Health and Economic Cooperation – Page 5

Factum Perspective: The war in Ukraine – Five months on

Health and Economic Cooperation, International Development, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsAugust 15, 2022807Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Rathindra Kuruwita The war in Ukraine is in its fifth month. After a few initial setbacks, due to underestimations of Ukrainian morale, the accuracy of Western signals intelligence, and Putin’s desire to minimize casualties, it seems that Russia is en route to achieving its objectives. There’s no point discussing why Russia is winning. Russia…

Factum Perspective: Will Sri Lanka slip up over Russian oil?

Health and Economic Cooperation, International Development, Regional GeopoliticsJuly 24, 2022803Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Sri Lanka’s outgoing president* Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in one of his last acts as head of state took a long-delayed step of talking to his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin on the phone, to request desperately needed fuel supplies on credit. According to a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday (6) he…

Factum Perspective: A radical change to fix the economy

Health and Economic CooperationJuly 17, 2022814Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Sunil Abhayawardhane Though Sri Lanka’s economic crisis blew open this year, its origins can be traced back to 1948. It was due more to what was not done than to what was done: put simply, the result of the country’s failure to industrialize, to shift to manufacturing. Orthodox “mainstream” economics Since independence, economic policy…

Factum Perspective: Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the politics of oil

Health and Economic Cooperation, Regional GeopoliticsJune 27, 2022874Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Rathindra Kuruwita On June 19, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera informed the media that giving the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) a monopoly over the oil industry was a mistake, adding that the government was taking steps to allow multinational oil companies to recommence operations in the country. The Minister also…

Factum Perspective: Pakistan’s economic storm and lessons for Sri Lanka

Health and Economic Cooperation, Regional GeopoliticsMay 29, 2022803Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Muhammad Aftab Alam Covid19-related restrictions have devasted the world’s most vulnerable economies. The situation has essentially worsened since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, crushing countries whose Gross Domestic Product depends on exports of single-source goods and services such as tourism, imports of essential goods such as fuel and gas, and sustained inflows…

Factum Perspective: Sri Lanka braces for tougher times as IMF talks begin

Health and Economic CooperationApril 17, 2022677Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Dr M. Ganeshamoorthy Facing its worst crisis since independence, Sri Lanka’s economy has only just begun to experience the repercussions of imprudent policymaking. The government’s announcement of the preemptive unilateral default of $51 billion announced last week has sent the country’s credit ratings catapulting. The closure of the stock exchange for five working…

Factum Perspective: Eurasian integration is a pre-requisite for de-dollarizing Sri Lanka

Health and Economic Cooperation, Regional GeopoliticsApril 10, 2022753Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Shiran Illanperuma The NATO-Russia conflict playing out in Ukraine has brought to the fore long-simmering international tensions. These include the role of the US Dollar as the global reserve currency, and the power of the US government to unilaterally exclude nations that challenge its dominance from international trade, by sanctions and bans from international…

Factum Perspective: India lends bigger hand to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis amid ratings downgrade

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic Cooperation, Regional GeopoliticsJanuary 16, 2022855Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Shihar Aneez and Omar Rajarathnam A day without power cuts is now a breaking news story in Sri Lanka which is facing precarious economic instability. The common citizen is unsure what to make of the financial chaos with its government running low on dollars and money to run the country. Excessive money printing…

Factum Perspective: Lanka-Sino ties and criteria for ‘win-win’ economic diplomacy

Belt Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Policy, Health and Economic CooperationJanuary 1, 2022525Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Shiran Illanperuma China has long emphasized that its outward investment via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is based on the principle of “win-win”. This is to say that Chinese investment is geared towards mutual benefit, and should not veer too far into the extremes of charity on the one hand, and exploitation…

Factum Perspective: Why are foreign exchange reserves important for an economy?

Health and Economic Cooperation, International DevelopmentSeptember 19, 2021991Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Dr R.H. S. Samaratunga Discussions about Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have made headlines in the past few months. What are foreign currency reserves and how does a country benefit from maintaining good forex reserves? Forex reserves areforeign-currency deposits held by country’s central banks and/or monetary authorities. It also includes gold reserves, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and International Monetary…

Factum Perspective: Travel Bubble amid vaccine politics the only way out for tourism

Health and Economic CooperationSeptember 5, 2021548Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Vipula Wanigasekera Sri Lanka tourism revenue has slumped from US $4.4 billion at the peak to almost nothing in 2020. Among the other worst hit foreign exchange earners were foreign remittance, apparel, and tea exports. A senior hotelier representing Sri Lanka’s tourism power brand Jetwing, claims losses of over Rs 2.5 billion in…

Factum Perspective: The Responsibility to Protect during a global pandemic

Health and Economic CooperationAugust 29, 2021846Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Sarasi Paranamanna The contentious principle of Right to Protect (R2P), was utilized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) most sanctimoniously in their intervention in Libya. Whether the principle was used as a result of opportunistic humanitarianism or was in a pragmatic sense is a debate for another day. But in the backdrop…