to open a way for lifting the sanctions without caring the court cases pending in some countries against near ones of the government. The coffer is nearly empty and a deep economic crisis is looming large.
The joblessness for unemployed ones reached a boiling point. There is nothing the government can do except inviting a political upheaval. The political ambition to cling to power and not having the courage to change the government believing in the foundation of corruption, the country sees no hope for a peaceful change. Srilankan type explosion is awaiting us for sure.
