The truth of lying by top bureaucrats

Colombo (News 1^st): While the general public of the country is suffering on a daily, government ministers make various statements on the country's economy. Are these ministers speaking the truth? Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe noted that the Hambantota port will be leased under a partnership deal. He noted that there won't be any problem to pay for the Hambanthota port in another 6 months. He went onto note that Sri Lanka will receive a payment of US$ 300 million under the first phase. Although the Prime Minister made this statement on December 9th 2017 while making the agreement to hand over the Hambantota port to a Chinese Company what really happened to it? According to a report published in the Sunday Times last weekend, the loan for the Hambanthota port was simply transferred from the account of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to the Treasury. Although the loan obtained for the construction of the Hambantota port was due to be absorbed as shares by a Chinese company named C.M. Port, that had not happened. The government has been continuously paying the loan and interest from 2014. In the end, Sri Lanka lost control over the Hambanthota port and currently receive no assistance in settling the massive loan obtained for its construction. A senior lecturer of the University of Colombo Dr Lalithasiri Gunaruwan had this to say,

“So the point is and there are more crimes behind this? We lost the port for 99 years. For what are we getting US$1,200,300 million dollars? So what do you say about the light rail system, US$ 1800 million.  Now we are getting another loan. A country which sells a port saying that we cannot.”

Meanwhile speaking regarding the debt burden Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera noted that the debt burden during the years from 2005 to 2014 had gone up to 233 % and Mahinda Rajapaksa had left a debt mountain which is even higher than Meeethotumulla garbage dump. He noted that Sri Lanka needs Rs. 3.2 trillion to pay off the foreign debts and from that, they are spending 82% to pay off debts that were taken during Mahinda Rajapaksa's regime. According to the Financial Statement in 2005 the countries total debt was at Rs. 2142 billion. When Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated in 2014 the debt had risen to Rs. 6721 billion. During these 10 years, the country's debt increased by Rs. 4579 billion. After the government changed in 2015 debt has increased to Rs. 7830 Billion and as of December 31st 2018 the countries debt had hit Rs. 11,994 billion. The increase during the past 4 year period was Rs. 4164 billion.

Although the initial loans were paid off, these figures are evidence that more loans had been obtained to pay off these liabilities.

In the end, no matter who governs the country the people are taken down a dark abyss of never-ending debt.

Making people debtors forever .

On April 6th Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at an event had this to say,

“We just laid a foundation stone for a refinery which is basically Indian owned and a cement plant and an LNG plant which are Sri Lankan owned, so we certainly haven't found any difficulties and we find that we've taken it complementary we finally want this to become the hub of the Indian ocean.”

Although preparations are being made to establish Sri Lanka as the hub of the Indian Ocean, is this really happening? Although the government bragged about a massive investment in the form of a vehicle assembly plant by Volkswagen, the company rejected the fact that any such investments were even being contemplated. Another example is a claim that the tallest building in Asia will be constructed in Colombo. Projects to provide WiFi to the entire country via a Google loon project is still only a dream. Recently the government claimed that Oman will be investing in an oil refinery project in Hambantota, this claim was rejected by the Omani Government. It has been revealed that an infamous Indian businessman and politician named S. Jagathrakshagan is the man behind this project. This Indian politician has stated that he has resigned from the company and that his wife has not purchased any shares of the company. Transparency International warned that this sort of investments could increase the risk of money laundering in Sri Lankan from bad to worse. Instead of providing a reliable response to these problems, the government has now resorted to making claims that a second oil refinery will be constructed in Hambanthota. The Company said to be investing US$ 14 billion for the second oil refinery is a company that was included in the Panama papers named Sugih Energy International. Is Sri Lanka going to be transformed into the hub of the Indian Ocean through such projects? Deputy Minister of Power Ajith P. Perera noted that they will work with dedication to provide electricity for 24 hours. He noted that if not for an emergency situation like a Tsunami, electricity will be provided for 24 hours. The public is experiencing first hand the effects of the government to deliver on this promise. The government failed to construct any power plant during the course of the last 4 years. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that all the people who were saying that the rupee is crumbling down should give a headline tonight, that the Sri Lankan rupee is among the 3 best-performing currencies in the world. Professor of Economics at the Colombo University Professor Sirimal Abeyratne speaking regarding this matter noted that this does not mean that the rupee will continue to strengthen against the dollar. He noted that for the rupee to strengthen continuously against the dollar Sri Lankan exports should be developed and there should be development in Foreign Direct Investment. He added that the rupee has temporarily strengthened against the dollar due to a fluctuation in the foreign exchange. Convener of the Voice Against Corruption Wasantha Samarasinghe noted that about 70% of the foreign exchange that comes into the country is through expatriates, which means if the rupee is to further strengthen more people from Sri Lanka should go for employment overseas and send dollars into the country. He noted that nothing like that has happened, instead of that there is a crisis in the industrial sector, a large number of people have lost their jobs. On October 2nd, 2018 Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had this to say, https://youtu.be/mHizLgKSEm4 Despite the Central Bank governor's statement, what is the present situation of our economy? Newspapers reported today the World Bank expects Sri Lanka's growth rate to reduce to 3.5% from the expected growth rate of 4%. The economic growth rate for last year which was forecast at 3.9% ended with a growth rate of 3.2%. Meanwhile, the committee on Public Accounts informed parliament that the figures presented by the government on the growth rate of the economy is contradictory. This is what the Senior Lecturer at the University of Colombo Dr Lalithasiri Gunaruwan had to say regarding the matter,

“We are affected, not only us. If only we are affected, then it is fine because we are responsible. Electing idiots like this to govern us. But the crime is the unborn grandchildren of our generation are suffering. Not only us. Because most of these loans are becoming due for payment maybe in 30, 40 years from now - a generation which is unborn. And they are not even involved with this decision making process.”