‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News 19-25 March 2023
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‘IMF denies influence in postponing SL polls’
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‘Anti-corruption & governance reforms a central pillar of EFF-supported program – IMF’
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‘Sri Lanka becomes first in Asia to have its governance come under IMF scrutiny’
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208 years after the English coup d’état of 1815, and 75 years after 1948 Soulbury independence, Sri Lanka may proudly proclaim itself a fully-fledged US colony. All that’s missing today is the transfer of the boots and military weaponry, including nuclear warships, from Diego Garcia. & Thanjavur. Or Thoothukudi.
On Monday, March 20, on the first day of the Northern spring, the IMF trickled down their measly largesse. On Thursday, March 22, the Central Bank Governor met the ‘heads of media organizations’ at the President’s office.
The IMF says it is providing ‘prioritized & sequenced recommendations.’ This prioritization & sequencing involves manipulation of an ever-willing merchant media, always ready to besiege & beguile the vote banks.
The IMF just provided $15.6billion to the Ukraine for war. The $2.8bn of US IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to Sri Lanka, spread out over 4 years, is also for a kind of war. A discount war. It is to engineer, lubricate and inspire acceptance – of the ‘restructuring’ of the ‘unsustainable debt’ of $84bn. Hoping to slather more debt on, while buttering select fractions of the country to dispossess the majority of the people and their aspirations.
Rather than delving deeper into the roots of our discontent, there was news this week of a combined campaign – under the World Bank (via Transparency International) & IMF’s definition of ‘corruption’ – to hit 2 members of the USA’s evolving manifestation of the latest axis of evil: Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe, as a citadel of African nationalism, and Sri Lanka as a mainspring of Sinhala Buddhism. The English news – has been hiding the massive US-led sanctions against a defiant Zimbabwe, after Africans began to take their land back, and – instead spreads calumny.
Meanwhile, ‘the dreams of those who raised crosses and distributed buriyani and vatalapan at Galle Face have come true’. The country has been graduated ‘from a mixed economy to a fully fledged capitalist economy’ (ee Economists, Dream).
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‘IMF expects the government to phase out import & exchange restrictions’
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We like the great ‘expectations’ part: ‘The IMF expects…’ This entire year, it has been the government that has been ‘expecting’ an IMF package. So now, what does the IMF expect?
The IMF this week ordered the removal of import controls & restrictions on Dollar flows, which then won adoring press releases, kiributh & firecrackers at the UNP headquarters, and the usual suspects: Chambers of Commerce, SL-Japan Business Council, etc. So why is IMF denying their influence in getting the government to keep postponing elections? Who is accusing the IMF of doing so?
Economists are now engulfing media platforms offering diagnoses and prognoses: ‘Structural economic reforms don’t always require government spending’, claims Shanta Devarajan, a US agent involved in the IMF-ordered ‘restructuring’ game. Devarajan however betrays epistemological strategy when he laments the government’s political inability to suppress cultivation of paddy. They wish to hobble further the Paddy Lands Act, which ordains that smallholders grow rice. The World Bank agenda (Devarajan is a WB stipendiary) prioritizes the pushing of cash crops and forcefeeding us subsidized US wheat (see ee Agriculture, Attack on Rice Production & Paddy Lands Act).
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‘Progressive US$3billion SL program will protect poorest’ – IMF
The IMF announcement on imports in & Dollar flows out, was accompanied by the US envoy Santa Chung distributing ‘36,000 tons of Triple Super Phosphate’, plus ‘fortified rice’ and ‘fortified vegetable oil’, plus ‘protein supplements using yellow split peas & Alaskan pink salmon’ to 95,000 children!
Industrialization based on rhythms and processes of rice production is key to Sri Lanka’s advance. So who are the US & IMF fooling? And why is Envoy Chung in such a frenzy? She is also diverting from the activities of her whiter compatriots who are busy infiltrating key sectors of the country & its economy. We cannot expect the IMF to shed its wrappings and tell us their ‘prioritized & sequenced’ game plan to corrupt (sorry, privatize) public officials even further (under the guise of anti-corruption of course):
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‘In June 1954 journalist Rhoda de Silva (later deported from Sri Lanka) wrote in Les Temps Moderne, the journal started by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, about the extent of US ‘penetration’ in Sri Lanka effected under ‘diverse forms of camouflage’. De Silva wrote of Hollywood movies being filmed at strategic locations in Lanka; of the first Central Bank governor (John Exter) being a US citizen; and of other US nationals embedded in commercial, insurance and other companies here.’
‘The US government was putting ‘flagrant pressure’ on the SL government to break the Rice-Rubber agreement with China.’ She also pointed to ‘certain of the US methods of intervention that are less apparent’:
‘We wanted to discover to the slightest detail by precisely which methods the US controls the largest publishing house [Wijewardene-family-controlled Lakehouse] in Ceylon. We wanted to discover how they go about getting the US propagandists there to stir up so well the antagonism between the 2 different language groups… It would interest the Ceylonese people to learn for precisely what reasons the US ambassador and all his personnel frequent the Maldive Islands.’ (International McCarthyism: the Case of Rhoda Miller de Silva, Judy Pasqualge, ee 2 May 2020)’
• Having gone from the ‘aragalaya’ – demanding the government go to the IMF – the cry now is to how the new school principal, or viceroy, will have to impart timely discipline. How will it avoid the 16 previous IMF failures?
And what is different now from 1950 when the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was first set up by the USA? The goal then as now, was and is, to prevent industrialization in the colonies. Industrialization has always had to be held back by any means, and enable the grab of natural resources:
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‘In the USA, consumption per head of the critical raw materials
is 20 times that in the underdeveloped countries’
(see ee Focus, SBD de Silva, Export-Oriented Industrialization & the Free Trade Zone)
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• Imperialist powers have intermittently imposed plans & laws to ensure & extend their monopoly over industrialization:
Indian-made iron was as good as England’s, but a 19th century plan to buy local iron for a local project in India was shelved due to opposition by English manufacturers. So much for ‘free trade’. The Economist magazine in 1882 shuddered, accusing the Indian government of ‘travelling beyond its province… and where are schemes of this kind to end?’ (ee Random Notes)
England’s Iron Act of 1750 was just one of the English Trade & Navigation acts to hinder settler colonial manufacturing that competed with England’s home industry, and restricted the iron industry in their American colonies to the supply of raw metals.
200 years later, the USA in 1944 proposed the Morgenthau Plan to weaken Germany and Japan following World War II, eliminating its arms industry, and also removing and destroying other key industries, they deemed key to military power. This included the removal or destruction of industrial plants and equipment in that country (see ee Industry, Morgenthau Plan).
The US wars (cold & hot) on the USSR & China, forced the US to abandon the Morgenthau Plan. This plan was however exported to the rest of the world. To Africa, in particular, says Zimbabwean political analyst Rutendo Matinyarare. He examines the current sabotage of Eskom, South Africa’s electricity company, pointing to the Anglo-American Corporation’s destruction of Zimbabwe’s Ziscosteel, the southern hemisphere’s largest steel plant. Ziscosteel was sabotaged by the ‘monopoly makers’: companies like Anglo American, ISCO of South Africa, Lancashire Steel, and Voestalpine, which were manufacturing the machines that were used in smelting iron & steel in Zimbabwe. These are acts of war to undermine Black people, to maintain the white monopoly over industrialization. ee continues its investigation into the industrialization and electrification of South Africa. Reminding readers that, until 20 years ago, whites prevented 70% of South Africans from obtaining electricity…
Who would be the counterparts of Anglo American plc in Sri Lanka? Iron & steel production has been all but abolished in Sri Lanka. (Some may object & point to a few relatively isolated workshops; however, industrialization has to be examined in relation to transforming the economy.)
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• Africa is just across the waters from us, and yet we hear little about their real story. We would think, sharing maybe even 3 colonial languages (Portuguese, Dutch & English), we would know more. In fact, we know less. Our English Department is of no help. They are still following England’s Heinemann’s versions of African literature: Things Fall Apart, etc.
We are supposed to follow the white fashions in culture and foreign policy, and thus must follow too, the white pandemonium. We see Somalia and Zimbabwe increasingly creeping into the synonym section under permanent dysfunction. And yet, there are major features we have shared, and not just after colonial plunder (see, ee Random Notes, Djibouti).
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• A strange coincidence. ee continues its focus on the enormous power that multinational companies (MNCs) wield in determining industrial policy, and overall economic policy. Last week, ee began a series on Southern Africa’s industrialization, delving into DJ ‘Laxapana’ Wimalasurendra’s link to a Boer prisoner & engineer, and Cecil Rhodes’ Victoria Falls fraud (ee 18 March 2023). This trail led us to Niagara Falls, Westingthouse and that famed 1893 Chicago World Exhibition (that Anagarika Dharmapala went to), also recalling the undermining of Wimalasurendra’s hydroelectric scheme by Pearson, Bousteads and the Shell Oil Co, etc. (also see ee Building Blocks). This week’s ee also looks at the MNCs behind the sabotage of industrialization in Africa: One in particular, Anglo American plc has enormous power in Africa, and recalls the power of MNCs such as Unilever plc in Sri Lanka. These multinational companies run the politicians and the media.
Two or 3 news items on Africa struck ee‘s eye this week. Whenever Africa appears in the English newspapers in Sri Lanka, coverage strangely resembles the ways in which Sinhala villagers are represented. It’s usually caricature. And true to form there was this week’s tabloid-style sensationalism about: ‘A Zimbabwe preacher with links to a controversial Sri Lankan ‘prophet’…accused of gold-smuggling’. This is from ‘an undercover operation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit), which is targeting Zimbabwe’s President and his family’. ‘Al Jazeera reporters, posing as Chinese nationals who were looking to launder large sums of money, were offered several ways to remove all stains of corruption from their dirty cash.’ The main Al-J informant is ‘Karen Greenaway, a former US FBI investigator who tracks international money laundering schemes.’ Apparently, the US and EU sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe ‘make it difficult for the government to export gold because of the additional scrutiny on officials in power’. (see ee Sovereignty, Zimbabwe preacher)
So why are we being told about this issue? On the face of it: the story splashes the photograph of Mahinda Rajapakse, with the Zim preacher (circled in red). Also, there is the admirable US (IMF) zeal to root out ‘corruption’. This ee Focus examines the differences between how sanctions are applied to Black countries and white-ruled countries, and, in the end, what real corruption and criminality is all about:
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Rhodesia was a white English settler state,
set up by the British South Africa Company (BSAC),
and imposed over and stolen from the people of MaDzimbabwe since at least 1890.
Under siege, within & without, the white settlers proclaimed
a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from England in 1965
over division and investment of profits.
White Rhodesia was then subject to UN-led sanctions.
This essay below divulges how these sanctions were ‘cleverly’ undermined by white governments, led by the USA, and provides insights into the undermining of countries’ economies.
After the African war of liberation there was suspended,
the English as usual reneged on their promises,
and when the country’s African leadership started to reclaim the land,
the English turned Zimbabwe into a synonym for ‘failed state’,
and its leadership, particularly Robert Mugabe as synonym for ‘Black dictator’.
These stories as with all widely disseminated English stories turn out to be false as usual.
The other Africa-related item was the Wijeya Group Daily FT’s extended interview with one ‘consultant’ Ronnie Peiris, who is set to hold forth on 24 April in Colombo on ‘Integrated Performance Management’ needed to achieve at least 75% of the IMF’s plans. His bio: ‘Group Finance Director, John Keells Holdings, Managing Director (before the Finance Director), Anglo American Corporation (Central Africa), Planning Manager at Lever Brothers (Ceylon), Board Member in large corporations’. How’s that!? Anglo-American, Unilever & Keells! Hallelujah!
Not sure if this is the same Ronnie Peiris, the ‘collector’ and ‘bagman’ for Chandrika Bandaranaike, and of Water’s Edge fame. But Peiris is now laying down the latest multinational capitalist gospel truth of tinsel-thin social responsibility, diversity, inclusiveness & equality (DIE!) aka Neo-Woke (weaponized astro-turf posing as grassroots), and singing from the MNC choir sheet about ‘sharing’ (no mention of shareholders) and of ‘stakeholders’, including pliant unions – ‘through a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches’.
The hymn Peiris is singing goes: ‘IMF’s got you by the you-know-what but that’s-not-enough…’ This current hymn amends the pure keenness of the earlier hymn, which was ‘Go to the IMF, you Stupid.’ There’s also other hymns sung by this ‘stupid’ choir: ‘Show us Everything O Naked Lord’ & ‘Blessed are the Poor’. This is for the IMF to act a little more transparent and be kind to the ‘poor’, which it uses as a ‘surplus’ army to discipline the power of the working class (see ee Workers, Integrated Performance Management).
Last ee pointed to the farce of India’s Mahindra claiming ‘assembly’ as manufacture. Also noting the so-called manufacture of Japan’s Senaro motorcycles, and their adoption as the mode of travel by the SL President’s pettier officials. This week we are told: ‘Sri Lanka’s Senaro Motors to export locally assembled motorbikes to Kenya’. So what makes ‘Senaro Motor Corporation, a motorcycle manufacturing company in Sri Lanka’?
‘Around a third of the spare parts used in the motorbikes are manufactured in the firm’s assembly factory in Yakkala, a suburb of capital Colombo’. Which parts we are not told. Senaro ‘is able to import raw materials for spare parts as it has a special certification from the Ministry of Industries… When the bikes are exported, they will be labeled as Made in Sri Lanka and that is a proud moment for us!’ Proud, indeed! Sri Lanka’s good name (at least, among Africans) is being used by Japanese MNCs as a means to avoid export quotas…
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‘The continuing foreign exchange crisis is broadly attributed to flawed policies,
such as tax cuts, debt monetization, banning fertilizer & agrochemical imports,
real appreciation of the exchange rate, etc. However, the issues at hand can be also
characterized as a liquidity trap in the foreign exchange market,
enforced by the economic structure and exploitative market structure,
in the import & export sector of the economy, in the long run.’
(see last ee, All praise for Lanka’s saviours!)
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• Which brings us back to the slobbering silence of the mutton-eaters: earlier this month (ee 04 March 2023) we wondered about the hush hush of the League of Multinational Corporations (LMNC) in Sri Lanka, formed in 2018 by 7 MNCs: Unilever, Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC, ie, British American Tobacco), Baur & Co, Heineken, HSBC, Indian Oil Co, and Mastercard.
These powerful MNCs, with war chests bigger than most countries’ budgets, demanded of Sri Lanka: ‘Everything needs to be fixed in the context of international standards, in terms of human rights & labor laws too.’ And ‘fixing’, as in fraud, is what they do best!
So how does the IMF ‘agreement’ this week, fulfil their demands? Unilever plc is Sri Lanka’s Anglo American plc. Let’s nominate Unilever as the mahamolakaru of Sri Lanka, behind the long-term terrorism perpetrated on the country.
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• Anglo American plc has its origins in the British South Africa Co (BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes. Settler states were founded by companies led by genocidaires, called all kinds of fancy names – privateer, buccaneer, soldier of fortune – romanticized by the arts. The Virginia Company (US) of De La Warre. The Hudson Bay Co (Canada). The West India Company (Caribbean)’s Henry Morgan. The East India Company (England) of Robert Clive.
Nowadays, these settler units are considered creatures of the oil and mining conglomerates run by an Anglo-American Rothschild-Rockefeller cabal: BHP (Australia), Power Corporation (Canada), Anglo-American (South Africa). In Sri Lanka, Lipton’s Tea Garden has been transformed into Unilever’s Fair&Lovely…
With all its make-up – one of the largest chemical importers into the country – Unilever slinks in the shadows of media-smoke & mirrors.
Russia’s brave decision to confront NATO, to ‘denazify’ and disarm the US arms industry’s proxies in the Ukraine, will eventually require the formation of a broader anti-imperialist alliance, which this week’s historic visit by China’s leader Xi Jinping surely signifies. There is a clear link between the Nazism & Fascism of Europe, and the slave & colonial relations of the last 500 years. London & Washington have been put on notice…
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Contents:
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A1. Reader Comments –
Comrades & Devils • Yankee Drug Wars • Smug Libbas • Boer Prisoners • Bribing ILO • Govt accounts in Private Banks • US in Trinco • NATO’s Gender Agenda
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A2. Quotes of the Week
• Cricket & Village • Old Boy O Boy • Army Fishing • IMF Transparency Opaque • Faking China Debt Trap • China asks IMF to State Stats • Multilaterals of Venice • Moragoda Keells Over • India’s White Sahib Complex • Oil Companies Kidnapped Iran in 1953 • English supply Uranium Weapons • Merkel’s Lesbianism • Turn Banks into Public Service • Big Banks’ Small Loans • Money for Production • US Imperialism & Colonies
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A3. Random Notes –
• US Embassy’s World & Sunday Times • Used-Japanese German Crane in Mannar • US Floods Chemical Fertilizers • Alaska Salmon USAid for Schoolkids • English strangling of Indian textile industry • Mandela’s Oppenheimer Mansion • Stealing African Steel • Djibouti Under US Stress
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B. ee Focus
B1. The Latest on the IMF & Debt Restructuring – Jayampathy Molligoda
B2. White Sanctions, Black Sanctions: Zimbabwe & Rhodesia – Rutendo Bereza Matinyarare
B3. Creation of a Monopoly: Victoria Falls & Transvaal Power Company – Renfrew Christie
B4. Export-oriented Industrialization & the Free Trade Zone (Part 3) – SBD de Silva
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C. Building Blocks
• Guaranteed Rice Price for Industrialization • Creation of a Home Market for Industry • Japan’s Limits on Industrial Exports • Smallholding & Science • Extraordinary Culture of Machine Tools • Making Central Banks Independent of the People? • On State-owned Enterprises & Privatization • The English Sabotage of Electrification in Sri Lanka
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D. News Index
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A1. Reader Comments
• ee thanks Readers who send articles of interest. Please excerpt or summarize what is important about any news sent, or your comments, and place any e-link at the end. Email: econenews@gmail.com
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• ‘Re: ‘Whether our comrades, too, had done a deal with the real devils in Washington?’ What?!?! Oh dear god! & who could have furnished so many foot soldiers to cause so much spontaneous havoc across the country? Didn’t ee say it was the drug mafia?’
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• ‘Yeah the Yanks are involved… war on drugs like the war on terror where they support both terrorists and the States fighting them… in this case the Drug Lords are supported/trained by the Yanks?’
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• ‘In September 1900 officers [English planters] who returned from South Africa were felicitated in Nuwara Eliya. Further, the occupation of Pretoria by the English Army under Lord Roberts was celebrated in Kandy on June 20, with a thanksgiving service, parade, a perahera with 38 elephants and fireworks, and illuminations with a Ball at Town Hall, it was the first time electric lights were used in Kandy.
This is an extract from the Administrative Report for Uva Province by its Government Agent VD Vigors, in 1900: ‘Early in May it was decided to commence the work of ‘erecting’ a camp at Diyatalawa for Boer prisoners of war. While describing the problems encountered, Vigors says, by August, ‘Room was available for 2,500 prisoners and guard of 1,000 men.’ Water, electric lights, firewood, wire shoots provided; an aerial tramway was at work; whole machinery of the Commissariat and management of the Camp was in working order; a further extension of the Camp became of utmost necessary and was finished by the end of the year; by the end of the year nearly 5,000 PoWs were under detention; a few attempts at escape were made; several have got out of the enclosure.
Vigors gives a detailed account of the officers managing the Camp (with their names), their Regiments and the facilities provided to the prisoners, diet, exercise, medical care, etc. Sheer English hypocrisy and duality.’
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• ‘Why did the New York Times wait for now, 3 months after the World Cup, to report that Qatar bribed the UN’s ILO not to criticize its labor conditions and laws?’
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• ‘ee should’ve explained that the decision to allow government bodies to open accounts and deposit money in private banks involved a transfer of public money into private hands.’
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• ‘With all the backdoor dealings and wheelings going on with born-again neoliberal Julie Chung, the worst Yankee ambassador ever!! Although the bar tends to be very low in that regard!! Considering that almost all the local political parties are in her deep pockets, Trincomalee deepwater port is obviously in their sight and grasp…’
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• ‘Some authors try to explain the massive increase in claims of gender dysphoria in recent years in NATO countries to media-induced mass psychology. Certainly the ‘crowd’ is one way to look at it. But the concept is insufficient if it doesn’t discuss who benefits – how useful this phenomenon is, in other words, and why the state, in certain ‘liberal’ countries, would want to advance and promote these claims, which have the effect of making a lot of money for powerful sectors of the capitalist economy, which promote gender stereotypes, and which uses ‘identity’ to (in the words of Samir Amin) ‘transfer struggles from real social contradictions to the world of the so-called cultural imagination, which is transhistorical and absolute’. The Communist Party of England maintains that the problem is the conflation of sex and gender. The scandal at this clinic justifies the action of JK Rowling in setting up a shelter that excludes self-identified trans women. That’s my take in a nutshell.’
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A2. Quotes of the Week_
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• ‘They belong to the category of folk that generally uses public transport for travel, speak in the vernacular languages, read mainly indigenous i.e., Sinhala, language newspapers, interact humbly with others, and more importantly, are rooted in patriotism and undivided loyalty to their country.’ – ee Workers, Dasis Manchanayake – Royal College’s new superstar
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• ‘If you ask someone in the West where they studied, they will say the name of the university, but if you ask them in Sri Lanka, they will say the name of the school ’ – Lalith Athulathmudali
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• ‘After a shooting incident involving security forces and protesters in January 1966… in parliament, NM Perera asked rhetorically, whether the government thought it had the army to shoot people. Pat he got the answer from the then-Minister of State, JR Jayewardene, ‘What else, for fishing?’ – ee Economists,Global Bank Failures, French Protests, & Sri Lanka’s Massive Contraction
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• ‘I can understand as a former banker that nobody should reveal market information. But I do not agree with this clause which says they must not disclose the authorities’ policy intention. I think the IMF needs to look at its own Transparency policy. Some of these global institutions talk to countries like Sri Lanka about transparency. Why not your policy intention? What was the secrecy about your policy intention…? Sri Lanka, burdened with debt and bankrupt without the ability to repay them, has just taken another loan’ – ee Economy, Eran claims Govt increased taxes before IMF agreement
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• ‘Sri Lanka’s total external debt exposure is not held mainly by China. China holds less than 15% of Sri Lanka’s total external debt. Almost 50% is held by international financial markets and sovereign bonds. Sri Lanka’s debt to China has been coming in around 2% for the last 5-6 years, whereas ISBs are costing 6.29% on a weighted average to be exact after the end of 2017. China’s debt has longer cycles of about 19 years on average, whereas ISBs have a cycle of 7 years, which makes Chinese debt cheaper, easier to recycle, and not a large quantum of our total debt. Sri Lanka has a debt problem – the problem has to do with the cost of debt, not just the quantity of debt, but neither in quantity or in cost can China be considered to be the biggest problem.’ – Nishan de Mel, Verite (see ee Economists, Chinese debt is not Sri Lanka’s biggest problem)
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• ‘They tell Sri Lankan people, ‘Now you have to tighten your belt’, when their belts have already been tightened, when they know the elites are getting away with it, with illicit financial flows continuing. There’s no wealth tax. Export receipts are still not being repatriated, this is well known: Trade unions, social movements & people are talking about it. That is a recipe for massive unrest, so it will unleash all kinds of political and social turmoil if you try to implement this kind of package, because it cannot generate growth. It can only generate greater suffering, and you cannot tell people, ‘You have to keep suffering because at some point down the road, foreign investors will suddenly love you’, because it doesn’t generate growth, and it’s not going to attract the foreign private investment that is expected. What you are going to get is people coming & buying up your companies at bargain basement prices, firesales of domestic assets. That’s not what you want. You want productive assets being generated. Think what you do when you raise electricity prices, raise the costs of small & medium businesses. They are the ones who are doing your exporting, their costs go up, and the only way you can counter that is further devaluation, which is going to be a market-determined exchange rate, which will generate further cost inflation. This is a strategy that makes absolutely no macroeconomic sense…
China’s approach to this, in the debtor group that has been discussing this, makes a lot of sense: China is telling the IMF, ‘We do not trust your debt sustainability estimates because you are saying you are going to generate a primary budget surplus by 2025, that, without dramatic restructuring and reduction of the entire debt, you can somehow put Sri Lanka on a sustainable-debt path by imposing this kind of austerity and raising prices upon the people. We don’t believe you, we don’t think it’s feasible or sustainable, so please tell us exactly how you’ve arrived at this, please tell us, what kind of crazy assumptions you are making, to think that this is viable?’ I think that is a reasonable response.’ – Jayati Ghosh (ee Economists, IMF Package is Not the Only Solution)
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• ‘Over 80% of the sovereign debt of 121 developing countries comes from multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors, making them the main lenders who bring repayment pressures to developing countries… African governments owe three times more debt to Western banks, asset managers and oil traders than to China, and are charged double the interest’ – ee Economy, China calls on Western lenders to ease debt pressure on developing countries
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• Moragoda Keells over – [now Envoy] ‘Moragoda’s bother-in-law, Krishan Balendran, is the current Chairperson of John Keells Holdings. He joined JKH in 2002. In Sep 2021, when Moragoda was in Delhi, a controversial agreement was signed between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), Adani Group and John Keells Holdings to jointly develop the Colombo West International Container Terminal (CWICT) of the Port of Colombo (POC)’ – ee Security, Intoning Banal Platitudes Chung Lampoons Sri Lanka’s Judiciary
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• ‘For India’s bipartisan ruling elite weaned on ‘Washington consensus’, challenging times lie ahead. The US and its allies face dwindling resources to preserve their WWII privileges, which will make them increasingly desperate. What if, in rage, they grab the vast resources of weaker opponents – such as Iran? Fundamentally, the West’s calculus is to defeat Russia & China, and regain control of everyone else.’ – MK Bhadrakumar (ee Sovereignty, We are witnessing the birth pangs of a new world)
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• ‘After the ouster of Premier Mosaddegh, the operations of the Iranian oil industry was divided up as follows – 40% to the USA, 40% for the English, 14% for the Netherlands and 6% for the French.’ – ee Sovereignty, 1953 ouster of PM Mosaddegh of Iran
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• ‘Question: There is news that English Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Goldie has already announced they will supply Ukraine with depleted uranium weapons.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: ‘I haven’t heard that. But I wouldn’t be surprised. They have already lost their bearings in terms of their actions and how they undermine strategic stability around the world. These people (primarily the Anglo-Saxons) drag the rest of the “collective West” with them. They have long imagined themselves to be hegemons. They want to preserve this hegemony with all their might. If this is true, then they are ready to take not just risks, but violations of international & humanitarian law, as was the case in 1999 in Yugoslavia. And on many other things that they allowed themselves, including war crimes & against humanity.
They have crushed this organization, the International Criminal Court (which is headed by another Anglo-Saxon like G Cleverly), and supplied it with information, which is then used to ‘undermine’ all conceivable norms of international law. I wouldn’t be surprised by this development if it actually happens. But there’s no doubt it’s going to end badly for them…’
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• ‘From the perspective of today’s number one international issue, the war in Ukraine and how the Minsk Accords were betrayed precisely by its signatories Merkel & Hollande, it bears mention that the ‘dynamic’ [Angela] Merkel was herself subject to personal control from Washington. There was the possibility of blackmailing her over indiscretions in her personal telephone conversations that the CIA was listening to, and in particular over her sexual orientation, about which there was titillating speculation at the time.’ – ee Sovereignty, Emmanuel Macron: the weakling autocrat brought to power by US meddling
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• ‘What is never put forward is to turn modern banking into a public service just like health, education, transport etc. If banks were a public service, they could hold the deposits of households and companies and then lend them out for investment in industry & services or even to the government.’ – Michael Roberts, ee Economists, Bank busts & regulation
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• ‘Regional banks have done a larger share of US lending to ‘Main Street’ in recent decades. Banks with less than $250bn in assets make about 80% commercial real-estate loans, according to economists at Goldman Sachs, along with 60% of residential real-estate loans and half of commercial & industrial loans. If they come under stress, they won’t lend so much and the US economy will grow more slowly than previously thought.’
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• ‘Capitalism is a money or monetary economy. Under capitalism, production is not for direct consumption at the point of use. Production of commodities is for sale on a market to be exchanged for money. And money is necessary to purchase commodities. But money & commodities are not the same thing, so the circulation of money & commodities is inherently subject to breakdown. It is a fallacy (contrary to Say’s Law) that the production of commodities guarantees equal demand for their purchase. At any time, the holders of cash may decide not to purchase commodities at going prices and instead ‘hoard’ the cash. Then those selling commodities must cut prices or even go bust: ‘with the commodity splitting into commodity & money, and the value of a commodity becoming independent in the form of money, the direct exchange of products divides into the processes of sale and purchase, which are internally mutually dependent and externally mutually independent. Here is posited, at the same time, the most general and most abstract possibility of crisis’. Many things can trigger this breakdown in the exchange of money & commodities, or money for financial assets like bonds or stocks (‘fictitious capital’, Marx called it). And it can happen suddenly.’ – ee Economists, Bank busts & regulation
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• ‘The challenge was to replace the fragmented capitalism of empires, colonies & protectionism with a world of sovereign states whose economies would be internationally open and linked by private corporations acting through markets. The flow of natural resources, goods & capital would be determined not by military strength or administrative barriers, but by free trade, free capital flows, and competitiveness (with US military power in reserve for dealing with countries wavering in their acceptance of this new order).’ – ee Workers, Beyond Fatalism: Renewing Working-Class Politics
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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’)_
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A rather forgettable news column rang alarm bells. Tucked away in the Sunday Times, at the very bottom segment of its ST2 supplement, its very last link, was a Project Syndicate article, clumsily headlined ‘How China lost its clout on Asia’ by Yoon Young-kwan, ‘Exclusive to the Sunday Times, SL’, datelined to ‘New Delhi’.
ee (11 March 2023) has recorded before that Project Syndicate is a US CIA outfit. At least one Syndicate article per week in the Wijeya Group media network appears to be a requirement by the US embassy’s news supply section. Yoon Young-kwan turns out to be ‘a former minister of foreign affairs’ of US-occupied Korea, where he is a’ Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Seoul National University’.
What is hilarious is that this article appears at the end of a week that saw some of the most important events in recent world history, signaled in February, when China publicly exposed US hegemony, launched a ‘global security initiative’, and offered a peace plan for Ukraine.
On March 10 China mediated an agreement between Saudi Arabia & Iran. On March 15 Moscow invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who then went to the UAE for talks. Iran & Iraq signed a security cooperation agreement to stop CIA-sponsored terror against Iran. King Salman of Saudi Arabia invited the Iran President to visit Riyadh. After at least 30 years of US-sponsored mass murder (20 years ago it illegally invaded Iraq) – China, ‘by peaceful means, changed the balance… within just one month’ .
China’s President Xi went to Moscow to meet Russia’s President Putin. An article by Putin was published in the People’s Daily, while Russian media published a signed article by Xi. In the Ukraine, the US has openly come out against a ceasefire and peace talks, and is actively sabotaging the Chinese peace plan in Europe, and the Saudi-Iranian deal, while creating anarchy in Afghanistan (MoonOfAlabama).
On the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq (March 20) and 12th anniversary of the invasion of Libya (March 19), the US has their puppy dogs at the International Criminal Court (who the US will not submit to, and even vows to attack if they dare name a US war criminal) declare Russian President a ‘war criminal’.
So what ‘Asia’ then is this slavish US-Korean diplomat referring to, and what ‘clout’? The US media and education system promotes within its borders a funny definition of ‘Asia’ and ‘Asian’, which usually refers to East Asia aka the ‘Orient’. Such ignorance is reflected by this ‘former minister of foreign affairs’ who no doubt spends too much time in the USA or their Anglosphere. He reduces over 500 years of colonial invasion, claiming, ‘Since the dawn of international politics, smaller states have faced the formidable challenge of navigating great-power rivalries.’ At the same time, his country is not navigating anything but occupied by US troops, just as Japan and Taiwan are. Clout indeed. (ee Sovereignty, How China lost its clout on Asia)
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• ‘A German-built Liebherr brand crane used in Japan was unloaded at Hambantota International Port. With a 750-ton lifting capacity, it will be first used for the Hiruras Wind Power Project in Mannar, and then for ‘other civil projects’. The crawler crane made up of 1,000 tons of components was unloaded by HIP within a day, and transferred to 42 trucks which took the equipment by road in 2 days to the project site in Mannar for assembling. ‘There are only a few cranes of such capacity in Japan, and only 3 available in the whole of South Asia,’ says Keerthi Manthrirathna, Proprietor of Rainbow Lanka, the largest crane rental company in Sri Lanka.
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• Rubber-Rice Indeed! This week, the USAID said it funded the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) to procure 36,000 tons of Triple Super Phosphate for the Ministry of Agriculture to distribute to ‘over 1 million paddy farmers across Sri Lanka’. The UN or Transparency International should tell us from exactly where this fertilizer was sourced. Was it Eppawela or Tennessee? Will it gently flow into Mahaveli and into the ocean to rock the US 5th fleet, or just block the kidneys?
USAID Mission Director Gabriel Grau, US envoy Julie Chung, FAO Representative Vimlendra Sharan took photo opportunities with the Secretary of the Sri Lanka National Farmers Federation Karunadasa Palliyage ‘representing paddy farmers’, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Gunadasa Samarasinghe, Commissioner-General of the Dept of Agrarian Development AHML Abeyrathna, Chairman, Ceylon Fertilizer Co Major General WLPW Perera, Chairman, Colombo Commercial Fertilizers Jagath Perera, State Minister of Agriculture Mohan Priyadarshana de Silva, Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera…
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• Attention! Holy Jumping Salmon! Fortified (with what?) rice & vegetable oil! And educated peas! – ‘770 metric tons of fortified rice & 100MT of fortified vegetable oil were poured out by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)’s ‘McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program.’ Since 2021 USDA food aid has provided protein supplements using yellow split peas &Alaskan pink salmon to over 95,000 children in 835 primary schools distributed over 7 districts (Nuwaraeliya, Badulla, Monaragala, Ratnapura, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee). Envoy Chung visited the Guruaragama Primary School to observe a US-funded school feeding program and US-constructed latrines at the school. Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha, Sabaragamuwa Province Governor Tikiri Kobbakaduwa, and USDA/FAS Senior Regional Agricultural Attaché Mariano J Beillard joined Ambassador Chung.
In partnership with Save the Children and alongside the Sri Lankan government & local communities, USDA/ FAS is implementing the Promoting Autonomy, Literacy & Attentiveness through Market Alliances project in Sri Lanka.’ – ee Agriculture, US Envoy Chung announces new USDA Food Aid
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• ‘The [English] strangling of the Indian textile industry by tariff measures was regarded as an act of patriotism. ‘We are often told’, explained Sir John Strachey (member of council of the secretary of state for India), ‘it is the duty of the government of India to think of Indian interests alone, and if the interests of Manchester suffer it is no affair of ours. For my part, I utterly repudiate such doctrines… The interests of Manchester at which foolish people sneer, are the interests not only of the great and intelligent people, engaged directly in the trade of cotton, but of millions of Englishmen.’ (quoted in Lady Betty Balfour, History of Lord Lytton’s Indian Administration, 1876-80, 1899)
Similar obstacles confronted the growth of the indigenous iron & steel industry in India. A ready domestic market existed for steel & wrought iron; imports in 1880-1 were valued at £3.3mn (a third by government). Iron ore of suitable quality was available close to coal deposits or to forests which could provide charcoal. The Finance Dept of the government of India in 1882 resolved, ‘no reasonable doubt can be entertained [about] the capabilities of the Indian iron measures to fulfil all that is required of them.’ (‘It may be accepted as proved that India possesses the means of supplying all her wants in respect of cast iron, wrought iron, & steel and that such supply could be produced remuneratively on a strictly commercial basis’ (Gazette of India, 5 Aug 1882, quoted in RS Rungta, ‘Rise of Business Corporations in India’, 1970).
Accordingly, the government under Lord Rippon held out a 10-year guarantee to purchase locally made steel, at a price equal to the landed cost of imports. The local Economist correspondent himself wrote in favor of the subject. When the plans for an iron & steel project were becoming a reality, public opinion in England was roused. Catching up with events, The Economist accused the Indian government of ‘travelling beyond its province’, and in the next issue returned to the fray more fiercely (11 Nov 1882, quoted in Rungta, ibid).
‘A great zeal for the encouragement of private enterprise seems to have taken possession of them, and to be fast hurrying them on to very slippery ground… State patronage [is] being employed as a cork jacket to float over the difficulties attending their initiation, enterprises which promise to promote native industries. And where are schemes of this kind to end? Of course, no such policy should be tolerated. The Home government may be trusted not to permit the interest of India and of this country to be imperiled.’
The Indian government abandoned its plans for the project when Secretary of State Lord Hartington expressed ‘serious objections’. As Dr Rungta notes, the development of this industry was thus held back nearly 3 decades. Further research is likely to yield fresh evidence of impediments placed on industrialization in the colonies.’ (excerpts from SBD de Silva, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, 1982)
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• ‘The Oppenheimers’ Anglo American plc, a colonial charter company, is the leading cartel in Africa, ahead of Glencore & the 7 Sisters of Oil. They control over 60% of South Africa’s economy, with huge controlling interests in almost every economic sector from mining, banking, insurance, weapons manufacturing, teargas production, agriculture, chemicals, media, & energy. They captured the South African state on behalf of the Rothschild–Rockefeller combine during the time of Cecil Rhodes.
The 1986 peace talks in South Africa were initiated by the Oppenheimers, who instructed the Broederbond (the Brotherhood – their Afrikaner underlings), to release Mandela once they had satisfied themselves that the ANC would toe the line… On his release, Mandela lived in an Oppenheimer mansion and then moved to Douw Stein’s house, which was later turned into a boutique hotel to capitalize on Mandela’s association. Mandela’s cabinet was handpicked by the same Oppenheimer family…
Anglo American was also the biggest investor in Zimbabwe, controlling over 30% of Zimbabwe’s private sector before the economy was transformed. Then, they had interests in ZISCO Steel, Delta, Bindura Nickel, Barclays Bank, Blue Ribbon, National Foods, Hwange Colliery, Haggie Randi, Mazowe Estates, Spring Master, Border Timbers Hippo Valley, RAL Holdings, Zimbabwe Alloys, and many others, and may be behind Innscor, which fortuitously bought most of Anglo’s food-related businesses.
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Media exposures of cartels leave out well-known cartels
that control meat, food, sugar, cement, ethanol, banking,
horticulture, fuel. They leave out the obvious & leading
cartels (most of the giants listed on the Stock Exchanges).
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In South Africa, the Oppenheimers
& their Anglo American media empire are notorious
for spreading anti-Black stereotypes,
to maintain white supremacy in South Africa
Western-backed white monopoly capital and civic organizations manipulated the South African media to advance a narrative that state capture was responsible for Eskom’s struggles. ‘That is a false narrative. The state capture happened with Anglo American & the white capital (during the colonial era).’ Then this false narrative that the [Indian oligarchs] Guptas that control less than 5% of South Africa’s economy have captured the state. It’s an embarrassment, quite frankly. That is why you see that even Glencore doesn’t appear in the report because it was tailored evidence, to manufacture consent to a certain narrative.
‘You have a situation where Anglo American plc controls 60% of the South African economy, followed by the Ruperts, who controlled another 20% and so forth & so on. How is it that people that have less than 5% of the economy capture the economy?’
Refusal by Western-backed financial institution – Eskom had been formed by a private monopoly led by Cecil Rhodes’ company, the British South African Co. Eskom was at first a private entity providing electricity to many mining industries – ‘the biggest mining industry’ soon developed ‘the biggest electricity supplier in the world’.
Eskom started consolidating all the smaller electricity suppliers creating one electricity supplier, which was eventually controlled by Anglo American, a company that Matinyarare calls an agent of sabotaging Africa, that controls 60% of South Africa’s economy. The real state capture in South Africa took place for 130 years under white rule.
Anglo American also destroyed Zimbabwe’s Ziscosteel (largest steel plant in the southern hemisphere), to maintain white monopoly. ‘The very same people who perpetuated crimes against humanity [are] still running society, running the media, running banking and perpetuating the apartheid crimes in a modern-day democracy through lies, and doing the same things that were done during apartheid. We will never know the truth as long as we have the criminals of apartheid running the economy for the same ends & same purposes, which was the exploitation of resources of this country.’ – ee Sovereignty, Active plot to de-industrialize SADC
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• ‘White monopoly capital, with support from Western governments, is trying to de-industrialize the Southern African Development Community (SADC), South Africa, involving such schemes as sabotaging power utility Eskom just as it did with giant steel maker Ziscosteel.
Colonial-era mining companies like Anglo American, ISCO, Lancashire Steel and Voestalpine have been weakening Eskom’s ability to recapitalize & rehabilitate its ageing infrastructure. The same companies were responsible for Ziscosteel’s collapse – they feared an industrialized Africa could produce its own military hardware and exploit its own resources.
‘White monopoly capital had created Eskom to supply its mines and later abandoned it after making huge profits. Eskom was built off the gold, platinum and exploitation of diamonds of South Africa. When the mining companies were paying for those services, they were not paying enough in order to allow for replacement costs in future. It was simply making money for the moment.
‘What we have got now is that we have got an Eskom that did not save enough from the services that it gave these mining companies. “Those profits went into the mining companies that are outside the country, some of them are leaving because the gold is finished.”
‘When it became apparent that Eskom was in the doldrums, lenders withdrew their support to State-owned enterprises, in a gloved regime change agenda that also seeks to deindustrialize South Africa, with similar intentions on the continent.’
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‘The Western world was not happy to bestow an African country
with the ability to produce iron and the ability to create military hardware
& industrial hardware that would have industrialized Zimbabwe or Africa.’
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• Anglo American and their steel subsidiary Haggie Rand were central to the collapse of ZISCO Steel, which in 1980 was the biggest Iron & Steel plant in the Southern Hemisphere and the only one in Africa outside South Africa. The demise of ZISCO began with Anglo as a shareholder in ZISCO, exerting pressure on the government of Zimbabwe and ZISCO’s board, through ZISCO’s Austrian CEO Kurt Kuhn, to push Lancashire Steel to give in to a hostile takeover by Anglo’s subsidiary Haggie Rand. Lancashire Steel was a competitor of Haggie Rand in the manufacture of steel wire & rods.
The problem, however, was Lancaster Steel produced higher quality and cheaper steel products than Haggie Rand, putting pressure on Haggie’s supernormal margins in South Africa. As a result, Anglo sought to takeover or destroy Lancashire Steel, so that they could enjoy an unchallenged monopoly in Africa. in 1985 in the depth of apartheid South Africa’s sanctions on Zimbabwe, the apartheid government imposed a 50% tariff on Lancaster Steel products entering the South African market. This made once competitive Lancashire Steel products uncompetitive against Haggie’s inferior products, resulting in Lancashire making huge loses that wilted the company.
About the same time, huge investment was poured into capacitating South Africa’s recently denationalized steel industry, ISCOR and Anglo smelters, with the assistance of Voest Alpine. Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, international multilateral lending institutions denied Zimbabwe loans to upgrade ZISCO, forcing the country to import steel from South Africa. . (Also see, ee 01 October 2022, What Happened to Africa’s Biggest Iron Smelter: Zimbabwe Iron & Steel Company, ZISCO)
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• The one million citizens of Djibouti, formerly French Somaliland, sit at the mouth of the Red Sea, at the intersection of Africa, West Asia, and South Asia. ‘Its lifeblood is its highly geostrategic port’.
The majority of Djiboutians speak the Somali language and share the history and culture of the Somali people, while the largest minority speak Afar and share the history and culture of the Afar people. Colonial boundaries determined that, upon independence, Somalis became citizens of Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, while Afars became citizens of Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
In 2000 Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), both backed by the US, introduced the 4.5 system at the Arta conference organized to establish peace in Somalia, ‘to institutionalize the competition between clans that had caused state collapse 9 years earlier’.
Theoretically, the 4.5 system forged a new Somali state by distributing national political representation between the 4 major clans, and a .5 ‘clan’ of ‘marginalized minorities’. But instead it perpetuated a system in which clan allegiance was more important than state allegiance, and Somalia still doesn’t have a cohesive state. It’s little more than a flag & a UN seat, with clan-dominated federal member states resisting national authority.
Somali nationalists have been struggling to replace the 4.5 system with equal citizenship and one-person-one-vote democracy, but foreign actors, including Guelleh, the UAE, England, and most of all the US, have defeated these efforts. They don’t want to see a strong, coherent Somali state emerge because that would make Somalia more difficult to exploit.
For almost 27 years, ‘Guelleh & TPLF ruled Ethiopia brutally, invaded Somalia at US behest, and engaged in a border war with Eritrea, a nation of 6million people that the West can’t seem to punish enough for its independence’.
The TPLF were removed from power in 2018…
There are a rather lot of banks, considering Djibouti’s economy. There are 10 conventional banks and 3 Islamic banks. Conventional banks are: 1) Bank of Africa, 2) Banque pour le Commerce et l’Industrie Mer Rouge, 3) International Investment Bank, 4) Banque de Dépôt et de Crédit de Djibouti, 5) CAC International Bank SA, 6) Exim Bank Djibouti, 7) Commercial Bank of Ethiopia Djibouti, 8) Silkroad International Bank Djibouti, 9) Bank Of China Djibouti, 10) International Business Bank Djibouti. Islamic banks: 1) Saba African Bank, 2) Salaama African Bank, 3) East Africa Bank.
‘Only money laundering can explain so many banks, whether it comes from trafficking or other illicit activities’.
Djibouti is the only African country that has granted the US a permanent military base, as part of a formal agreement signed in 2003. Djibouti ‘s bilateral security agreement grants the US access to the port & airport. The base primarily serves as an intelligence gathering & counterterrorism center, training African forces to combat ‘Islamic militant groups, which Washington regards as threats to US interests in the region’. The US also uses Chabelley Airport to launch drone missions in Yemen & Somalia.
Djibouti has benefited from Somalia’s collapse & disintegration. The chaos & political instability have put an end to the fear that Somalia might swallow Djibouti into a Greater Somalia, uniting all Somali people.
Djibouti is strategically located on the world’s major shipping lanes, making it a strategic magnet for powerful countries. However, Somalia’s Berbera Port and Eritrea’s Assab Port are attracting foreign attention and money. The construction and upgrade of these 2 ports are expected to reduce Djibouti’s regional influence. (ee Sovereignty, President Guelleh’s Iron Grip on Djibouti Erodes)
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B. Special Focus__
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B1. The Latest on the IMF & Debt Restructuring – Jayampathy Molligoda
The IMF Executive Board has just approved the EFF (Extended Fund Facility) arrangement for Sri Lanka at its meeting held on 20 March 2023. In the meantime, our Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in consultation with the financial advisory group hired for negotiations have finalised the latest position of Sri Lanka’s Public Debt as at end 2022 just prior to commencement of debt restructuring negotiations with creditors. The financial advisory group Lazard was hired by former SL President, in May 2022, along with international lawyers Clifford Chance, to guide the government through the process of restructuring its debt, for which estimates range from $70-90billion. According to Reuter reports published last Sept ’22, Sri Lanka was expected to formally reach out to private creditors who hold about $15bn in bonds. My understanding is Lazards is now working on different permutations and combinations.
The purpose of this paper is to critically review the latest position on the debt restructuring negotiations, because various conditional requests and diverse views are being made by ISB bondholders, bilateral creditors and other stakeholders. I hope our high-powered ‘negotiators’ have the competence and commitment to seek ways of avoiding the adverse results stemming from the concerns expressed here likely to crop up in the debt restructuring process.
Latest conditional request from the group of bond shareholders: Having perused the document uploaded to the Ministry of Finance (MOF website) recently, the total public debt stock has skyrocketed to 83.6bn, including total foreign debt of $45.6bn and the local debt of 38bn in US$ equivalent. The total debt as % of GDP as stated in the above MOF doc is 128%.
The latest conditional request from the group of bond shareholders places a cap on domestic borrowing component in the overall gross financing need of the government budget @8.5%. If the total deficit financing need is @13%, means a MINIMUM of 4.5% of foreign debt financing component. This places serious restrictions on our earlier thinking of reducing the foreign borrowing component, as well as indirectly placing restrictions on earlier thinking of asking for a higher ‘haircut’ from foreign debt holders. Previously, no such requirement came from India and bilateral debt holders.
Resist touching banks’ domestic debt: In the circumstances, my own view is we are reluctantly compelled to restructure local debt ie, Treasury Bonds and Bills, and it’s inevitable that the local debt of $38bn would also need to be taken into consideration for debt restructuring – otherwise there is no way of reducing the total public debt stock to the level that is required as per IMF conditions. This would create a serious issue for our ‘financial system stability’ with the deposit holders including pension funds badly affected.
This cannot be allowed and therefore the government/MOF/CBSL/Lazards need to negotiate hard on this aspect. We need to convince through hard negotiations to try and get away without ‘haircuts’ for Treasury Bills/Bonds.
As far as Sri Lanka’s domestic debt is concerned, the CBSL top officials’ view at that time was that they should be able to get away without ‘haircuts’. It could come in the form of reprofiling debt, ie, bundling up short-term debt instruments to long-term T Bonds, and asking people to hold to maturity – maybe with a coupon payment; at least to be confined to CBSL debt, EPF plus ETF and Insurance holdings. They have to know to fully resist touching banks’ domestic debt. Whether they can sell this to the ISBs and other debt holders is another matter.
‘Alternative economic approaches’ offered by eminent economists: Having said all these negative narratives, my concern is whether we have any other viable and practical option as a solution except an IMF-supported program? As stated in my article, former World Bank Chief Economist & Senior VP, and Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz, has slammed the IMF for unleashing riots on nations. He has been a critic of the IMF causing great damage to countries through the economic policies it has prescribed countries to follow, in order to qualify for IMF loans.
However, in my view, neither Stiglitz nor any other eminent economist has come out with a practical and alternative policy framework to overcome the most serious economic and financial crisis faced in the 75 years of Sri Lanka’s independence. Nevertheless, some contradictory views shared through ‘alternative economic approaches’ are that the only sustainable solution could have been based on domestic self-reliant effort supported by proper planning for accumulation, productivity growth & international competitiveness, supported where necessary by friendly nations.
An eminent economist, having extensive knowledge on Federal Reserve banking/CB operations world over and development economics/finance, has promptly responded to the writer that this question (alternative solution) should have been seriously considered before the decision to go for IMF assistance was taken and the pre-emptive declaration of the country’s debt default, but it is too late now.
Social unrest is reaching the boiling point.
(ee Economists, The Latest on the IMF & Debt Restructuring)
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B2. White Sanctions, Black Sanctions: Zimbabwe & Rhodesia, Rutendo Bereza Matinyarare
Many Zimbabweans often bring up the comparison between Rhodesian and Zimbabwean sanctions to drive the narrative that Rhodesia had more stringent sanctions & yet managed better than Zimbabwe is managing under the US ZDERA, EO13469, EU, IEEPA & extrajurisdictional 3rd-party secondary sanctions. Well, the facts are that sentiment is an ill-informed failure to appreciate colonial history, the purpose of colonialism and objectives of economic blockades or sanctions by a ‘sanctions sender’.
How Do You Sanction a Tool? – An immediate question that should arise is could Europeans practically sanction [blockade, restrict or punish] an instrument they created specifically to syphon wealth out of an African territory for the enrichment of Europe? I use this as the fulcrum of discovery because Rhodesia was a commercial instrument created by the English, through the British South Africa Company, to enrich England and other European countries through the exploitation of this Southern African territory.
The people who called themselves Rhodesians were English subjects, and Europeans administering a system of looting MaDzimbabwe. Everything these English had in Rhodesia was looted from that country. What they built was derived from exploiting our resources, labor, livestock, taxes, and depriving Africans of progress, for the benefit of Europe. The only thing that belonged to these Rhodies was just an instrument, a system and administrative mechanism to loot Africa and enrich their home, Europe.
Rhodesia Never Existed – In many ways, Rhodesia was a mythological territorial creation formed out of the land of MaDzimbabwe and the exploitation of its natives for the enrichment of the English, and once they had extracted all the wealth, the English would have left as quickly as they did Nyasaland [Malawi] and Northern Rhodesia [Zambia]. Almost everything the Europeans looted in Rhodesia was externalised and stashed in Europe, where they could benefit from it in the common wealth of their nations.
The little that was reinvested in Rhodesia (electricity, roads, railways, telecommunication which only served 5% of the people) was to facilitate the transfer of wealth from MaDzimbabwe to Europe. Once we understand the nature of the colonial system of exploitation that prevailed in Rhodesia, it becomes clear that it was almost impossible for Europeans to sanction their own cash cow [Rhodesia] in the strictest sense of the word because it would mean sanctioning their own lifeline.
Rhodesia Supported Europe – English survival and standards of living were greatly dependent on the systematic exploitation of colonies like Rhodesia. This is illustrated by how England has fallen economically ever since the end of colonialism. Therefore, if Rhodesians were sanctioned and didn’t have to repatriate wealth back to England, they would have elevated their standards of living to some of the highest levels in the world and they might have even elevated the lives of the Africans they were impoverishing, to stop them from ultimately overthrowing them in the end.
That’s why when people say Rhodesia was under punitive sanctions, it’s an oxymoron because England would not survive without exploiting colonies like Rhodesia. Additionally that illogical perspective also fails to recognise the simple reality that Zimbabwe exists today and Rhodesia doesn’t, precisely because Rhodesia fell when the majority got tired of Rhodesian exploitation and rose violently to overthrow the exploitative establishment.
Why Were Rhodesian Sanctions Lenient – Now that we have laid down the foundation of why there were no real sanctions upon Rhodesia, let me now qualify my argument with empirical data.
1. Legal Sanctions vs Illegal Imperial Sanctions – Rhodesian sanctions were imposed by the UN, meaning they were legal as the UN‘s multi-national General Assembly and Security Council, guided by the Human Rights Commission’s Human Impact Assessment, are the only bodies in the world that can legally impose sanctions on a nation according to the UN Charter.
In Rhodesia‘s case, the country was placed under sanctions by the UN General Assembly and Security Council for perpetrating a crime against humanity upon the people of maDzimbabwe. This is after their Unilateral Declaration of Independence from their principal, muted the US and British veto against sanctions on them. These were unlike the illegal, unilateral US & EU sanctions on Zimbabwe that have not been sanctioned by the UN and contravene Human Rights law by collectively punishing civilians for political ends.
The unilateral sanctions on Zimbabwe are essentially neo-colonial restrictions imposed by the same Berlin Conference cabal, which imposed similar restrictions upon Africans during colonialism, to create tools like Rhodesia and other colonial territories for the raping and pillaging of Africa. This time as before, their collective restrictions and punishment are designed to force the Zimbabweans to capitulate to exploitation of their land, resources and labour, to enrich Europe.
2. Byrd Amendment – During the Rhodesian sanctions, the US congress wrote a special bill amendment called the Byrd Amendment to circumvent the UN sanctions on Rhodesia. This was done to enable the USA to continue to buy strategic minerals – which were the engine of the colonial economy – from Rhodesia, to keep their manufacturing industry viable. Between 1967-80 the US bought more than 37% of their high-grade chrome used in their military, automotive, aerospace, steel & chemical industries from Rhodesia, since Rhodesia held 83% of the world’s high-grade chrome. This was done over a period in which sanctions were supposed to have been at their tightest upon Rhodesia.
3. MultiNational Companies – The biggest companies and landowners in Rhodesia controlling in access of 80% of the economy were English, US and apartheid South African proxy companies such as BAT, Rothmans, Lonhro, ITT, Union Carbide, Anglo American, Barlow, Old Mutual, & Rio Tinto. These European, US and apartheid South African western-proxy companies never left Rhodesia, so that they could continue exploiting maDzimbabwe on behalf of their Western owners.
Instead, Rhodesia created 2 private state companies called UNIVEX and Rhodesian Corporation, which held foreign accounts in Europe and South Africa to control some of these foreign entities. Nevertheless, when we look at Zimbabwe, we witnessed how, many Western companies like Holiday Inn, Sheraton, VISA, Coke, Schweppes, Shell, BP, Mobile, SASOL, Microsoft, Paypal, BHP and many other multinational companies divested from Zimbabwe the moment land was returned to its rightful owners and sanctions imposed.
This was done to isolate and suffocate the Zimbabwean economy, accompanied with the fear of nationalization of these companies, to compensate black Zimbabweans for colonial exploitation. It’s always vital to understand that since independence of colonies in Africa, colonialism evolved from Western governments governing territories politically, to their companies exploiting the same territories commercially, to harvest these markets & extract supernormal returns without European governments assuming political responsibility for social ills emanating thereof.
Mining Interests – According to the 1976 US Congress Hearings on Rhodesian sanctions, western countries were afraid to fully enforce Rhodesian sanctions because they feared that they would result in the flooding of mines and them losing their mining investments due to a lack of maintenance of the mines.
According to the statement of the US government Deputy Assistant Secretary of The Bureau of Commerce, if sanctions were fully implemented to stop Rhodesian mines from operating, mines in the Great Dyke and Selukwe areas would be flooded within 6 months, and those mines could not be resuscitated after 2 years. As a result this would lead to the US losing access to 480,000 tons of high-grade chrome per year, while investments of companies like Anglo American, Rio Tinto & Union Carbide subsidiaries would be lost in the process. For that reason he and other experts did not recommend the US fully enforcing sanctions by divesting from Rhodesia or repealing the Byrd Act because western investments [in this case US and English investments] would be lost.
4. Agencies Busting Sanctions – Taking it a step further, companies like Rio Tinto, Anglo American & Union Carbide remained in operation forming resource trading agencies in Europe, particularly Switzerland, to bust sanctions and transfer money out of Rhodesia into European banks. Anglo American, eg, had 2 companies based in Switzerland called Salg and Incontra AG, while Rio Tinto Zimbabwe had Centrametall AG. All 3 formed to sell Rhodesian & Botswana‘s nickel & copper to Europe & the USA.
Using these entities that were established outside Rhodesian law, metals, which were being produced by slave labor in Rhodesia & Botswana, would now be sold through a Rhodesian arm to these 3 Swiss entities at a fraction of the price. From here these Swiss entities would then pass them on to other subsidiaries at a higher price in a corrupt transfer pricing value chain. The Rhodesian government, politicians & businesspeople would then get their cuts in overseas bank accounts and that money would then be accessible for future transactions and sanctions busting outside the sanction territory.
The loser here was clearly not Rhodesia or sanctions senders but the owners of the resources: maDzimbabwe, because that money made off their resources never came back to reinvest or compensate them for their labor or the resource that was lost. To expand its monopoly and extend apartheid South African sphere of influence into Africa during the period of #TotalOnslaught or SADC destabilization. Anglo American, Barlow, Rothmans, Old Mutual & Sanlam expanded their industries into Rhodesia as a means of import substitution and controlling African value chains. In reality it was a means of building a white/western monopoly bulkhead and market penetration into Africa with a western-backed apartheid state licence.
This is why even when Zimbabwe got independence, unbeknown to most Zimbabweans, these 5 South African companies owned most of the manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe and through them Zimbabwe’s industrialization policy was influenced. Anglo American, with a 22% shareholding in ZISCO and majority in Haggi Randi, & Voest from Austria were greatly influential in the collapse of Lancaster Steel & ZISCO because of their level of value chain control in the global steel industry.
5. Loans for Kariba Dam – It’s through these sophisticated tactics that Rhodesia was able to continue the Kariba Dam second phase under sanctions with loans from the IMF and the mining companies that needed the electricity. These were loans taken at the exorbitant interest rate of 5%/year on the dollar in 44 biannual payments, for electricity that was all used by the same transfer pricing mining companies, industry and the remainder in white suburbs. Again exorbitant commissions were paid overseas to the deal makers, and guess what, Zimbabweans are still paying off the same debt (50 years later) with a $115mn bond which was issued in 2017 to finish off the payments to Zambia who amortized the debt.
6. Collusion – Another very smart party trick used by the west to circumvent these sanctions was allowing the Rhodesian government to set up state-owned companies called Univex & Rhodesian Corporation, to take over management of some key English, US and European companies. These companies were not nationalized as such, but the Rhodesian government just took over managing them to remove liability for contravening sanctions from western countries. So in essence these companies continued to be going concerns in a sanctioned country to assist the Rhodesian economy. Money would be transfer priced overseas to shareholders, while the Rhodesian government made its cut in overseas accounts. What is interesting is how at no point did any western country take action against the Rhodesian government for these purported hostile takeovers of their companies.
7. Many Countries Were Not Enforcing Sanctions – Over and above that, countries like Switzerland, South Africa, Israel, Brazil, Jordan, Italy, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Poland, Iran and many others did not adhere to the sanctions. Hence they were used to bust sanctions by other western allies to keep propping up the Rhodesian regime and ensuring that it wasn’t overthrown by the guerrillas. All this was done to ensure a negotiated transfer of power to black majority rule, in a manner that safeguarded western property rights & investments to protect the exploitation apparatus. This is how a loan of $700mn was eventually given to Zimbabwe to build Hwange 1,2,4 & 4 for the benefit of Anglo American with the construction contract being given to an English company without a competitive bid.
8. Capital Purchases – During the same period Air Rhodesian bought 3 Boeing 720s through a Swiss company called Jet Aviation, all at a time no country in the world should have been selling Rhodesia, machinery. They also continued to buy arms from France, US, South Africa, Israel & even England, to keep fighting the war to try and stop Black Rhodesians from getting independence. In the process they clocked up a debt of $800mn ($2.7bn in today’s terms) that the Black Zimbabweans they were fighting & exploiting are still paying off today.
So how was this possible if UN sanctions were being fully implemented? Many writers have postulated that the US, Europe and England signed off on Rhodesia’s UN sanctions but also turned a blind eye on such illegal loans and sanction busting, so that the new Black government would inherit the debt, war & sanctions underdevelopment.
This would then be used as a means for western countries to maintain hegemonic influence by debt & reconstruction aid on the newly independent country. Under the US Treasury’s #EO13469 and EU regime of sanctions, Zimbabwe can’t even buy riot gear from western nations because of prohibitions placed upon sales of military equipment to Zimbabwe. More critically because of restrictions placed on US & EU banks not to clear international US$ or Euro payments made to or from Zimbabwean banks, government and companies.
9. Licenses & Prohibitions – Today, any person, company or institution that trades with Zimbabwe for any amount above $50 000 needs a license from the US Treasury. Otherwise they run the risk of their assets in US and partner territories being confiscated, directors arrested, being sanctioned and or prohibited from doing business in US, Europe and partner countries by what are called 3rd-party secondary sanctions.
Software companies like Microsoft, PayPal, Visa and many banking software companies, long closed their doors to Zimbabweans, confining Zimbabwean businesses to using pirate or outdated software to make operating in Zimbabwe difficult and risky for most companies.
All these and other factors have obviously isolated Zimbabwe from investment in ways that Rhodesia was never exposed due to her open European partnerships. These were not the same conditions that were imposed upon companies that were trading with Rhodesia as illustrated above. In Rhodesia there was collusion by Western governments, investors, companies & financial institutions to prop up their kith and kin in Rhodesia support that clearly is not on offer for Zimbabwe for obvious reasons. This is why in 1974 Voest from Austria was able to finance a US$124mn investment into new technology & machinery for RISCO Steel, to make it one of the biggest steel makers in the Southern Hemisphere, with the support of South African buyers – something the IMF & Anglo American, which was a shareholder in ZISCO,put an end to in Zimbabwe soon after independence.
10. 3rd-Party Transfer Agreements – According to Third Party Transfer agreements signed by US and European companies with manufacturers in other countries, no company in the world can sell machinery, software or services that have patents, IP or input from US or Western companies to countries under their sanctions. This means even companies in China or other parts of the world are prohibited from selling any of their products that have US or European parts or IP to any other country, without express approval from the westerners. However, as we have shown with the buying of arms, machines & planes, such restrictions didn’t apply on the Rhodesian sanctions even though US executive orders 11322 & 11412 had those restrictions.
11. Subsidiary Excuse – Another issue was Rhodesian sanctions were not enforced upon western subsidiaries by the US & Europe. This left the door open for most sanction busting to be done through western subsidiaries in Rhodesia for western benefit. Such sanctions busting was done all on the premise that subsidiaries were non-US or European personas, therefore out of the jurisdiction of US and European legislators. Under the ZDERA and US executive orders sanction regimes, sanctions are not just on subsidiaries but the Government, its ministries, companies, private companies, investors, businesspeople & financial institutions.
Additionally there are extrajurisdictional third party secondary sanctions upon any person, investor, company & institution that assists, trades, supplies, services or does business with any of the 144 #SpecialDesignatedNationals or those who do business with them. Strangely, South Africa, Israel, Iran and many other countries, openly did business with Rhodesia, assisting them in the war against Black Rhodesians. We even had US, Canadian and European mercenaries coming to join the war but we never saw any secondary sanctions extended upon them. But, US citizens lobbying against Zimbabweans sanctions today like C Gregory Turner, have been arrested and sentenced to jail terms for assisting ‘enemies’ of the US.
12. Banking Exclusions – International partner banks never cut their relationships with Rhodesia, we even saw Barclays, Standard Bank, Rhobank & MBCA which is a Rothschild Bank, moving gold and assets for Rhodesia from Europe into South Africa, from where they guaranteed Rhodesian debt. South African, Swiss, German, Portuguese & Austrian banks also guaranteed Rhodesian loans and facilitated international payments, hence transfer pricing, payments and clearances of US$ payments for weapons and planes still took place with ease. That’s besides the fact that as Europeans, Rhodesians had European citizenships to access accounts, funds, banking services, markets & suppliers in their home countries. All but 9 partner banks have cut their relationships with Zimbabwean banks, which essentially means Zimbabwe has been excluded from the global financial, banking, settlement and payment systems.
13. Colonial Debt Equals Colonial Sanctions – Zimbabwe took on Rhodesian military and infrastructure development debt only to then incur the additional debt for building 5,709 schools, 1,161 hospitals & clinics, giving 53% of the citizens access to water, sanitation, electricity, and 7,000km of roads not developed by the Rhodesian governing power, in contravention of the UN Charter, Human Rights Declaration and ICESCR obligations. In the name of reconciliation, they also took on debt to buy back land in foreign currency from white farmers in the willing buyer willing seller period shouldering additional costs to raise the literacy and skills of essential medical, nursing and teaching of black Zimbabweans.
14. They were basically taking on the obligations of the administrators of the non-self-governing territory of Rhodesia. Costs, which according to the Lancaster Agreement, should have been cancelled by the multilateral lending institutions in the long run. Nonetheless, those debts are not being cancelled because ZDERA prohibits US directors from approving Zimbabwean debt cancellation. This situation has indebted Zimbabwe and suspended it from borrowing more money or accessing approved development and reconstruction loans agreed at Lancaster. The English not paying reparations or damages to Zimbabwe for 90 years of exploitation & dispossession has left Zimbabwe in a legacy of underdevelopment and additional colonial debt sanctions. Yet during the Rhodesian reign, they inherited no debt, inherited stolen land, native taxes, an abundance of easy-to-reach resources, livestock, slave labor, and no competition due to globalization.
15. Zimbabwe’s Resources Made Rhodesia – It’s very critical at this point to highlight to proponents of the Rhodesian argument that it was MaDzimbabwe resources extracted with the enslaved and unpaid labor of our parents, over 3 million stolen cows, over $2billion in native taxes, the exclusion of natives from receiving public services; their exclusion from the property, job & business markets that funded Rhodesia’s illusion of success, that kept Rhodesia going for a few years. The culmination of that exploitation is the legacy of poverty and debt that we are still paying for today for Rhodesian corruption.
16. Rhodesia Failed – Nevertheless, after stealing our land, livestock and resources and stashing the wealth overseas without compensation or reinvestment, Rhodesia still struggled to keep its citizens happy. Poverty stood at above 90%, Black infant mortality was well above 200 babies for every 1,000 born, which means one fifth of the Black babies who were born died of malnutrition and other poverty diseases. On the education front, less than 32% of the country had any education above standard6, resulting in the country having less than 1,000 black graduates by 1980 after 90 years of colonialism. The consequence was 92% of the Black workforce being consigned to menial labor on farms, in mines or white households, enjoying no union rights and forced to work for the nation as slave labor whether they wanted to or not.
The few who were privileged were nurses, teachers, headmasters, police, chiefs and government administrators. It’s from this small Black administrative class that we usually hear the most praise for the Rhodesian establishment. Meanwhile, in line with the Industrial Conciliation Act the few good jobs had to be preserved for whites because Rhodesia, with all its Western FDI, failed to create quality jobs as any progressive economy should.
The People Revolted – Fed up with this Malthusian level of existence, young people, knowing fully well how formidable the Rhodesian army was, took the risk of walking to Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and as far as Egypt to train with the sole purpose of coming back and overthrowing this incompetent government. What Rhodesian proponents never ask is, why would a generally passive and cowardly youth, go to the extents of risking their lives to overthrow a government that was surviving sanctions and serving them well?
The Overthrow – In 1980, after 17 years of war, the Rhodesian government was defeated by young boys and girls in slippers who in many cases had to share AK47s all because of their desperation to remove a regime that had exploited their parents and failed to deliver basic services to them. On the other side, after 18 years of direct and punitive sanctions, a preceding century of colonialism & colonial legacy sanctions, Zimbabwe is still going strong. Even though western nations & some of its own citizens are attempting to destabilize it, it’s still holding on.
The reasons being a nation of well-educated & skilled people who have opportunities to mine, farm, start businesses, facilitate deals, trade resources and make their fortune. In a nation where people might not have jobs but they have land to grow their own food to escape hunger and resources to mine, unlike Rhodesia, they have too much hope to risk their lives starting a war. Even with the pressure of sanctions, with a great education and skill in their arsenal, Zimbabweans can take the quality education they were given by the liberation movement to a foreign country and get quality jobs.
A job that will enable them to earn enough for them to collectively repatriate over $2bn every year to support their families, invest and mitigate the impact of sanctions on the country. It’s all these successes of the current government that have made Zimbabweans weather these sanctions without wanting to overthrow their government, which makes these sanctions seem non-existent or trivial yet in reality they are some of the most punitive sanctions upon any nation in the world today. (chronicle.co.zw/sanctions-the-unfair-comparison-between-zim-and-rhodesia/)
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B3. Creation of a Monopoly: Victoria Falls & Transvaal Power Company Ltd, 1905-14, Part 2
(from Chapter 3, Renfrew Christie’s Electricity, Industry & Class in South Africa, 1984 )
Electrification Requires Monopoly: the VFTPC & the RMPSC
If the African Concessions Ltd sold its English character for a high price, the other interests in the way of the required monopoly also exacted full measure for their concessions to transmit power. Negotiations to buy the General Electric Power Company (GEPC) began in July 1906, and the company was taken over by the Victoria Falls Power Co (VFPC)on 1 Jan 1907 for £150,000, of which £50,000 was in cash, and the balance was in shares in the African Concessions Syndicate, which were translated into 15,000 shares in the new VFPC. H Eckstein & Co ‘considered the terms of sale very satisfactory’ from the GEPC’s point of view (HE & Co to W & Co, 1906).
Rand Central Electric Works Ltd (RECW), together with their transmission concessions, were also bought up by the VFPC, for a purchase price of £175,000 in 5% debentures redeemable in 30 years at 110, and £175,000 in preference shares, whose 5% interest was guaranteed by the British South Africa Company (BSA) until 31 Dec 1908 (‘RECW’, ER, 1907). L Reyersbach later called the figures paid for the RCEW & GEPC Ltd, ‘absurd’ (1909).
Isaac Lewis extracted from the VFPC an even better deal. In exchange for not competing with the VFPC, and for his wayleaves to Johannesburg, he received an undertaking to erect a power-station at Vereeniging, 20,000 ordinary VFPC shares, a seat on the board, and a contract to buy coal as well as the power-station site from his Vereeniging Estates Company (‘Agreement between VFPC & Vereeniging Estates Co Ltd and Lewis & Marks’, 1906). He thereby upstaged the entire Rand coal trade, which made for some strong opposition at the time of the Transvaal Power Commission.
By early 1907 Germany’s Allgemeine Elektrisitiits Gesellschaft (AEG)&the German banks held most of the preference shares & debentures in the VFPC, thereby ensuring that the machinery would be bought from the AEG. They had an entry into the English-ruled Rand. Individuals connected with the BSA Co had made high profits in the process. BSA Co controlled most of the ordinary shares in the VFPC and most of the directorships. All the existing competitors had been bought out. The company increased the size of its plant, selling electricity to the consumers of the companies it had taken over, and signing some new small contracts. Yet the power-supply monopoly was still not complete: the biggest group of goldmines, Rand Mines Ltd, owned in South Africa by HE & Co, and in London by Wernher Beit and Co, had not yet electrified their mines to any serious degree. In the process of their doing so, a new competitor to the VFPC arose, strangely by way of the Johannesburg tramway contract.
Dick Kerr & Co, financed by William Beardmore, had contracted in 1905 to supply new electric trams & a generating system for the Johannesburg Municipality (‘Johannesburg Tram’, ER, 1905). Electricity for the new trams would be generated by means of gas, produced onsite from coal, powering a set of large reciprocating internal combustion engines, which were directly coupled to alternators built by Siemens Bros & Co Ltd of Stafford in England (‘2-Phase Alternators for Johannesburg Municipality’, ER, 1906).
The first 10-minute service from the suburb of Fordsburg to Market Square started running on 14 Feb 1906. The whites received preference: ‘The subject of dealing with coloured passengers has been engaging the attention of the Council: it is decided that for the present 3 back seats on the top deck be allotted for such passengers, and if the traffic later on warrants it, trailers may be introduced’ (‘Johannesburg Tram’, ER, 1906).
The contractors gave the City Councilors their banquet in July 1906, and by Dec 1906 the whole service was approaching completion, providing tramways, electric lighting & power for the city. The contractor’s chief engineer died of natural causes, a shipload of tramway machinery sank at sea and ‘local conditions’ accentuated the usual starting difficulties, but everyone was optimistic (‘Johannesburg Tram’, SAE, 1907). This was despite the trouble being given by the gas engines, as on 21 Sept 1906 when both engines so far installed broke down simultaneously (ER, 1906). By March 1907 the gas engines in the power-station were leaking badly:
‘The gassing of the employees is a frequent occurrence, as many as 15 being removed into the open one night, and their strange behavior has on other occasions nearly led to the intervention of the police. On one day when 5 of the 7 engines were running, in less than a quarter of an hour every man in the engine house succumbed to fumes.
Such machinery was of course unacceptable to workers. They objected, no doubt, and lost their jobs. ‘Earlier in the day a number of white employees were dismissed, their place being taken by Kaffirs; one of the latter fell into a fly-wheel and was killed’.
On 26 March 1907 a gas-engine backfired, shattering the cast-iron cases of the air blowers, lifting the roof and damaging the walls. 2 workers were injured. By April the Council was ordering a new emergency generator (ER, 1907). The general manager was suffering from gas poisoning and the Chair of the Tramway Committee had nearly been gassed. By May 1907 the Coroner at the inquest of the dead worker revealed ‘a grave scandal’. 63 people had been gassed in 6 months, health and lives were in serious danger, and cases of gassing were on the increase (‘Jburg Tram Fatality’, ER, 1907). The machines were finally shut down on 15 May 1907. The VFPC was called in, if only temporarily, to supply the city until 30 June 1908, and new tenders were called for.
In contrast to the financial years 1904-6, when the electricity department and horse-drawn trams had made a profit of £55,382, in financial years 1906-8 a loss of £54,875 was recorded, even after £29,972 had been recovered from Beardmore, guarantor of the scheme (Transvaal, Statistics of the Transvaal Colony for 1903-8, 1909).
A major English supplier had been a dismal failure in providing electricity on the Rand. How then could a serious competitor for the AEG & the VFPC arise out of the Johannesburg tramway debacle? Beardmore resolved to recoup his losses: he sent out a consulting engineer, WA Harper, who was a sharp negotiator working on his own account as well as for his principal (WB & Co to HE & Co, 1908, Eckstein Papers, HE 267).
Harper soon realised that if Rand Mines Ltd could be fully electrified, and the load combined with those of the VFPC or Johannesburg, or both, then the unit cost of electricity could be greatly reduced. Harper commenced a series of negotiations, Byzantine in their complexity, with the Rand Mines/Eckstein Group, with the VFPC, AEG, Beardmore, Dick Kerr & Sons, Creusot-Loire of France, Siemens Germany, Johannesburg Municipality, London City banker Grenfell, and with Charles Merz. The Rand Water Board, Isaac Lewis and the Transvaal Government played their parts as well.
Eventually the VFPC won their monopoly, with the creation of their subsidiary, the Rand Mines Power Supply Company Ltd (RMPSC) to supply Rand Mines Ltd. Harper made a good deal of money. Prof Klingenberg was able to build his ‘largest power works in the world’, but not before the VFPC had commenced legal proceedings accompanied by public insults against Rand Mines; Isaac Lewis had also commenced legal proceedings, against the VFPC; and the Transvaal Government had held a public Commission of Enquiry into the Power Companies, leading to the Power Act of 1910. The creation of a monopoly, under capitalism, engenders great competition, because the stakes are high and the rewards are higher.
In 1905, after the British Association for the Advancement of Science had met, engineers of the Rand Mines group carefully calculated that 128 million kilowatt-hours would be demanded annually in their mines and one of them, AM Robeson, believed that this was most economically to be supplied by a compressed-air network as well as an electricity system (H Heather & AM Robeson, ‘On the Cost of Power’).
Harper proposed to build a new station for the Municipality, which would have an absolute monopoly of supply within the city limits (Reyersbach, Private, to Sir Julius Jeppe, 1907) Rand Mines Ltd could not allow the Municipality to have control of mining power supply. Ratepayers would be tempted to tax the mines for relief of rates using high electricity tariffs, and the electorate was in part comprised of white workers who might gain an electoral hold on the City Council. Once Harper had put his plan to Reyersbach of Rand Mines Ltd he was rapidly disabused of any idea of working with the Municipality (1908).
Meanwhile the VFPC had opened negotiations with H Eckstein/Rand Mines, and after an exchange of letters the correspondence had ended unfruitfully (1907). The VFPC, or any supplier of power, would have a crucial need for cooling-water, and Reyersbach, as Vice-Chair of the Rand Water Board, had already ensured that the VFPC was not to be given a discount on water supplies (‘Rand Water Board Urgency Report’, 1907).
Reyersbach effectively controlled most of the potential water sources, and wished to use this position, in the coming negotiations, to force electricity tariffs down. It was in Reyersbach’s interest to foster as much competition as possible between potential suppliers. When Harper offered to form a power company, using English capital and machinery, which would sell air and electricity at extraordinarily low prices to Rand Mines, Reyersbach jumped at the chance. Despite strong opposition from his London Office, who were assiduously being wooed by the VFPC, and despite the complaints of consulting engineers who pointed out what a fiasco the Johannesburg tramway project had been, Reyersbach drafted a contract for Harper. (1908)
The power company to be formed effectively undertook most of the risk in the change-over to electricity (L. Phillips, private, to Sir Julius Wernher, 1908). The price of power per unit was not to be higher than 0.5617 d for the first 2 years, and 0.525 d thereafter, whereas the lowest price offered by the VFPC at that time was 0.588d.
Harper proceeded overseas to raise capital for his new company. The AEG became considerably alarmed at the new competition (Rathenau to Sir Julius Wernher, 1908). Beardmore turned out to have less funds then Harper had suggested). Harper travelled across Europe, seeking capital, and received offers from the AEG, and Siemens & Halske, among others (Harper, Unofficial, to HE & Co, 1908).
Harper kept Reyersbach informed both of these negotiations and of those with the VFPC, but the VFPC believed that Harper’s negotiations with them were totally clandestine (1908). Harper even persuaded Marquis of Winchester to hire a new office, where they could meet after dark, to negotiate the purchase of his contract with Rand Mines Ltd (Winchester, Statesmen, Financiers & Felons). Before this, however, Harper almost reached agreement with a set of English financiers and engineers: ‘Robeson came away with the impression there was a genuine desire on the part of those present to form an English Company and keep the German firms out’ (NB & Co to HE & Co, 1908).
When the VFPC learnt of this plan, Winchester sued Eckstein & Co, basing his suit on the exchange of letters in 1907, claiming HE & Co had a contract to take supply from the VFPC. This was accompanied by Winchester calculatedly insulting HE & Co in public at the VFPC Annual General Meeting. The object was to frighten investors away from the flotation of the new company’s shares (Winchester, Statesmen, Financiers and Felons). Reyersbach, holding evidence that agreement had not been reached with the VFPC in 1907, called the suit ‘barefaced bluff…almost like holding a pair of deuces against a straight flush’ (Private, to C Rube, 1908).
Wernher, Beit & Co were pleased that the contract would go to Dick, Kerr & Co, financed by the London bankers, Grenfells: ‘The Transvaal Government will share in the kudos, seeing that the company will be an English one and the orders placed in Great Britain’ (W.B. & Co to H.E. & Co, 1908). However, the English firms simply were too small to cope with such a large power scheme, and their offers collapsed (H. E. & Co to F. Eckstein, Private, 1908). Winchester rapidly purchased Harper’s contract, withdrew the legal suit, and publicly retracted the offensive remarks about Eckstein & Co (Winchester, ‘Address to VFPC Shareholders’, enclosure in Winchester to F. Eckstein, 1908).
So that the higher English taxes could be avoided and so that taxes could be ‘kept in the family’ by being paid to the BSA Co., the VFPC had been registered in Southern Rhodesia. The VFPC wished to carry out the Harper contract itself, but Wernher Beit & Co insisted that a ‘separate English concern’ be formed, not least because the Transvaal Government would look askance at a VFPC monopoly (1908).
To avoid paying English taxes, however, the Rand Mines Power Supply Co (RMPSC) was registered in the Transvaal. The RMPSC was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the VFPC, but at least in appearance there was more than one power company. The VFPC changed its name to the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company Ltd (VFTPC), although it did not change its place of registration (1909). In the prospectus issued by the VFTPC to raise capital for the creation of the wholly-owned RMPSC, the contract finally signed with Rand Mines Ltd was called ‘probably the largest ever given in the history of electrical enterprise‘ (VFPC, ‘Prospectus’, 1906).
Most of the machinery was bought from the AEG, with a little from Siemens and Halske: Winchester wrote that on one trip to Berlin he placed orders with the AEG ‘for what in those days was the equivalent of the cost of a battleship’, and, indeed, the AEG were very much involved in equipping German battleships.
The guarantors of the issue, largely the BSA Co and German firms, had to take over 90% of the shares, partly because of anti-German ‘political feeling’ in England. Rand Mines were ‘inclined to favor English manufacturers’ in ordering their own electrical equipment (1909).
War crises between Britain and Germany created great problems for capitalists, especially those trying to trade at this time between the 2 empires. The VFTPC, then failed to find much English money for German machinery.
However, English money was not needed. What the VFTPC and the AEG wanted was contracts to supply the Rand. The German banks could supply the capital, and were therefore satisfied. Reyersbach could be equally satisfied: by negotiating with Harper he had effectively forced down the VFTPC’s prices. Harper too could be satisfied: he made the best part of a quarter of a million pounds from the deal, most of which was paid in shares which rapidly appreciated in value (Agreement between Harper & VFPC, 1909).
Professor Klingenberg proceeded to South Africa for negotiations about power-station sites. Reyersbach finally agreed to a plant at the Rosherville Dam, using water from the dam for cooling. Reyersbach knew that Rosherville was his ‘trump card in the whole of the negotiations’ (1909). Rosherville was in the centre of the coal-trading area, which would diminish coal-owners’ opposition to the scheme. It also had no need of new wayleaves, and eventually a very large power-station was erected there.
Reyersbach did not want the coal-owners to oppose the new scheme. There was therefore an attempt to avoid fulfilling the agreement with Isaac Lewis about a power-station at Vereeniging. Reyersbach also wished ‘to avoid the station, in which our companies will have a direct profit interest, being placed at the mercy of any one colliery (1909). He reckoned without Isaac Lewis and his partner, Sammy Marks. Their legal case was watertight against VFTPC: they could enforce the contract. VFTPC offered Lewis half a million pounds to cancel the contract. He refused.
An amended agreement was finally reached: the power-station would be built at Vereeniging. Lewis and Marks would supply one third of the capital. In exchange the VFTPC would buy 200,000 short tons of coal per annum from Vereeniging Estates, at a profit of one shilling per ton (Draft 1909).
Lewis would also make money from his shares in the VFTPC. The speculators had made their money, the principals finally had their way, and 2 monopolies had been created, one for the sale of heavy power equipment by German firms to the gold-mines’ central power scheme, and the other for the sale of power by that scheme, the VFTPC, to the gold-mines. 3 problems remained: 1) the German nature of VFTPC had to be hidden more effectively, and skilled engineers had to be found. Charles Merz wrote: ‘The Germans had enough sense to see they must manage the thing through Englishmen, and they got our friend, Arthur Wright, to act as a general adviser, and, later on, Klingenberg persuaded Bernard Price (head of our Electrical Dept), whom he had met in connection with Durham work, to go out to Africa as their chief engineer. This was the beginning of Price’s long and successful career there, and of the huge undertaking which he has built up, Victoria Falls & Transvaal Power Co.
2) the monopoly had to be established in the wider society. An accommodation had to be reached with the state, despite the activities of other vested interests. This problem and its solution is examined in the next section. Third, the commitment to supply power had to be fulfilled. This proved to be the most difficult task of all, both because of the Transvaal’s special natural conditions and the dangers of ocean transport. South Africa was a long way from the suppliers of heavy engineering goods in Europe, and ships carrying such goods seem to have had a high propensity to sink. The Transvaal Highveld is very susceptible to lightning, especially during regular summer thunderstorms. Lightning plays havoc with electricity grids, and VFTPC engineers rapidly had to become experts in lightning protection. Yet without waiting for such problems to be solved, gold-mining’s electricity & compressed-air demands soared, under the impetus of the continuing labour shortage. Rand Mines officials wrote, ‘Unless the matter is tackled energetically we shall be short of air for a very long while, and this would hamper our mining operations greatly, especially during shortages of native labour‘. (to be continued)
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B4. Export-oriented Industrialization & the Free Trade Zone (Part 3)
(from SBD de Silva, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, 1982, Chapter 17)
The rationalization of investment on a world scale, through a direct control by MNCs of productive capital in the periphery, is not without its problems. With their greater entrepreneurial reach, the MNCs are like an army whose lengthening line of communications makes it vulnerable at an increasing number of points. Every small device adopted to improve the operations of world capitalism intensifies its ambivalence & potential disequilibrium. To increase their competitiveness, the MNCs are prepared to create unemployment in their home countries. But after the setting up of export platforms in the periphery, imports into the centre are restricted, lessening the viability of these platforms. A rising wave of protectionism in the centre chokes off the periphery’s access to markets.
The analysis & interpretation of the capitalist order, as well as prognosis, are themselves becoming difficult, despite vastly improved systems of data collection and processing. The ramifications of the crisis have made pump priming on a national scale ineffective; instead ‘global stimulation‘ has to be resorted to. The policy is one of drumming up demand for certain types of capital goods by means of large infrastructure investments in the periphery. In this process the periphery becomes locked in a relentless cycle of foreign debt. The inability to distribute the goods that it produces, and to fully realize the productive potential of the technologies it has perfected, is a congenital defect of capitalism which only the ending of capitalism could banish.
The export of capital in the present day has several components: first, mining investments which require technology and capital very much greater than the traditional export staples; second, industries that are ecologically harmful, whose transfer to the periphery exempts investors from installing costly anti-pollution devices that are mandatory in the centre. These 2 components include mineral processing, oil refining, petrochemicals, crude steel, non-ferrous metals, pulp & paper and forest products. The industries transferred are, third, the labour-intensive ones based on simple assembly line methods: textiles and garments, footwear, carpets, wigs, plastic products, scientific measuring instruments, and semi-conductors for the electronics industry. Far more significant – a fourth component of capital exports relates to multipurpose construction, irrigation & electricity-generating projects, financed mainly by governments & international lending agencies. The scale of capital investment and the complexity of technological skills are incomparably greater than during the opening up phase of these economies. For example, in Brazil the petrochemicals industry from the 1970s was producing basic inputs like ethylene and benzene and the growth of the industry outstripped that in the USA and other advanced economies. On the whole, foreign investment is characterized by a high organic composition of capital (Peter Evans, Multinationals, State-owned Corporations, & the Transformation of Imperialism: a Brazilian Case Study, ‘Economic Development & Cultural Change’, vol. 36, no. l)
The mining investments in the periphery are related essentially to the raw material needs of the centre, which are now predominantly in the form of minerals. Certain characteristics set them apart from the plantation and mining products which had dominated trade and investment flows in an earlier age. First, these minerals are of strategic value; they are not easily substitutable, and their end products are in demand both by the military & by civilian industry controlled by powerful business groups. Second, their production is limited to relatively few locations and is mostly in underdeveloped countries, whereas consumption is concentrated in the US, Western Europe & Japan. In the USA, consumption per head of the critical raw materials is 20 times that in the underdeveloped countries, and is based largely on imports. Out of 13 basic industrial raw materials imported into the USA in 1950, imports of 4 accounted for more than half of its requirements of them. By 1970 there were 6 such raw materials, and their number in 1985 is estimated at nine (Lester Brown, ‘World Without Borders’, 1973).
Third, while supplies of the basic raw materials are dwindling, the world demand for them is increasing fast – in copper it has reached explosive proportions.
The political economy of these materials is different from that of plantation staples and the traditional type of minerals. Plantation staples (excepting cane sugar) had a uniformly low production technology which enabled both plantation companies & peasants to supply the world market. Likewise tin mining was possible without costly technology. In Nigeria, indigenous mining enterprises could only be ousted by extra-economic means; in Malaysia until the 1920s Chinese-owned mines, based on intensive labour, competed with the English mining companies. In contrast, the dominant primary materials of the present day cannot be produced by underdeveloped countries on their own except perhaps by a revolutionary society like that of China which is capable of an exceptionally high degree of self-reliance. The inability of other underdeveloped countries to mobilize the required capital & technology gives centre-periphery relations a new dominant-dependent complexion. (10) Control over the resources and politics in the periphery is no longer based on overt domination or military suppression, and concepts of territorial sovereignty have tended to lose their relevance (Pieree Jalee’s comment that the oil & metalliferous ores of the Third World are an ‘ace up its sleeve; its hand is on the tap controlling an essential flow, thus it enjoys a position of strength’ is only potentially true, ‘The Pillage of the Third World’, 1968)
The sharp asymmetry between the producers & consumers of the critical raw materials is a source of phenomenal power for those who can control supplies – as the Arabs lately discovered. The struggle for raw materials is no longer between identifiable national capitals but between oligopolistic conglomerates which criss-cross state boundaries. In this sense, the change-over is from geopolitics to geo-economics. The larger framework for this rivalry is the division of the world between the capitalist and socialist blocs. The political dimensions of this struggle relate to the existence of the Soviet Union as an alternative source of technology, capital & trade. Access to Soviet technology enabled some of the oil-producing countries (eg Iran) to expand production without private foreign investment; Soviet intervention in the world oil market also weakened its control by the multinationals.
The political economy of raw materials control has shifted since the end of WW2 from a struggle among capitalist nations to one between rival political systems. ‘If Asia, Middle Eastern and African nationalism exploited by the Soviet bloc becomes a destructive force’, Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund (‘Foreign Economic Policy for the 20thC’, 1958).reported, ‘European supplies of oil & other essential raw materials may be jeopardised’.
As Prof Rostow saw it, a pro-Soviet stance by resource-rich underdeveloped countries is a threat to US security.
The location, natural resources and populations of the underdeveloped areas are such that, should they become effectively attached to the Communist bloc, the US would become the second power in the world… the economic & military strength of Western Europe & Japan will be diminished… Our military security and our way of life as well as the fate of Western Europe and Japan are at stake in the evolution of the underdeveloped areas (Subcommittees on Foreign Economic Policy of the Joint Economic Committee, US Congress, 1956; this & preceding quote are from Harry Magdoff, The Age of Imperialism, 1969)
Richard Nixon saw Indonesia’s role as a supplier of raw materials for the West: ‘With its 100 million people, and its 3,000mile arc of islands containing the richest hoard of natural resources, Indonesia constitutes by far the greatest prize in the SE Asian area’ (Asia After Vietnam, Foreign Affairs, 1967)
In 1977 Helmut Schmidt, West German Chancellor, expressed concern about a possible decline in mineral exploitation and prospecting in the Third World. As a long-term measure, he called for large capital exports in the form of ‘private direct investments‘ in preference to welfare expenditures, which in many developed countries have reached the ‘load limit’. Political stability in underdeveloped countries was important in this connection; ‘wars and civil wars’ have an adverse effect on raw material supplies (Malcolm Rutherford, Third World Warning, Financial Times, London). Indeed a clue to the dogged tenacity with which the USA fought the Vietnam war lies in the rich and variegated mineral resources endowment of the Indochinese peninsula. The Tonkin incident and the offshore oil potential of the Gulf of Tonkin are hardly unrelated phenomena. Not unexpectedly, the conflict between ‘Big’ China and ‘Small’ Vietnam may have a resource dimension as its unstated premise).
Investment in the extraction and processing of critical raw materials as one component of capital exports to the periphery has already been discussed. That symbiosis between the centre and the periphery which is based on the relocation of labour intensive industries arises from the uneven development of technology. The technological lag, symbolized in Landes’s remark that it takes as much time to shave a man as it did 100 years ago, exists in the services trades as well as in certain forms of manufacturing production. Their viability is threatened both by rising wage rates and by the nature of their labour process – monotonous, fatiguing, uncongenial & harmful to the workers’ nervous equilibrium. In the electronics components industry the introduction of the silicon chip is a serious health hazard to the workers (In Hong Kong, according to a survey by the Christian Industrial Committee, ‘almost all workers in the industry [girls between ages 16-25] suffer eyesight defects caused by the strain required for intricate work…. Every girl operator suffered a reduction in eyesight after an average of 3-7 years’ (Strauss, Straits Times Malaysia, 1971). In Singapore, out of 103 workers in 6 electronics factories 40% suffered from eye complaints – eg, migraine, conjunctivitis.
Labour in the developed countries is unwilling to take on such work. Another aspect of this problem is the high rates of absenteeism and job dissatisfaction which has been very pronounced in the motor car industry, and has resulted in the proliferation of assembly plants in the periphery.
The contradiction between low labour productivity and the level of wages can be resolved in 3 ways. 1) by a change in consumption patterns – occupations with low production are made redundant. For example, live singers are replaced by taped music, and there is a use of throwaway paper plates, cups, serviettes, etc. 2) production activities whose qualities the machine cannot replicate gain an extended lease of life by the presence of migrants and ethnic outgroups working for low wages and under substandard conditions. In the capital cities of Europe workers from Southern Europe, Africa and Asia sweep the streets, collect garbage or are employed in grimy jobs, cleaning furnaces and scraping filth off heavy machinery. Performing unskilled though absolutely vital work, they are ‘one of the saddest and most perplexing problems of modern capitalism‘. 3) as a measure of last resort industries with low production may be relocated in the periphery, shifting continually from one area of cheap labour to another, not unlike the slash-and-burn system in primitive peasant agriculture. These industries rely on [cheapened], inevitably non-unionized, female labour amenable to simple repetitive tasks. In the absence of expensive fixed equipment, they are organized on the lines of an international putting-out system. The parent firm provides them with raw materials & components and preempts their output; in the case of the garments industry piece goods cut in the US are sent abroad to be sewn (‘assembled’) then brought back under concessional tariffs that are lower than on apparel manufactured wholly abroad. The output of these industries is made up in the home base into final products, or is sold directly under the parent’s brand name or label as though produced at home.
The transfer of industrial enterprises to the periphery involves the spread of the capitalist mode of production. Capitalist-labour relations develop, unlike in plantations, peasant agriculture and in the existing urban enterprises (the ‘informal sector’), where small-scale units & self-employment predominate; in these enterprises outright wage labour & contractual relations are rare, recruitment is based on ties of family, kinship or ethnicity, a high degree of paternalism exists and payments are partly in kind. The industries transferred to the periphery require a semi-skilled & stable labour force – urban-based, not prone to absenteeism, adapted to the machine, and amenable to modern management & factory conditions. The nature of the labour force necessitates a high wage level compared with other sectors. For instance, in the soap industry of Kenya, in 1972 the average monthly wage of the multinational firms was twice that of local firms. For 24 industrial firms the average minimum monthly wage was double the statutory rate, and the actual wages paid ‘ranged even higher’ (S Langdon, MNCs, Review of African Political Economy, 1975. D Rothschild, ‘Racial Bargaining in Independent Kenya’, 1973)
In Southern Rhodesia, there was a ‘steady rise’ in the wages paid by expatriate firms during the 1950s and the early 1960s. Wages and working conditions are linked to a specific labour relations strategy for creating a privileged but apolitical stratum of workers. The transplanting of an entire production package (input combinations, marketing policies, technology, factory organization and labour relations) gives rise to a genuine dualism between the foreign-based mining-cum-industrial sector and the rest of the economy (Giovanni Arrighi, International Corporations, Labour Aristocracies & Economic Development in Tropical Africa, in Essays on the Political Economy of Africa, 1973).
However, the relocating of industries is not a simple function of rising wage levels in the centre. The process of relocation has its limits, but for which there would be a deindustrialization of the centre. Capital has 2 options open to it – to relocate or to automate. The outcome, though not easy to predict, depends on various factors. One of these is the technological possibilities of different industries, offsetting the effect of high wages. For instance, the offshore electronics industry has passed its high peak – recent advances in the technology of microcircuitry require longer production runs than are possible in the periphery. Second, relocation is constrained by its effects on the value of capital invested in the home country. The electronics industry was more easily moved out than the textile industry; and import quotas are imposed on textiles but not on electronics components. Third, the pace of relocation is governed by its effect on the centre’s labour market. By creating unemployment at home, and restoring a sellers’ market, relocation checks its own impetus. Recent advances in automation, when applied to manual jobs as well as in the service industries – including office work, banking, insurance and retail selling – have made a large and permanent labour reserve an imminent prospect. Trade union pressure then builds up in favour of protectionism, which is, however, no solution as the crisis is of a structural nature. Lastly, an anti-capitalist ideology in the periphery is a deterrent to relocation. Militant dissent and radical movements have preceded the development of capitalist social relations and of a proletariat – unlike in Europe, where the rise of capitalism was aided by a dominant bourgeois ideology. The superstructure in the periphery is more advanced than its material base. Industrial capital has thus to struggle on 2 fronts – against an entrenched merchant class and against an ethos that is already hostile to private accumulation. In the complex political situation in the periphery, ethnic conflicts are also a destabilizing element.’
(Next: Part 4 of Chapter 17, SBD de Silva, Political Economy of Underdevelopment, 1982)
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C. Building Blocks
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Every ee carries these extracts below to counter: 1) The constant harangue about exports, when they must at all times serve to advance or recapture and control of our home markets to develop modern industry; 2) We need to learn about machine industry versus handicraft, assembly and manufacture; 3) The rules of the Sangha require constant interaction between people.
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• ‘The biggest handicap to industrial development is not the lack of capital but the absence of external economics, such as cheap power, cheap transport, technical and managerial ability, and above all the lack of a home market. The home market in an agricultural country is essentially the rural market. It is only a prosperous peasantry that can provide the home market for our industry. This is the connection between a guaranteed price for paddy and the industrialization of our country’ – Philip Gunawardena
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• ‘The Creation of a Home Market for our Industry is the pivot on which the future industrialisation of our country rests. In Ceylon’s context The Home Market essentially means The Peasant Market. To create the home market therefore we must substantially raise the living standards of the mass of the peasants so that they will be able to buy the goods produced by our industry. This demonstrates clearly the necessary connection between Industrialization & Agrarian Reform.’ – Policy Statement of the Ministry of Industries, 1956
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• ‘Their field of production, the smallholding, admits of no division of labor in its cultivation, no application of science and, therefore, no diversity of development, no variety of talent, no wealth of social relationships. Each individual peasant family is almost self-sufficient; it itself directly produces the major part of its consumption and thus acquires its means of life more through exchange with nature than in intercourse with society.’ – Karl Marx, 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, p124
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• ‘Japan will retain and encourage the branches of the machine industry that yield high added value, but production facilities that involve a low degree of processing and generate low added value should be moved to developing countries… so that Japan can concentrate on high technology & knowledge-intensive industry.’– Japan’s Council on Industrial Structure (SBD de Silva, Political Economy of Underdevelopment)
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• Economics Not Taught – the Machines Nobody Knows – the Extraordinary Culture of Machine Tools – If we were a truly ‘developing’ country, here are the questions a national media would need to ask: A plan requires a political, economic & military strategy, which will first assess peasant & worker power, land (including natural resources), & capital, that the nation possesses, and the time needed to transform these powers into material reality:
Here’s ee’s Index of a Real Economy or, at least, how a real economy would be measured:
1. The index of a strong economy is modern industry.
2. The index of modern industry is the production of machines.
3. Machine tools (MT) are the most important of all machines.
4. MT is needed for huge diversified metal fabricating industries (auto, electrical, etc).
5. MT is essential for production of machines for all other industries.
6. Full data on machinery production is needed:
7. What portion of our machinery needs are supplied by machines built in Sri Lanka?
8. What is the trend? Are we producing more or less machines than we did before?
9. Data on imports & exports of machinery is needed (esp shipments of MTs & other Industrial Machinery)
10. MT production vs imports, must include: Mining & Metallurgical Machinery, Pulp & Paper Machinery, Textile Machinery, Woodworking Machinery, Logging Machinery, Sawmill Machinery, Office & Business Machines (adapted from: ee 20-26 Sept 2020).
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• Making Central Banks Independent of the People?
– anchor.fm/shiran-illanperuma/episodes
– youtube.com/watch?v=_AWg6VvTj9g
– eesrilanka.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/imf-independence-the-central-bank/
– eesrilanka.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/make-the-central-bank-independent-of-capitalism/
– eesrilanka.wordpress.com/2023/03/11/us-federal-reserve-hijacks-sri-lankas-central-bank-to-hinder-industrialization/
*
• On State-owned Enterprises & Privatization
– anchor.fm/shiran-illanperuma/episodes/On-State-Owned-Enterprises-and-the-Privatization-Debate-w-Vinod-Moonesinghe-e1vric4
*
• The English Sabotage of Electrification in Sri Lanka
• ee, 01 August 2020: Who’s Afraid of Wimalasurendra?
• ee 08 August 2020: The Ghost of Philip Gunawardena & the Cry for a Cultural Revolution
• ee, 15 August 2020: How British Petroleum Sabotaged Industrialization in Sri Lanka
• ee, 22 August 2020: Industrial Apartheid in Sri Lanka
• ee, 29 August 2020: Benito Cereno & Sri Lanka
• ee, 05 September 2020: Wimalasurendra Yaka Caused the Powercut!
• ee, 04 December 2021: Killing the Lights: Ruin Peasants, Export Workers
• ee, 18 March 2023: US Staging Bank Runs – in Sri Lanka Too!
__________________________________________________________
D. News Index______________________________________________
• ee News Index provides headlines & links to make sense of the weekly focus of published English ‘business news’ to expose the backwardness of multinational, corporate controlled ‘local media’:
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D1. Sovereignty
(ee is pro-politics, pro-politician, pro-nation-state, anti-corporatist, anti-expert, anti-NGO)
ee Sovereignty news emphasizes sovereignty as economic sovereignty – a strong nation is built on modern (machine-making) industrialization fueled by a producer culture.
• We are witnessing the birth pangs of a new world order – Bhadrakumar
– deccanherald.com/opinion/new-world-order-russia-united-states-china-nato-uranium-bomb-aukus-india-1203111.html
• Wimal questions JVP’s deafening silence over CIA Chief’s visit
‘raised the CIA Chief’s visit with the Immigration and Emigration Department, which comes under the purview of the Public Security Ministry.’
– island.lk/wimal-questions-jvps-deafening-silence-over-cia-chiefs-visit/
• India’s Petroleum Ministry Secretary, IOC Chairman expected in Colombo today
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Indias-Petroleum-Ministry-Secretary-IOC-Chairman-expected-in-Colombo-today/108-256442
• Sri Lanka SJB meets diplomats, denies govt claims of attempting to influence IMF
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-sjb-meets-diplomats-denies-govt-claims-of-attempting-to-influence-imf-116307/
• Opposition leaders meet NATO and Quad diplomats for special discussion
‘England High Commissioner Sarah Hulton, EU envoy Denis Chaibi, New Zealand envoy Michael Appleton, US envoy Julie Chung, Netherlands Deputy Ambassador Anouk Baron, Italian Deputy Head of Mission Francesco Perale, Indian Deputy envoy Vinod Jacob, Japanese Deputy envoy Katsuki Kotaro, Australian Deputy envoy Lalita Kapur, French Deputy envoy Aurélien Maillet, Canadian counsellor Daniel Bloo and Japanese First Secretary Ozaki Takeshi.’
– ft.lk/front-page/Opposition-leaders-meet-foreign-diplomats-for-special-discussion/44-746699
• ICC took no action against Bush or Blair – Island Editorial
– island.lk/justice-and-duplicity/
• UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June to hear about Sri Lanka’s economic crimes
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/president-ready-for-talks-with-striking-unions-imf-deal-likely-tomorrow-515118.html
• UN Human Rights Committee releases latest findings on Sri Lanka; calls for remedial measures
– ft.lk/front-page/UN-Human-Rights-Committee-releases-latest-findings-on-Sri-Lanka-calls-for-remedial-measures/44-746735
• President orders more Thannimuruppu, Mullaitivu land to be released
– island.lk/president-orders-more-land-to-be-released/
• Sri Lanka-Japan Business Council commends Govt. on IMF deal
– ft.lk/business/Sri-Lanka-Japan-Business-Council-commends-Govt-on-IMF-deal/34-746579
• Singarasa Case should guide GoSL’s Geneva policy
– island.lk/singarasa-case-should-guide-gosls-geneva-policy/
• International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) asks govt. to respect court order on LG polls
– island.lk/icj-asks-govt-to-respect-court-order-on-lg-polls/
• England leading the charge against a fellow Commonwealth member state in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/editorial/striking-at-the-economy-515108.html
• Bar Council of England and Wales asks GoSL not to undermine judicial independence
– island.lk/bar-council-of-england-and-wales-asks-gosl-not-to-undermine-judicial-independence/
• English Bar Council calls on Sri Lanka rulers to respect judicial independence
– economynext.com/british-bar-council-calls-on-sri-lanka-rulers-to-respect-judicial-independence-115807/
• England Government trade delegation visits EDB
– ft.lk/business/UK-Government-trade-delegation-visits-EDB/34-746580
• Adani Group’s investments in Sri Lanka are ‘government-to-government kind of project’ – Foreign Minister Ali Sabry
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/minister-reveals-evidence-of-alleged-double-game-by-police-relating-to-narcotics-515126.html
• Sri Lanka willing to enhance bilateral trade with India in INR: SL High Commissioner
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Sri-Lanka-willing-to-enhance-bilateral-trade-with-India-in-INR-SLHC/108-256344
• High Commissioner Moragoda meets Finance Minister Sitharaman to discuss the way forward in bilateral economic cooperation
• Has prioritising India’s security secured our security? – Shivanthi Ranasinghe
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/has-prioritising-indias-security-secured-our-security/
• All set to start ferry service between KKS & Tamil Nadu: Ports, Shipping & Aviation minister
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/all-set-to-start-ferry-service-between-kks-and-tamil-nadu-says-minister-515172.html
• 1953 ouster of PM Mosaddegh of Iran – Chandraprema
– island.lk/1953-ouster-of-pm-mosaddegh-of-iran/
• ‘US foreign aid was channelled through the UNDP’
– island.lk/mrs-b-in-a-dilemma-about-west-pakistan-pakistan-aircraft-refueling-at-katunayake/
• The practical chapter of SL history
‘Chinese people proved the progressive path of human civilization by revamping bilateral relations. Indian relations with Russia & Chinese links with the Middle East add to the world peace equilibrium.’
– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/the-practical-chapter-of-sl-history/
• Mrs. B in a dilemma about West Pakistan Pakistan aircraft refueling at Katunayake
– island.lk/mrs-b-in-a-dilemma-about-west-pakistan-pakistan-aircraft-refueling-at-katunayake/
• Lanka welcomes historic high seas biodiversity treaty
– island.lk/lanka-welcomes-historic-high-seas-biodiversity-treaty/
• Importance of “deep sea” biodiversity preservation for Sri Lanka
‘On March 4 in New York, 200 countries endorsed a UN treaty to protect biodiversity in “seas beyond national jurisdiction” also called the “high seas”, hailed by Carnegie Endowment’
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Importance-of-deep-sea-biodiversity-preservation-for-Sri-Lanka/172-256297
• Ali Sabry & Wijeyadasa in South Africa on working visit
– english.newsfirst.lk/2023/3/24/ali-sabry-wijeyadasa-in-south-africa-on-working-visit
• Top Zimbabwe ambassador involved in gold smuggling scheme
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Top-Zimbabwe-ambassador-involved-in-gold-smuggling-scheme/108-256478
• Zimbabwe preacher with links to Sri Lankan “prophet” accused of gold-smuggling
– colombogazette.com/2023/03/24/zimbabwe-preacher-with-links-to-sri-lankan-prophet-accused-of-gold-smuggling-2/
• Gold Leaf Tobacco boss in $1bn gold-smuggling scam with Zimbabwe rulers: Al Jazeera
– taxjusticesa.co.za/gold-leaf-tobacco-boss-in-1bn-gold-smuggling-scam-with-zimbabwe-ruler-reports-al-jazeera/
• Sri Lanka Is Colonized Again
– indi.ca
• Can some developing nations unite and transform the planet? – Kumar David
– island.lk/waiting-for-godot/
• Limits of 2022 US Human Rights Report on Bangladesh
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/limits-of-2022-us-human-rights-report-on-bangladesh/
• Loopholes of US Human Rights Report 2022: Should US fix its own human rights issue first?
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/loopholes-of-us-human-rights-report-2022-should-us-fix-its-own-human-rights-issue-first/
• Russia can’t meet India arms deliveries due to Ukraine war, Indian Air Force says
– edition.cnn.com/2023/03/24/india/india-russia-arms-delivery-ukraine-war-intl-hnk/index.html
• Difficulties at border but India, China don’t want war: Top Chinese diplomat
– hindustantimes.com/india-news
• Nazism, Fascism and Communism: The Difference – Losurdo
– youtu.be/kMxrFxDKDiw
• US paranoid about Russia-China summit
‘ICC publicity stunt by the Anglo-Saxon clique, with the US leading from the rear’
– indianpunchline.com/us-paranoid-about-russia-china-summit/
• Axis Moscow – Beijing 2.0 – Alexander Dugin
– katehon.com/en/article/axis-moscow-beijing-20
• Xi-Putin Meeting Marks Tectonic Geopolitical Shift Which West Not Ready for
– sputniknews.com/20230322/xi-putin-meeting-marks-tectonic-geopolitical-shift-which-west-not-ready-for-1108697550.html
• Geopolitical Rumblings Leave U.S. Behind
– moonofalabama.org/2023/03/geopolitical-rumblings-leave-us-behind.html#comments
• The State of US Democracy: 2022 – China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
– news.cgtn.com/news/2023-03-20/Full-text-The-State-of-Democracy-in-the-United-States-2022-1ijWA1Z52ms/index.html
• White House threatens to ban TikTok unless Chinese owners sell stakes
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317110-white-house-threatens-to-ban-tiktok-unless-chinese-owners-sell-stakes
• U.S. Threatens Ban if TikTok’s Chinese Owners Don’t Sell Stakes
– wsj.com/articles/u-s-threatens-to-ban-tiktok-if-chinese-founder-doesnt-sell-ownership-stake-36d7295c
• US to build new military bases near South China Sea
– rt.com/news/573443-us-bases-philippines-china/
• The AUKUS military alliance and the submarine deal; Foresight or Folly?
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/18/the-aukus-military-alliance-and-the-submarine-deal-foresight-or-folly/
• Kangaroo in Jackboots — Review of ‘Australian Fascism’
– johnhelmer.net/kangaroo-in-jackboots-review-of-australian-fascism/#more-87698
• How China lost its clout on Asia – Yoon Young-Kwan, former minister in US-occupied Korea
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/sunday-times-2/how-china-lost-its-clout-on-asia-514983.html
• National Security and Democratic Rights? Open Letter to the Right Honorable David Johnston
‘accusations that a respected Chinese Canadian senator and a newly elected mayor are agents of the Chinese government.’
– socialistproject.ca/2023/03/open-letter-to-the-right-honorable-david-johnston/
• Mission Accomplished? – The War in Iraq at 20: Vinod Moonesinghe
‘the USA conquered Iraq successfully through ‘Shock and Awe’, based on the effects of ‘smart bribes’, rather than ‘smart bombs’’
– factum.lk/uncategorized/factum-perspective-mission-accomplished-the-war-in-iraq-at-20/
• Ray McGovern Connects Anniversary of Iraq Invasion and Ukraine Proxy War – Part 1
– blackagendareport.com/ray-mcgovern-connects-anniversary-iraq-invasion-and-ukraine-proxy-war-part-1
• Free will trumps determinism in Gulf politics – Bhadrakumar
– indianpunchline.com/free-will-trumps-determinism-in-gulf-politics/
• The hidden security clauses of the Iran-Saudi deal
– thecradle.co/article-view/22445/exclusive-the-hidden-security-clauses-of-the-iran-saudi-deal
• Israel launches missile attack on Syria’s Aleppo airport
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317345-israel-launches-missile-attack-on-syrias-aleppo-airport
• Commemorations of the Attack on Iraq March 20th and Libya March 19th
‘Reaffirm that the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination Remains the Greatest Threat to International Peace on our Planet’
– blackagendareport.com/commemorations-attack-iraq-march-20th-and-libya-march-19th-reaffirm-useunato-axis-domination
• 20 Years After Iraq, Corporate Media Defends US War Crimes But Obsesses Over Trump Trivialities
– blackagendareport.com/20-years-after-iraq-corporate-media-defends-us-war-crimes-obsesses-over-trump-trivialities
• Who really brought down Milosevic (2000)
‘Extensive US financing to Otpor and the 18 parties that ousted Milosevic. US Agency for International Development (USAID) gave $25 million in 2000. Several hundred thousand dollars were given directly to Otpor for ‘’demonstration-support material, like T-shirts & stickers’
– nytimes.com/2000/11/26/magazine/who-really-brought-down-milosevic.html
• The Russian Bear is on The Move!
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/the-russian-bear-is-on-the-move/
• Putin visits Russian-occupied Mariupol in Ukraine
– island.lk/putin-visits-russian-occupied-mariupol-in-ukraine/
• The US Is Not Helping Ukraine Or Taiwan
‘As US President Ronald Reagan said, ‘The top 9 most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the [US] government, and I’m here to help.’
– indi.ca
• Humanity is losing due to the Biden-Putin war – Fumiko Yamada
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/18/humanity-is-losing-due-to-the-biden-putin-war/
• President Guelleh’s Iron Grip on Djibouti Erodes
– blackagendareport.com/president-guellehs-iron-grip-djibouti-erodes
• A nuclear weapons story with a happy ending: South Africa’s nuclear bombs
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/sunday-times-2/a-nuclear-weapons-story-with-a-happy-ending-514871.html
• Active plot to de-industrialise SADC: analyst
– sundaymail.co.zw/active-plot-to-de-industrialise-sadc-analyst
• National Multinational firms accused of sabotaging Africa’s development
– herald.co.zw/multinational-firms-accused-of-sabotaging-africas-development/
• Business Zim cartels pale in comparison to Anglo
– herald.co.zw/zim-cartels-pale-in-comparison-to-anglo/
• Rutendo Matinyarare interview
– youtube.com/watch?v=8vNgutlf7Yw
• US Threatens Uganda With Economic Response for Criminalizing Homosexuality
– sputniknews.com/20230323/us-threatens-uganda-with-economic-response-for-criminalizing-homosexuality-1108730049.html
• Bloodshed, Tear Gas Bombs and Mudslides: 100 Days of US Dictatorship in Peru
– blackagendareport.com/bloodshed-tear-gas-bombs-and-mudslides-100-days-dictatorship
• ‘Brazil is back’: Lula to visit Xi as he resets diplomatic relations with China
– theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/24/lula-xi-jinping-visit-china-brazil-diplomatic-relations-reset
• Emmanuel Macron: the weakling autocrat brought to power by US meddling
– gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/03/18/emmanuel-macron-the-weakling-autocrat-brought-to-power-by-american-meddling/
• Protesters decry military recruitment at Bronx job fair in New York City
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317424-protesters-decry-military-recruitment-at-bronx-job-fair-in-new-york-city
*
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D2. Security (the state beyond ‘a pair of handcuffs’, monopolies of legitimate violence)
ee Security section focuses on the state (a pair of handcuffs, which sposedly has the monopoly of legitimate violence), and how the ‘national security’ doctrine is undermined by private interests, with no interest in divulging or fighting the real enemy, whose chief aim is to prevent an industrial renaissance as the basis of a truly independent nation.
• All the Civil Service judges in his pocket with his big house, tennis court and bridge parties
– island.lk/some-british-judges-and-experiences-in-outstation-courts/
• Intoning Banal Platitudes Chung Lampoons Sri Lanka’s Judiciary
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/intoning-banal-platitudes-chung-lampoons-sri-lankas-judiciary/
• New Anti-Terrorism Bill gazetted
– ft.lk/front-page/New-Anti-Terrorism-Bill-gazetted/44-746697
• Sarath Fonseka claims thousands of police and military personnel leaving
– island.lk/sf-claims-thousands-of-police-and-military-personnel-leaving/
• Decorated gunship pilot blacklisted for appearing on JVP political stage
– island.lk/decorated-gunship-pilot-blacklisted-for-appearing-on-political-stage/
• Three retired military officers blacklisted for working with NPP: AKD
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Three-retired-military-officers-blacklisted-for-working-with-NPP-AKD/108-256473
• Families of victims of ‘Harak Kata’ protest outside BASL President’s house
– themorning.lk/articles/fDJd5dbZr7YJM8p1XJmm
• BASL wants IGP to ensure Saliya Pieris’s safety
– english.newsfirst.lk/2023/3/24/basl-wants-igp-to-ensure-saliya-pieris-s-safety
• Hands off judiciary: lawyers tell Government
– ft.lk/front-page/Hands-off-judiciary-lawyers-tell-Government/44-746737
• Doctrine of Immunity in Emperor’s Clothes
‘the “machinations” of the Government Printer, the IGP and the Secretary to the Treasury’
– island.lk/doctrine-of-immunity-in-emperors-clothes/
• Delay in probe into May 09 attack on house: Whip faults Human Rights Commission (HRC)
– island.lk/delay-in-probe-into-attack-on-house-chief-govt-whip-finds-fault-with-hrc/
• International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) asks govt. to respect court order on LG polls
– island.lk/icj-asks-govt-to-respect-court-order-on-lg-polls/
• Bar Council of England and Wales asks GoSL not to undermine judicial independence
– island.lk/bar-council-of-england-and-wales-asks-gosl-not-to-undermine-judicial-independence/
• Sri Lanka President decides against nationalist cop
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-decides-against-controversial-cop-115909/
• Sri Lanka President rejects Tennakoon, extends incumbent
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-rejects-tennakoon-extends-incumbent-116390/
• FUTA on appointment of new IGP
– island.lk/futa-on-appointment-of-new-igp/
• BASL asks Prez to appoint clean cop as IGP
– island.lk/basl-asks-prez-to-appoint-clean-cop-as-igp/
• The Supreme Court continues to provide clarifications in English only
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/mps-urged-to-defeat-move-to-conduct-law-college-exams-only-in-english-medium/
• MPs urged to defeat move to conduct Law College exams only in English medium
– island.lk/mps-urged-to-defeat-move-to-conduct-law-college-exams-only-in-english-medium/
• Move to conduct all Law College exams in English medium defeated
– island.lk/move-to-conduct-all-law-college-exams-in-english-medium-defeated/
• Private Bar and Legal Academia interact at Law Faculty Diamond Jubilee
– island.lk/private-bar-and-legal-academia-interact-at-law-faculty-diamond-jubilee/
• Chief Inspector held under PTA for alleged to have set Pulastini flee the country granted bail
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Chief-Inspector-held-under-PTA-for-alleged-to-have-set-Pulastini-flee-the-country-granted-bail/108-256270
• Minister reveals evidence of alleged double game by Police, relating to narcotics
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/minister-reveals-evidence-of-alleged-double-game-by-police-relating-to-narcotics-515126.html
• IGP tells CID not to brook any interference from any quarter while they probe ’Harak Kata’ and ‘Kudu Salindu’
– island.lk/igp-tells-cid-not-to-brook-any-interference-from-any-quarter-while-they-probe-harak-kata-and-kudu-salindu/
• There was no racism in this wonderful country of ours – Australia
– island.lk/some-courtroom-encounters-in-victoria/
• Ukraine asks EU for 250,000 artillery shells a month
– ft.com/content/75ee9701-aa93-4c5d-a1bc-7a51422280fd
• Explosives shortage threatens EU drive to arm Ukraine
– ft.com/content/aee0e1a1-c464-4af9-a1c8-73fcbc46ed17
• EU seals plan to send a million artillery shells to Ukraine
– reuters.com/world/europe/eu-agrees-plan-send-million-artillery-shells-ukraine-2023-03-20/
• The Fabulist Arrogance of US Power:
‘even passed a law giving itself the right to invade the International Criminal Court at the Hague should a US citizen or an ally face justice.’
– blackagendareport.com/fabulist-arrogance-us-power
• How Atlanta Politics Led to Cop City
– blackagendareport.com/how-atlanta-politics-led-cop-city
*
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D3. Economists (Study the Economists before you study the Economics)
ee Economists shows how paid capitalist/academic ‘professionals’ confuse (misdefinitions, etc) and divert (with false indices, etc) from the steps needed to achieve a modern industrial country.
• The dream of those who raised crosses and distributed vatalappan in Atalgama has come true
– kalaya.org/2023/03/blog-post_74.html
• From the so-called mixed economy to full capitalism
– kalaya.org/2023/03/blog-post_28.html
• Ukraine given $15.6 billion during the war, Sri Lanka $2.9…
– kalaya.org/2023/03/blog-post_23.html
• Stay on IMF course and don’t go back to the past –Coomaraswamy, Central Bank Webinar
‘What is next for Sri Lanka in the wake of the IMF programme’
– island.lk/stay-on-course-and-dont-go-back-to-the-past-dr-indrajit-coomaraswamy/
• Chinese debt is not Sri Lanka’s biggest problem – Verité Research
– youtube.com/watch?v=KDlhWMhULZ8
• 93% of Government policies have no record of implementation
– ft.lk/front-page/No-accountability-from-Government-yet-again/44-746734
• IMF unleashing riots on nations the IMF is dealing with – Jayampathy Molligoda
‘neither Stiglitz nor any other eminent economist has yet to come out with a practical and alternative policy framework to overcome the most serious economic and financial crisis faced’
– island.lk/latest-position-on-debt-restructuring-process/
• The Latest on the IMF and Debt Restructuring –Molligoda
– island.lk/latest-on-imf-and-debt-restructuring-ii/
• IMF deal: Facts behind the hype – Charith Gunawardena
‘take a non-aligned position in geopolitical battles, develop a clear industrial strategy and be one where it is easy to do business.’
– ft.lk/columns/IMF-deal-Facts-behind-the-hype/4-746642
• Is the IMF the only solution? Malinda Seneviratne vs. Convenor of the Lanka Democratic Movement Rasika Jayakody.
– youtube.com/watch?v=mxRt7GAS40M
• IMF Package is not the Only Solution – Ghosh & Abeyratne
– youtube.com/watch?v=BklqsX4DvII&ab_channel=AdaDerana
• An Independent Central Bank: Does it not clash with sovereignty? – Garvin Karunaratne
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/an-independent-central-bank-does-it-not-clash-with-the-sovereignty-of-the-country/
• Transparency to the IMF but not to the citizenry?
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/this-is-just-not-cricket-mr-president-514980.html
• Sri Lanka’s JVP rubbishes IMF deal, claims IMF only wants to bail out corrupt regimes
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-jvp-rubbishes-imf-deal-claims-imf-only-wants-to-bail-out-corrupt-regimes-116076/
• President RW-IMF accord: Triple counter-revolution could trigger revolution – Jayatilleka
– ft.lk/columns/President-RW-IMF-accord-Triple-counter-revolution-could-trigger-revolution/4-746629
• Harsha says relieved by IMF approval; commends RW, CB Chief and Treasury Secy
– ft.lk/front-page/Harsha-says-relieved-by-IMF-approval-commends-RW-CB-Chief-and-Treasury-Secy/44-746572
• Most Important IMF Letter of Intent not tabled in Parliament: Harsha alleges
‘only the open letter to SL’s official bi-lateral creditors, special authorization under the Foreign Loan Act and the extended agreement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) which includes IMF executive director’s press release, staff report and statement.’
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Letter-of-Intent-not-tabled-in-Parliament-Harsha-alleges/108-256341
• Clueless politicos destabilized the country, says Eran
– island.lk/clueless-politicos-destabilized-the-country-says-eran/
• Eran likens IMF bailout to noose
– island.lk/eran-likens-imf-bailout-to-noose/
• Eran slams IMF’s transparency policy which allows policy intentions to remain secretive
‘I do not agree with this clause that says they must not disclose the authority’s policy intentions’
– ft.lk/front-page/Eran-slams-IMF-s-transparency-policy-which-allows-policy-intentions-to-remain-secretive/44-746650
• Banking on IMF bailout – Island Editorial
‘SL on its own does not have capacity to payback 6-7 billion dollars annually till the end of 2029.’
– island.lk/banking-on-imf-bailout/
• Government is yet to present a road map for the economic recovery
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Will-IMF-save-Sri-Lanka/172-256196
• Strikes pose threat to economic recovery and growth – Sanderatne
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/strikes-pose-threat-to-economic-recovery-and-growth-514988.html
• ‘Contemporary issues in socio-economic development’: A timely Kelaniya University publication – Wijewardena
– ft.lk/columns/Contemporary-issues-in-socio-economic-development-A-timely-publication-by-Kelaniya-University/4-746500
• Central Bank already an independent authority since inception by law, but not in practice – Colombage
– ft.lk/columns/Central-Bank-already-an-independent-authority-since-inception-by-law-but-not-in-practice/4-746548
• Aggressive export growth requires foreign direct investment flows – Abeyratne
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/do-things-look-tickety-boo-now-514709.html
• Best years of economy due to our ability to access markets abroad – Franklyn Amerasinghe
– island.lk/the-cardinals-damning-indictment-of-sri-lankans/
• A Sense of Progress: The Sri Lankan Square Deal: Kusum Wijetilleke
‘In the wake of the Sri Lankan economic collapse, similar dynamics have arisen: institutional capture by special interests and political elites.’
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/A-Sense-of-Progress-The-Sri-Lankan-Square-Deal/172-256197
• Government should proceed with economic liberalization and selling state sector and SOEs
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/IMF-bailout-SLs-march-to-recovery-and-political-opportunists-who-stand-on-the-way/172-256195
• Strikes and protests by trade unions result in agony for public – Kussi Amma Samath
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/commissions-and-omissions-514714.html
• Global Bank Failures, French Protests, and Sri Lanka’s Massive Contraction – Philips
– island.lk/global-bank-failures-french-protests-and-sri-lankas-massive-contraction/
• IMF Program #17: It takes two to tango – Alphonsus
– ft.lk/columns/IMF-Program-17-It-takes-two-to-tango/4-746550
• Country will never recover unless loss-making SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) are reformed
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/editorial/striking-at-the-economy-515108.html
• Don’t blame the IMF and look a gift horse in the mouth: Sri Lanka has not been capable of managing its economy – Gonsalkorale
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/24/dont-blame-the-imf-and-look-a-gift-horse-in-the-mouth-sri-lanka-has-not-been-capable-of-managing-its-economy/
• Central Bank Must be Independent to Save the Economy – Dilrook Kannangara
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/18/central-bank-must-be-independent-to-save-the-economy/
• Does privatisation secure the public interest? – Indrajith Karunaratne
‘sectors such as textiles, chemicals and other industries have suffered due to privatisation…production facilities were either left to deteriorate due to the lack of knowledge by the private sector or they only had short-term targets with these facilities’
– ft.lk/columns/Does-privatisation-secure-the-public-interest/4-746582
• Shylocks out to extract their legally entitled pound of monetary flesh
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/sleepless-godless-restless-night-fearing-make-or-break-imf-word-514945.html
• The Economy When Kurunegala was the Capital.
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/19/the-economy-during-kurunegala-was-the-capital/
• The People’s Platform: Special International Edition
– youtube.com/watch?v=-xNFP6Bq0SM
• Colombo consultation on debt restructuring
– fb.watch/juMOmaJqRP/
• FT-ICCSL webinar today on ‘Priorities for Sri Lanka Post IMF Program’
‘Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry, Nepali billionaire Binod Chaudhary, Former European Parliamentarian Nirj Deva, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Bingumal Thewarathanthri, economist Howard Nicholas, Colombo Port City’s Yang Lu, and Sri Lanka India Society’s Kishore Reddy, Capital Alliance Kanishke Mannakkara and ICCSL Immediate Past Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody’
– fb.watch/juyik5Nvi6/
– facebook.com/events/s/priorities-for-post-imf-sri-la/119811617650514/
– ft.lk/front-page/FT-ICCSL-webinar-today-on-Priorities-for-Sri-Lanka-Post-IMF-Program/44-746738
• How to Organise Competition? – VI Lenin
– marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/dec/25.htm
• Currency Crisis in the West – Kwame Nkrumah (1965)
‘the role of monetary policy – and the US dollar – as an instrument of imperialism and neocolonial rule’
– blackagendareport.com/essay-currency-crisis-west-1965
• U.S. Imposes Economic Sanctions on Black Community Projects
– blackagendareport.com/us-imposes-economic-sanctions-black-community-projects
• Why the Bank Crisis Is Not Over – Hudson
– unz.com/mhudson/why-the-bank-crisis-is-not-over/
• Bank busts and regulation – Roberts
– thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2023/03/21/bank-busts-and-regulation/
• US Faces Multifaceted Economic Crisis – Richard Wolff
‘the major role is played by the different economic and political forces screaming at him: ‘do this, don’t do that’
– sputniknews.com/20230323/us-faces-multifaceted-crisis–overhaul-of-global-trade-and-economy-professor-1108724253.html
*
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D4. Economy (Usually reported in monetary terms)
ee Economy section shows how media usually measures economy by false indices like GDP, etc., in monetary terms, confusing money and capital, constantly calling for privatization, deregulation, moaning about debt & balance of payments, without stating the need for modern industrial production.
• China calls on Western lenders to ease debt pressure on developing countries
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/china-calls-on-western-lenders-to-ease-debt-pressure-on-developing-countries/
• IMF denies influence in postponing SL polls
– ft.lk/front-page/IMF-denies-influence-in-postponing-SL-polls/44-746622
• Anti-corruption & governance reforms a central pillar of EFF-supported programme – IMF
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/anti-corruption-governance-reforms-a-central-pillar-of-eff-supported-programme-imf/
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/anti-corruption-governance-reforms-a-central-pillar-of-eff-supported-programme-imf-2/
• President Reveals Information Regarding Disappearance of Funds Allocated for Projects
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/24/president-reveals-information-regarding-disappearance-of-funds-allocated-for-projects/
• Sri Lanka repays part of Indian credit with first IMF loan tranche
‘Unlike in the past where IMF funds went to central bank, this time the money came to a Treasury account’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-repays-part-of-indian-credit-with-first-imf-loan-tranche-116468/
• USD121 Mn from first tranche of IMF loan received to SL, paid to India
– dailymirror.lk/top_story/USD121-Mn-from-first-tranche-of-IMF-loan-received-to-SL-paid-to-India/155-256490
• SL to use part of IMF’s first tranche to settle Indian loan scheme
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/SL-to-use-part-of-IMFs-first-tranche-to-settle-Indian-loan-scheme/273-256525
• Entirety of IMF’s $ 2.9 b for budgetary support: Treasury Secretary
– ft.lk/top-story/Entirety-of-IMF-s-2-9-b-for-budgetary-support-Treasury-Secretary/26-746742
• Sri Lanka may have to pay up to 4-pct interest, extra surcharges, on IMF loan: Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-may-have-to-pay-up-to-4-pct-interest-extra-surcharges-on-imf-loan-minister-116270/
• Sri Lanka ISBs gain post IMF Board approval of EFF
– ft.lk/front-page/Sri-Lanka-ISBs-gain-post-IMF-Board-approval-of-EFF/44-746700
• SL begins negotiations with India for fresh US $ 1bn equivalent INR currency swap
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/SL-begins-negotiations-with-India-for-fresh-US-1bn-equivalent-INR-currency-swap/273-256526
• President seeking parliament nod for 2nd round of debt talks with bilateral & private creditors
‘If necessary he will also meet the National Council, a body linked to the elected representatives’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-seeks-parliament-nod-for-creditor-negotiations-116228/
• Sri Lanka to make presentation to creditors on IMF deal on March 30
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-make-presentation-to-creditors-on-imf-deal-on-march-30-116462/
• Govt. to hold presentation on IMF deal to creditors, investors on 30 March
– ft.lk/front-page/Govt-to-hold-presentation-on-IMF-deal-to-creditors-investors-on-30-March/44-746741
• IMF expects government to phase out import and exchange restrictions
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/import-restriction-currently-in-place-to-be-phased-out/
• Sri Lanka’s draft money monetary law can be revised before passage: CB Governor
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-draft-money-monetary-law-can-be-revised-before-passage-cb-governor-115749/
• Draft Central Bank Act could be revised to provide for its independence and accountability – CBSL Governor Weerasinghe
– island.lk/draft-central-bank-act-could-be-revised-to-provide-for-its-independence-and-accountability-cbsl-governor-dr-nandalal-weerasinghe/
• Next step is a long-term payment plan – CBSL Governor
– english.newsfirst.lk/2023/3/24/next-step-is-a-long-term-payment-plan-cbsl-governor
• Sri Lanka looks reducing $ 17 bn debt between 2023-27
– themorning.lk/articles/0zeLBtRYg1n746aYDw2n
• With IMF bailout, Sri Lanka will have healthy dollar reserves in 4 years: CBSL governor
– adaderana.lk/news/89299/with-imf-bailout-sri-lanka-will-have-healthy-dollar-reserves-in-4-years-cbsl-governor
• CBSL governor hopeful Sri Lanka can achieve debt sustainability before IMF dates
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/cbsl-governor-hopeful-sri-lanka-can-achieve-debt-sustainability-before-imf-dates/
• Sri Lanka sees Rs18.6 trillion transacted on Lanka Pay
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-sees-rs18-6-trillion-transacted-on-lanka-pay-115810/
• Sri Lanka to maintain -3 pct growth in 2023 but recovery likely next year: official
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-maintain-3-pct-growth-in-2023-but-recovery-likely-next-year-official-115825/
• SL to receive first tranche of new IMF facility soon
– island.lk/sl-to-receive-first-tranche-of-new-imf-facility-soon/
– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/sri-lanka-receives-first-tranche-of-imf-bailout-says-president/
• Sri Lanka IMF program approved by Executive Board: Foreign Minister
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-imf-program-approved-by-executive-board-minister-115972/
• IMF approves US$3.0bn program, first tranche $333mn
– economynext.com/imf-approves-us3-0bn-program-first-tranche-333mn-115997/
• Debt-stricken Sri Lanka to get first tranche of IMF bailout funds in two days
• Sri Lanka becomes first in Asia to have its governance come under IMF scrutiny
‘an in-depth governance diagnostic exercise to assess corruption and governance vulnerabilities and provide prioritised and sequenced recommendations… report to be published by September 2023.’
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Sri-Lanka-becomes-first-in-Asia-to-have-its-governance-come-under-IMF-scrutiny/108-256311
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/sri-lanka-becomes-first-in-asia-to-have-its-governance-come-under-imf-scrutiny/
• SL first in Asia to undergo governance diagnostic exercise by IMF
– ft.lk/front-page/SL-first-in-Asia-to-undergo-governance-diagnostic-exercise-by-IMF/44-746619
• IMF Executive Board approves US$3 Billion under the Extended Fund Facility arrangement for Sri Lanka
– imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/03/20/pr2379-imf-executive-board-approves-underthe-new-eff-arrangement-for-sri-lanka
– island.lk/imf-executive-board-approves-us3-billion-under-the-extended-fund-facility-arrangement-for-sri-lanka/
• Sri Lanka says latest bailout funds can be used for fiscal support – Bloomberg News
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/sri-lanka-says-latest-bailout-funds-can-be-used-for-fiscal-support-bloomberg-news/
• IMF says time for all Lankans to unite to usher sustainable growth
– ft.lk/front-page/IMF-says-time-for-all-Lankans-to-unite-to-usher-sustainable-growth/44-746616
• Progressive US$ 3 bn SL programme will protect poorest: IMF
“China provided one set of assurances, which for us wasn’t sufficiently specific and credible. So we had to go back to China, work with them,’ said Director of the IMF Asia and Pacific Department, Krishna Srinivasan.’
– dailymirror.lk/business/Progressive-US-3-bn-SL-programme-will-protect-poorest-IMF/215-256310
• IMF tells Sri Lanka to devise plan to recapitalise banks
– dailymirror.lk/business/IMF-tells-Sri-Lanka-to-devise-plan-to-recapitalise-banks/215-256312
• Sri Lanka mulling ways to re-structure domestic debt
‘Local Law Local Currency (LLC) Debt is held by banks, pension funds, individuals and central bank’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-mulling-ways-to-re-structure-domestic-debt-116013/
• Sri Lanka Treasury bosses to sign IMF pro-note
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-treasury-bosses-to-sign-imf-pro-note-116016/
• Sri Lanka’s debt seems “to be sustainable” on a forward-looking basis after financial assurances – I
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-debt-seems-to-be-sustainable-on-a-forward-looking-basis-after-financial-assurances-i-116080/
• Sri Lanka banks may need Rs1.4trn in capital, govt to inject cash: IMF
‘The two largest state banks and three largest private banks account for 70 percent of banking assets.’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-banks-may-need-rs1-4trn-in-capital-govt-to-inject-cash-116116/
• Sri Lanka private creditors mull GDP-linked downside bond for debt re-structure
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-private-creditors-mull-gdp-linked-downside-bond-for-debt-re-structure-116179/
• Sri Lanka central bank buys US$950mn amid negative credit so far 2023
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-bank-buys-us950mn-amid-negative-credit-so-far-2023-116184
• Sri Lanka, private creditors should make call on state contingent bonds: IMF official
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-private-creditors-should-make-call-on-state-contingent-bonds-imf-official-116242/
• Sri Lanka to lend US$2.5bn to US and top-rated borrowers in 2023 under IMF deal: analysis
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-lend-us2-5bn-to-us-and-top-rated-borrowers-in-2023-under-imf-deal-analysis-116354/
• People’s Bank refutes “misleading media reports”
– island.lk/peoples-bank-refutes-misleading-media-reports/
• People’s Bank partners with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL)
– dailymirror.lk/business/Peoples-Bank-partners-with-IFC-and-NCE-to-strengthen-MSME-customers/215-256305
• President on the impact of public sector engaging in business activities
– adaderana.lk/news/89266/president-on-the-impact-of-public-sector-engaging-in-business-activities
• Lanka’s economy shrank by record 7.8 percent last year
– island.lk/lankas-economy-shrank-by-record-7-8-percent-last-year/
• Govt debt rises to 115.2-pct of GDP by end 2022
– island.lk/govt-debt-rises-to-115-2-pct-of-gdp-by-end-2022/
• February national inflation edges up on electricity and fuel price hikes
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/February-national-inflation-edges-up-on-electricity-and-fuel-price-hikes/108-256308
• Semasinghe says President to address the nation today on IMF deal
– ft.lk/front-page/Semasinghe-says-President-to-address-the-nation-today-on-IMF-deal/44-746573
• Sri Lanka receives first tranche of IMF bailout, says president
– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/sri-lanka-receives-first-tranche-of-imf-bailout-says-president/
• RW says IMF deal signals end of bankruptcy; to table in Parliament today
– ft.lk/front-page/RW-says-IMF-deal-signals-end-of-bankruptcy-to-table-in-Parliament-today/44-746624
• President tables IMF agreement in Parliament
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/President-tables-IMF-agreement-in-Parliament/108-256322
– ft.lk/ft_tv/President-tables-IMF-agreement-in-Parliament/10520-746628
– adaderana.lk/news/89242/president-tables-imf-agreement-in-parliament
• President requests the opposition to support the implementation of the IMF agreement
– island.lk/president-requests-the-opposition-to-support-the-implementation-of-the-imf-agreement/
• President requests for support from Opposition for implementation of IMF programme
– adaderana.lk/news/89252/president-requests-for-support-from-opposition-for-implementation-of-imf-programme-
• Resourceful Ranil makes rallying call to Opposition
– ft.lk/top-story/Resourceful-Ranil-makes-rallying-call-to-Opposition/26-746655
• Sri Lanka President raps opposition for acting against IMF deal after approval
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-raps-opposition-for-acting-against-imf-deal-after-approval-116248/
• IMF programme to be reviewed in June
– adaderana.lk/news/89254/imf-programme-to-be-reviewed-in-june-
• IMF Facility will restore international recognition – President
– sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/IMF-Facility-will-restore-international-recognition-President/2-1141213
• Eran claims Govt. increased taxes before IMF agreement
– themorning.lk/articles/tLqm27RUVz7sszxghCya
• President tells Parliament changes to tax regime being considered
‘IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Richard Breuer said at 8.6% of GDP, Sri Lanka is amongst the countries that collects the least amount of fiscal revenue in the world.’
– ft.lk/front-page/President-tells-Parliament-changes-to-tax-regime-being-considered/44-746654
• Sri Lanka to start property tax, transfer, gift, inheritance tax from Jan 2025
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-start-property-tax-transfer-gift-inheritance-tax-from-jan-2025-116025/
• Sri Lanka to hit smokers, drinkers with index linked taxes
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-hit-smokers-drinkers-with-index-linked-taxes-116394/
• Sri Lanka no longer bankrupt, to gradually lift import restrictions: president
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-no-longer-bankrupt-to-gradually-lift-import-restrictions-president-116064/
• Bandula wants vote in P’ment to decide if all parties concur with IMF program
– ft.lk/front-page/Bandula-suggests-vote-in-P-ment-to-decide-if-all-parties-concur-with-IMF-program/44-746625
• Sri Lanka President raps opposition for acting against IMF deal after approval
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-raps-opposition-for-acting-against-imf-deal-after-approval-116248/
• Cabinet green-lights new rules under Imports and Exports (Control) Act in Parliament
– ft.lk/business/Cabinet-green-lights-submission-of-new-rules-under-Imports-and-Exports-Control-Act-in-Parliament/34-746587
– ft.lk/business/Cabinet-green-lights-submission-of-new-rules-under-Imports-and-Exports-Control-Act-in-Parliament/34-746635
• February exports decline by 8% to $ 1 b
– ft.lk/front-page/February-exports-decline-by-8-to-1-b/44-746740
• Export earnings cross US $ 1bn for first time in 2023
– dailymirror.lk/business__main/Export-earnings-cross-US-1bn-for-first-time-in-2023/245-256527
• Ceylon Chamber congratulates Govt. on securing IMF Program
– ft.lk/front-page/Ceylon-Chamber-congratulates-Govt-on-securing-IMF-Program/44-746621
• Ceylon Chamber of Commerce calls for public support for Sri Lanka IMF programme
– economynext.com/ceylon-chamber-of-commerce-calls-for-public-support-for-sri-lanka-imf-programme-116238/
• IMF bailout not a silver bullet for Sri Lanka: Moody’s Analytics
– ft.lk/front-page/IMF-bailout-not-a-silver-bullet-for-Sri-Lanka-Moody-s-Analytics/44-746623
• Gamini Lokuge appointed as the Chair to the Committee on Banking & Financial Services
• Mahindananda appointed as Chair of Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Economic and Physical Plans
– adaderana.lk/news/89262/mahindananda-appointed-as-chair-of-sectoral-oversight-committee-on-national-economic-and-physical-plans
• SLTelecom & Lanka Hospitals shares in sharp appreciation following divestment approval
‘implemented by the State Owned Enterprises Restructuring Unit under the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies.’
– island.lk/slt-and-lanka-hospitals-share-prices-in-sharp-appreciation-following-divestment-approval/
• Lanka Hospitals posts Rs. 4Bn PBT
– island.lk/lanka-hospitals-posts-rs-4bn-pbt/
• Boost Sri Lanka’s economy with IFC’s $400 million Cross – Currency Swap Facility
‘Joon Young Park – International Finance Corporation Portfolio Manager, Financial Institutions Group for South Asia,’
– island.lk/boost-sri-lankas-economy-with-ifcs-400-million-cross-currency-swap-facility/
• Central Bank Governor disputes Fitch Solutions’ forecast on rupee
‘We have a small market, that’s why the exchange rate fluctuates a lot. That’s why the CB is required to intervene in the market to a certain extent. However, the CB would not act against the direction of market forces’
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/17/central-bank-disputes-fitch-solutions-forecast-on-rupee/
• Sri Lanka should stay committed to the multi-pronged disinflation strategy – IMF Managing Director
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/sri-lanka-should-stay-committed-to-the-multi-pronged-disinflation-strategy-imf-managing-director/
• Grey market rate is now lower than the bank rate – CB Governor
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/dollar-crisis-has-ended-asserts-central-bank-governor-514732.html
• Dollar crisis is over: Central Bank
‘He said for the first time, the loan would include budgetary support to the Government, an entirely new element in IMF lending.’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/dollar-crisis-is-over-central-bank-515155.html
• Dollar crisis has ended, asserts Central Bank governor
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/dollar-crisis-has-ended-asserts-central-bank-governor-514732.html
• CBSL chief expresses optimism
– island.lk/cbsl-chief-expresses-optimism/
• IMF Deal Will Cut Sri Lanka Borrowing Costs, Central Banker Says
– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/imf-deal-will-cut-sri-lanka-borrowing-costs-central-banker-says/
• Electronic methods compulsory for payment of personal taxes
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/all-tax-payments-go-electronic-from-april-1-515147.html
• Major central banks to provide dollar swap lines in Panic of 2023
‘Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve, and Swiss National Bank are today announcing a coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity via the standing U.S. dollar liquidity swap line arrangements.’
– economynext.com/major-central-banks-to-provide-dollar-swap-lines-in-panic-of-2023-115864/
• Casino Aficionados Will Have A Busy Day
– moonofalabama.org/2023/03/casino-aficionados-have-a-busy-day.html#comments
• IMF changes credit policy for war-torn countries amid Ukraine war
– economynext.com/imf-changes-credit-policy-for-war-torn-countries-amid-ukraine-war-115827/
• US Fed hikes rates 25bp amid M2 contraction
– economynext.com/fed-hikes-rates-25bp-amid-m2-contraction-116277/
• IMF staff reaches agreement with Ukraine for $15.6 bln program
– adaderana.lk/news/89245/imf-staff-reaches-agreement-with-ukraine-for-156-bln-program
• Emerging Market Capital Flows to Remain Weak but Should Recover in 2024
• Freeland Meets With Canada Bank Regulator After SVB Collapse
– bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-14/freeland-meets-with-canada-s-bank-regulator-after-svb-collapse
• Bank of England governor warns firms raising prices ‘hurts people’
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Bank-of-England-governor-warns-firms-raising-prices-hurts-people/273-256522
*
_________________________________________________________________________
D5. Workers (Inadequate Stats, Wasteful Transport, Unmodern Plantations, Services)
ee Workers attempts to correct the massive gaps and disinformation about workers, urban and rural and their representatives (trade unions, etc), and to highlight the need for organized worker power
• Sri Lanka to set up infant receiving counters for unwanted new-borns
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-set-up-infant-receiving-counters-for-unwanted-new-borns-115876/
• 50,000 apparel workers lose jobs
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/50000-apparel-workers-lose-jobs-514726.html
• CEB hit by exodus of technical staff
– island.lk/ceb-hit-by-exodus-of-technical-staff/
• 8-hour water board protest: Water Supply Professionals Trade Union Alliance (WSPTUA)
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/8-hour-water-board-protest-tomorrow-Union/108-256347
• Court order issued against CTU’s Joseph Stalin and other trade union leaders from entering several locations in Colombo
– adaderana.lk/news/89246/court-order-issued-against-ctus-joseph-stalin-and-other-trade-union-leaders
• Professional Trade Union Alliance (PTUA) tax proposals lack serious alternatives
– ft.lk/columns/PTUA-tax-proposals-lack-serious-alternatives/4-746547
• Professional Trade Union Alliance to meet on Monday to decide on further action
– sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Professional-Trade-Union-Alliance-to-meet-on-Monday-to-decide-on-further-action/2-1141255
• Any future strikes could not only be a damper to IMF but also highly damaging
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/president-ready-for-talks-with-striking-unions-imf-deal-likely-tomorrow-515118.html
• Strikes pose threat to economic recovery and growth – Sanderatne
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/strikes-pose-threat-to-economic-recovery-and-growth-514988.html
• Trade unions should sober positions & slogans to suit amicable resolution with IMF – Fernando
– island.lk/conflict-resolution-might-be-way-out/
• Sri Lanka Railways – When engine drivers ‘think’ like clerks!: Daily Mirror
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Sri-Lanka-Railways-When-engine-drivers-think-like-clerks/231-256298
• Elite well-respected educated professionals should act in a more responsible manner
– island.lk/role-of-professionals-in-achieving-economic-recovery/
• President ready for talks with striking unions, IMF deal likely tomorrow
‘Last Wednesday’s strike by some 47 member unions of the Professionals’ Trade Union Alliance (PTUA) did cripple some sectors badly. The worst hit were the schools countrywide followed by services at state-run hospitals and railways… Colombo Port, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and in District Secretariats where Development Officers and Agricultural Officers were …’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/president-ready-for-talks-with-striking-unions-imf-deal-likely-tomorrow-515118.html
• Sri Lanka to link wages and pensions to inflation: President
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-link-wages-and-pensions-to-inflation-president-116224/
• Pensions and salaries of public servants to be revised
– adaderana.lk/news/89251/pensions-and-salaries-of-public-servants-to-be-revised-
• Integrated Performance Management: A must in an organisation’s arsenal
– ft.lk/front-page/Integrated-Performance-Management-A-must-in-an-organisation-s-arsenal/44-746583
• Man in Moratuwa cuts off electrician’s hands, flees with it
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Man-cuts-off-electricians-hands-flees-with-it/108-256335
• Man who severed arms of another surrenders before court
– themorning.lk/articles/MhPV6eF2C4ofCItDYtxk
• Father and son killed in motorcycle-lorry collision
– adaderana.lk/news/89257/father-and-son-killed-in-motorcycle-lorry-collision-
• Jaffna Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) demands akin to Tigers
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/president-ready-for-talks-with-striking-unions-imf-deal-likely-tomorrow-515118.html
• FUTA on appointment of new IGP
– island.lk/futa-on-appointment-of-new-igp/
• Teacher union protests against President’s decision to defer transfers
– island.lk/tu-protests-against-presidents-decision-to-defer-transfers/
• No need principals’ recommendation for teacher transfers: Stalin
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/No-need-principals-recommendation-for-teacher-transfers-Stalin/108-256349
• Teachers to protest against arbitrary transfers
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Teachers-to-protest-against-arbitrary-transfers/108-256318
• Teachers protest on national school transfers
– sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/In-pictures-Teachers-protest-on-national-school-transfers/2-1141218
• Teachers on warpath over cancelled transfers
– island.lk/teachers-on-warpath-over-cancelled-transfers/
• “I will not allow school children to be held hostage by various groups” – President
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/i-will-not-allow-school-children-to-be-held-hostage-by-various-groups-president-ranil-wickremesinghe/
• CEB restructuring lacks transparency, unions allege
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/ceb-restructuring-lacks-transparency-unions-allege-515170.html
• Cabinet approves CEB tender bid to provide uninterrupted electricity to south
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/cabinet-approves-ceb-tender-bid-to-provide-uninterrupted-electricity-to-south-515142.html
• There is no point in protesting: Professional Chefs Association
– themorning.lk/articles/xoBWiY9VwFuSdSZeZmzY
• Five persons injured, 62 families displaced by landslides in Haldamulla, Badulla District
– island.lk/cabinet-nod-to-provide-land-for-victims-of-floods-and-landslide/
• Cabinet nod to provide land from Hineford Estate, Kandy for victims of floods and landslide
– island.lk/cabinet-nod-to-provide-land-for-victims-of-floods-and-landslide/
• IMF Fund Facility is a step towards building better future for youth: RW
– dailymirror.lk/top_story/IMF-Fund-Facility-is-a-step-towards-building-better-future-for-youth-RW/155-256323
• Unpleasant surprises in store for Colombo’s ‘glitterati’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/this-is-just-not-cricket-mr-president-514980.html
• Coca-Cola Foundation & Sri Lanka Red Cross Society uplift over 1,800 waste-collectors
– island.lk/the-coca-cola-foundation-and-sri-lanka-red-cross-society-come-together-to-uplift-over-1800-waste-collectors/
• EC writes to President; seeks funds to pay OT, holiday payments and salaries for pensioners
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/ec-writes-to-president-seeks-funds-to-pay-ot-holiday-payments-and-salaries-for-pensioners-515165.html
• Sri Lanka gets Malaysian nod for 10,000 security guard jobs
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-gets-malaysian-nod-for-10000-security-guard-jobs-115781/
• Popular preacher sent back to India
‘Posters sprung up in Jaffna against the visit, that he was on a mission of unethical conversions’
– sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Popular-preacher-sent-back-to-India/2-1141254
• Furnishing a letter to mislead British HC: SC suspends lawyer from practicing for six months
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Furnishing-a-letter-to-mislead-British-HC-SC-suspends-lawyer-from-practicing-for-six-months/108-256492
• Foreign travel allowance for ministers, parliamentarians & senior officials slashed from tomorrow
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/foreign-travel-allowance-to-be-slashed-from-tomorrow-515153.html
• Govt. to introduce Estate Duty as a property tax by 2025: RW
‘The government plans to make public the list of individuals and institutions who enjoy tax concessions and tax holidays, and large-scale government procurement contracts.’
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Govt-to-introduce-Estate-Duty-as-a-property-tax-by-2025-RW/108-256324
• Sri Lankans happier this year than last year, World Happiness Report [Funder Unnamed]
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/sri-lankans-happier-this-year-than-last-year-world-happiness-report-finds/
• Universities have given birth to thousands of economists….But we are in debt
– kalaya.org/2023/03/blog-post_47.html
• The English did not want to establish universities in this country
– kalaya.org/2023/03/blog-post_47.html
• Parliamentary Select Committee discusses non-governmental higher education institutes
‘Nagananda Institute, SLINTE higher education institute, ISOFT Metro Campus, Saegis Campus, ICBT, Royal Institute, IChem were present…’
– adaderana.lk/news/89259/parliamentary-select-committee-discusses-future-of-non-governmental-higher-education-institutes
• Expanding IT industry to hire more; mixed view on compensation strategies
– ft.lk/front-page/Expanding-IT-industry-to-hire-more-mixed-view-on-compensation-strategies/44-746702
• Sajith questions sudden decision to charge Rs. 225,000 from students following National Diploma in Engineering Sciences (NDES)
– island.lk/sajith-questions-sudden-decision-to-charge-rs-225000-from-students-following-ndes/
• US-Korean support to Vocational Training Authority (VTA) Institute in Niyagama
– ft.lk/business/Korean-support-to-boost-vocational-training-and-education-in-Sri-Lanka/34-746632
• PwC Sri Lanka collaborates with Royal Institute of Colombo offering career opportunities for undergraduates
– ft.lk/business/PwC-Sri-Lanka-collaborates-with-Royal-Institute-of-Colombo-offering-career-opportunities-for-undergraduates/34-746713
• English Quantity Surveying Degree Programme from SLIIT
– island.lk/british-quantity-surveying-degree-programme-from-sliit/
• Hundreds studying medicine in Universities in England, Nepal, Bangladesh and East Europe
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/More-universities-or-continued-procrastination-EDITORIAL/172-256296
• Covid takes its toll on literacy and numeracy in Sri Lanka
– island.lk/covid-takes-its-toll-on-literacy-and-numeracy-in-sri-lanka/
• Dasis Manchanayake – Royal College’s new superstar
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/dasis-manchanayake-royal-colleges-new-superstar/
• Japan provides USD 1.6mn to support marginalized females in Sri Lanka
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/japan-provides-usd-1-6mn-to-support-marginalized-females-in-sri-lanka/
• Japan donates USD 1.6mn to Sri Lankan women impacted by economic hardships
– economynext.com/japan-donates-usd-1-6mn-to-sri-lankan-women-impacted-by-economic-hardships-116290/
• Japan provides US$ 1.6mn to Lankan women affected by socioeconomic crisis
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Japan-provides-US-1-6mn-to-Lankan-women-affected-by-seoci-economic-crisis/108-256435
• International Women’s Day with Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce – Women Leadership Forum
– ft.lk/business/WCIC-commemorates-International-Women-s-Day-with-WCIC-Women-Leadership-Forum/34-746666
• Meta, Sarvodaya, ICTA and partners unite for digital empowerment of Sri Lankan women
– ft.lk/business/Meta-ICTA-and-partners-unite-for-digital-empowerment-of-Sri-Lankan-women/34-746664
• Lanka Impact Investing Network (LIIN) Platform for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (PIE) project, by World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
– ft.lk/business/LIIN-and-WUSC-Launch-Awakasha-net-a-Digital-Platform-for-Inclusive-Entrepreneurship/34-746665
• Caste-factor is so dominant in Sri Lankan politics – Upul Wijayawardhana
– island.lk/casteism-the-canker/
• ‘Your father and my father were classmates, you and I are Class Brothers!’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/plus/my-first-day-at-school-514658.html
• Finest Ambassadress to come out of the USA to the East’ – My Mother
‘The Parsis were notoriously westernized… respected by both Indians and English alike.’
– island.lk/poor-little-rich-boy/
• Rockwood promoted opium was also physician to the Governor of Ceylon Sir West Ridgeway
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/plus/appreciations-8-514638.html
• Tamil Nadu: Ground Being Prepared for Worker-Peasant Rally on April 5
– newsclick.in/tamil-nadu-ground-being-prepared-worker-peasant-rally-april-5
• Xi on Marx – 2018
– redsails.org/xi-on-marx/
• At least five drown off Tunisia coast trying to reach Europe
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317493-at-least-five-drown-off-tunisia-coast-trying-to-reach-europe
• Unions, Political Parties Take South African State to Court Over Severe Power Cuts
– newsclick.in/unions-political-parties-take-south-african-state-court-over-severe-power-cuts
• Next Steps in Energy Policy for Unions in Brazil
– socialistproject.ca/2023/03/next-steps-energy-policy-unions-brazil/
• Brazil dismantles gang planning attacks against authorities
‘The Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the country’s most powerful criminal gang, is linked to the retaliatory acts.’
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317492-brazil-dismantles-gang-planning-attacks-against-authorities
• Brazilian forces evict illegal gold miners from Yanomami territory in Amazon
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317490-brazilian-forces-evict-illegal-gold-miners-from-yanomami-territory-in-amazon
• Cristina Fernández affirms that persecution against her is for seeking social justice
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317489-cristina-fernandez-affirms-that-persecution-against-her-is-for-seeking-social-justice
• Domenico Losurdo interviewed about Liberalism: A Counter-History (2012)
– redsails.org/losurdo-and-platypus/
• Chapter III of Domenico Losurdo’s Class Struggle (2013)
‘Rather than being “natural allies,” countries where the bourgeoisie was dominant were divided by ruthless competition, the outcome of which could be war.’
– redsails.org/protracted-positive-sum-struggle/
• Venture capitalists get richer by convincing tech workers to live in a casino atmosphere
– slashdot.org/~ScienceBard
• How Humanity Went Blind To The Stars
– indi.ca
• An Old Woman – A Lenin Folktale
– redsails.org/a-lenin-folktalke/
• Beyond Fatalism: Renewing Working-Class Politics –Gindin
– socialistproject.ca/2023/03/beyond-fatalism-renewing-working-class-politics/
• Thousands hold fresh protest in Portugal, demand cap on food prices
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317160-thousands-hold-fresh-protest-in-portugal-demand-cap-on-food-prices
• French government narrowly survives no confidence vote after Macron slashes pensions
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317344-french-government-narrowly-survives-no-confidence-vote-after-macron-slashes-pensions
• Strikes and protests continue in England as workers demand living wages
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317079-strikes-and-protests-continue-in-uk-as-workers-demand-living-wages
• U.S. farmworkers demand Publix, Kroger, Wendy’s stop enabling labor abuses
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317331-us-farmworkers-demand-publix-kroger-wendys-stop-enabling-labor-abuses
• Texas officials take over Houston’s majority Black & Latinx public school district
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317163-texas-state-officials-take-over-houstons-majority-black-and-latinx-public-school-district-in-racist-move
*
_________________________________________________________________________
D6. Agriculture (Robbery of rural home market; Machines, if used, mainly imported)
ee Agriculture emphasizes the failure to industrialize an agriculture that keeps the cultivator impoverished under moneylender and merchant, and the need to develop the rural home market, monetization and commercialization, to produce, rather than import, agricultural machinery.
• Attack on rice production and paddy lands act
– twitter.com/VeriteResearch/status/1639454556324237314
• Fertiliser distribution: World Bank’s digital oversight process undermined by sluggish officers
‘Among the constraints mentioned were the non-availability of smartphones, funds and a reluctance of ADOs to use the application at times when large numbers of farmers were queuing up for fertiliser.’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/fertiliser-distribution-world-banks-digital-oversight-process-undermined-by-sluggish-officers-515145.html
• UN World Food Programme finds 32% of Lankan households are food insecure
‘Remote Household Food Security Survey Brief of the WFP…’
– island.lk/wfp-finds-32-percent-of-lankan-households-are-food-insecure/
• US Envoy Chung announces new USDA Food Aid
– island.lk/ambassador-chung-announces-new-usda-food-aid/
• US TSP fertilizer being successfully distributed island-wide – Agri. Ministry
– themorning.lk/articles/otQIvyL31GleU7uv8D2Y
• US Ambassador visits Hayleys Plantations’ Pedro Tea Estate
– ft.lk/business/US-Ambassador-visits-Hayleys-Plantations-Pedro-Tea-Estate/34-746715
• A middle path for Sri Lankan agriculture: Sustainable intensification – II
– island.lk/a-middle-path-for-sri-lankan-agriculture-sustainable-intensification-ii/
• Runaway pollution of ground water here threatening existence of many beyond next decade
– island.lk/runaway-pollution-of-ground-water-here-threatening-existence-of-many-beyond-next-decade/
• Eggs imported from India sent for testing
– english.newsfirst.lk/2023/3/24/eggs-imported-from-india-sent-for-testing
• Pakistan donates ration bags for the poor
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/sunday-times-2/pakistan-donates-ration-bags-for-the-poor-514930.html
• Sri Lanka coconut auction prices edge up
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-coconut-auction-prices-edge-up-115882/
• HelloFresh drops Thai coconut milk due to monkey slave labor
– island.lk/hellofresh-drops-thai-coconut-milk-due-to-monkey-slave-labor/
• India pledges support for livestock development here
– island.lk/india-pledges-support-for-livestock-development-here/
• Sri Lanka likely to see further beef price hike over lump disease in North
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-likely-to-see-further-beef-price-hike-over-lump-disease-in-north-115652/
• All-time record price for Ceciliyan Tea Factory
–ft.lk/business/All-time-record-price-for-Ceciliyan-Tea-Factory/34-746633
• Sri Lanka high low grown teas gain, mid growns ease
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-high-low-grown-teas-gain-mid-growns-ease-115848/
• Sri Lanka tea exports down 12.2-pct in February 2023
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-tea-exports-down-12-2-pct-in-february-2023-115838/
• Good demand at Colombo Tea Auction this week
– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Good-demand-at-Colombo-Tea-Auction-this-week/273-256521
• Baurs Consumer Division gets new chief
– island.lk/baurs-consumer-division-gets-new-chief/
• Five single-use plastic products banned from July: Dr. Jasinghe
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Five-single-use-plastic-products-banned-from-July-Dr-Jasinghe/108-256337
• Sustainable economic development goals cannot be achieved unless…– Sagala Ratnayake
– island.lk/sustainable-economic-development-goals-cannot-be-achieved-unless-attention-is-paid-to-mitigating-climate-change-sagala-ratnayake/
*
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D7. Industry (False definitions, anti-industrial sermons, rentier/entrepreneur, etc)
ee Industry notes the ignorance about industrialization (versus handicraft and manufacture), the dependence on importing foreign machinery, the need to make machines that make machines, build a producer culture. False definitions of industry, entrepreneur, etc, abound, and the need for a holistic political, economic and military strategy to overcome domination by merchants and moneylenders.
• India’s Petroleum Ministry Secretary, IOC Chairman expected in Colombo today
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Indias-Petroleum-Ministry-Secretary-IOC-Chairman-expected-in-Colombo-today/108-256442
• Govt. assures transparent divestiture of stakes in 9 SOEs
– ft.lk/front-page/Govt-assures-transparent-divestiture-of-stakes-in-9-SOEs/44-746701
• Seven state-owned enterprises to be divested
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/23/seven-state-owned-enterprises-to-be-divested/
• Sri Lanka president says state need not do business; seven SOEs to be divested
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-says-state-need-not-do-business-seven-soes-to-be-divested-116348/
• PM says SOEs big headache for economy
– island.lk/pm-says-soes-big-headache-for-economy/
• Restructuring of CEB and CPC to be expedited – Kanchana
– themorning.lk/articles/YkxBwSA4SjoeIdBVOiX1
• CEB denies unofficial power cuts, disburses Rs600mn to buy emergency power from private sector
– island.lk/ceb-denies-unofficial-power-cuts-disburses-rs-600-mn-to-buy-emergency-power-from-private-sector/
• Parliament committee discusses SME issues
– themorning.lk/articles/kyZbZBb3uYV6Qt3brDUT
• Decline in consumers’ purchasing power hits manufacturing sector
– island.lk/decline-in-consumers-purchasing-power-hits-manufacturing-sector-2/
• Largest capacity crane in Sri Lanka unloaded at Hambantota International Port
‘for Hiruras Wind Power Project in Mannar.’
– island.lk/largest-capacity-crane-in-sri-lanka-unloaded-at-hip/
• 1,000 tonne crane unloaded at Sri Lanka’s China backed port
– economynext.com/1000-tonne-crane-unloaded-at-sri-lankas-china-backed-port-115852/
• Fuel price revision monthly as per 2018 formula, electricity half yearly
– ft.lk/front-page/Fuel-price-revision-monthly-as-per-2018-formula-electricity-half-yearly/44-746653
• The CPC: ‘oil’ leaks and greasy palms?
– malindawords.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-cpc-oil-leaks-and-greasy-palms.html
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/24/the-cpc-oil-leaks-and-greasy-palms/
• Champika attributes high prices of fuel and power to corruption
– island.lk/champika-attributes-high-prices-of-fuel-and-power-to-corruption/
• Renewable energy tariffs to change according to market variations
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/renewable-energy-tariffs-to-change-according-to-market-variations-514720.html
• Sri Lanka Power Minister assures to cut fuel prices in April
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-power-minister-assures-to-cut-fuel-prices-in-april-116140/
• No power cuts due to N’cholai unit failure – Minister
– island.lk/no-power-cuts-due-to-ncholai-unit-failure-minister/
• Sri Lanka coal plant breaks down ahead of scheduled maintenance
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-coal-plant-breaks-down-ahead-of-scheduled-maintenance-115850/
• Norochicolai breaking again. Isn’t there a way out? – Garvin Karunaratne
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/norochicolai-breaking-again-isnt-there-a-way-out/
• CEB restructuring lacks transparency, unions allege
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/ceb-restructuring-lacks-transparency-unions-allege-515170.html
• Appeals petition filed before SC over electricity tariff hike
– adaderana.lk/news/89258/appeals-petition-filed-before-sc-over-electricity-tariff-hike
• DMC, NBRO and Met. Dept. to be modernized with World Bank assistance
– adaderana.lk/news/89300/dmc-nbro-and-met-dept-to-be-modernized-with-world-bank-assistance
• Sri Lankan envoy discusses collaboration in transport sector with Indian Minister
– adaderana.lk/news/89320/sri-lankan-envoy-discusses-collaboration-in-transport-sector-with-indian-minister
• Treasury will have to bear part of SriLankan debt even after restructuring: Minister
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Treasury-will-have-to-bear-part-of-SriLankan-debt-even-after-restructuring-Minister/108-256486
• Terminal 2 project of BIA to resume with Japan’s assistance: Aviation Minister
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Terminal-2-project-of-BIA-to-resume-with-Japans-assistance-Aviation-Minister/108-256487
• McLarens Maritime Academy provides seafarers and maritime professionals
‘90 per cent of global trade is happening via ships’
– island.lk/sl-in-a-position-to-provide-professionals-to-global-maritime-industry/
• Jaya Container Terminals Limited (JCT) subsidiary of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). ‘Since 2008, its primary business has been to store marine fuel, including Low Sulphur Fuel (LSF) and Marine Gas Oil (MGO) for seagoing vessels’
– island.lk/jct-concludes-exemplary-performance-over-2022-financial-year/
• Sri Lanka establishes committee to investigate aircraft incidents
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-establishes-committee-to-investigate-aircraft-incidents-116286/
• Travel expenses in Colombo 75% higher than 2022 – ECA International report
– adaderana.lk/news/89261/travel-expenses-in-colombo-75-higher-than-2022-report
• President saved SL from economic war: Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) Chairman
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/President-saved-SL-from-economic-war-Gemunu/108-256346
• Sri Lanka’s Senaro Motors to export locally assembled motorbikes to Kenya
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-senaro-motors-to-export-locally-assembled-motorbikes-to-kenya-116150/
• Sri Lanka airport may give parking slots for Pick Me
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-airport-may-give-parking-slots-for-pick-me-115957/
• DPL unveils automated central warehouse facility to optimise export market service delivery
– ft.lk/business/DPL-unveils-automated-central-warehouse-facility-to-optimise-export-market-service-delivery/34-746630
• International Telecommunication Union Regional Office and Innovation Centre in India
‘a specialised United Nations agency for international information and communication technologies’
– ft.lk/business/ITU-Regional-Office-and-Innovation-Centre-will-catalyse-ground-breaking-solutions-Kanaka-Herath/34-746714
• BoardPAC’s inaugural grant to ICTA Sri Lanka
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/boardpacs-inaugural-grant-to-icta-sri-lanka-514701.html
• Virtusa identifying transformation, investing in branding
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/virtusa-identifying-transformation-investing-in-branding-514723.html
• HRC issues summons to top health officials over medicine shortage
– sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/HRC-issues-summons-to-top-health-officials-over-medicine-shortage/2-1141222
• Liquor consumption increases; Excise revenue decreases
– island.lk/liquor-consumption-increases-excise-revenue-decreases/
• Sri Lanka to hit smokers, drinkers with index linked taxes
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-hit-smokers-drinkers-with-index-linked-taxes-116394/
• Finance Ministry clarifies opposition claims on excise tax
– ft.lk/front-page/Finance-Ministry-clarifies-opposition-claims-on-excise-tax/44-746696
• ‘Crafting Ceylon’ to open foreign markets for the handicrafts industry
– ft.lk/business/Crafting-Ceylon-to-open-foreign-markets-for-the-handicrafts-industry/34-746716
• The DRS inventor Senaka Weeraratna deserves Plaque in honour by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/22/the-drs-inventor-senaka-weeraratna-deserves-a-plaque-in-his-honour-by-sri-lanka-cricket-slc/
• ‘Energy companies should share their profits with badly affected countries’ – Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Energy-companies-should-share-their-profits-with-badly-affected-countries-Bangladeshi-Foreign-Minister-Dr-A-K-Abdul-Momen/231-253586
• USA’s Chips War With China: Another Sanctions Backfire Coming?
– nakedcapitalism.com/2023/03/americas-chips-war-with-china-another-sanctions-backfire-coming.html
• China’s Hidden Tech Revolution – How Beijing Threatens U.S. Dominance
– foreignaffairs.com/china/chinas-hidden-tech-revolution-how-beijing-threatens-us-dominance-dan-wang
• President Luis Arce defends Bolivia’s sovereignty over lithium
‘Unlike Argentina and Chile, which granted multinationals the right to exploit lithium reserves, the Bolivian state controls all production of this metal in its territory’
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317393-president-luis-arce-defends-bolivias-sovereignty-over-lithium
• Morgenthau Plan to eliminate Germany’s key industries
– en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan
• Clusters and the New Economics of Competition – 1998
– hbr.org/1998/11/clusters-and-the-new-economics-of-competition
*
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D8. Finance (Making money from money, banks, lack of investment in modernity)
ee Finance tracks the effects of financialization, the curious role of ratings agencies, false indices, etc., and the rule of moneylenders, preventing investment in modern production.
• ‘Surfing Through the Crisis’: ErnstYoung (EY)’s ‘Debt Restructuring Implications to the Financial Services Sector’
– island.lk/surfing-through-the-crisis/
• Banks’ bottomlines vary depending on ‘how exposed they are to foreign currency’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/business-times/commercial-bank-exploring-overseas-expansion-514729.html
• People’s Insurance appoints Azzam Ahmat as Non-Executive Non-Independent Director
‘He is the Head of Finance at People’s Bank, and on the Boards of People’s Leasing & Finance PLC and Lankan Alliance Finance’
– dailymirror.lk/business/Peoples-Insurance-appoints-Azzam-Ahmat-as-Non-Executive-Non-Independent-Director/215-256306
• Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank opens Indian rupee Nostro account in Mumbai
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-seylan-bank-opens-indian-rupee-nostro-account-in-mumbai-115843/
• HNB Assurance Gross Written Premium (GWP) end December 2022 to reach LKR 8.9Bn.
– island.lk/hnba-records-an-impressive-26-gwp-and-30-new-business-growth-in-2022/
• Investors in wait-and-see mode ahead of reportedly crucial IMF-Govt. talks (Mc17)
– island.lk/investors-in-wait-and-see-mode-ahead-of-reportedly-crucial-imf-govt-talks/
• Sri Lanka bond yields down; Rupee closes 332/335 (Mc20)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-down-rupee-closes-332-335-115948/
• Sri Lanka bond yields down; Rupee closes 321/323 (Mc21)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-down-rupee-closes-321-323-116177/
• Sri Lanka bond yields down, t-bills up at close (Mc22)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-down-t-bills-up-at-close-116262/
• Sri Lanka bill yields fall across maturities at auction (Mc22)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bill-yields-fall-across-maturities-at-auction-116249/
• Sri Lanka bond yields down, Rupee opens at 310/320 against US dollar (Mc23)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-down-rupee-opens-at-310-320-against-us-dollar-116281/
• Sri Lanka bond yields steady, Rupee 319/325 at close
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-steady-rupee-319-325-at-close-116327/
• Sri Lanka bond and t-bill yields up, Rupee at 320/325 against US dollar at close (Mc24)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-and-t-bill-yields-up-rupee-at-320-325-against-us-dollar-at-close-116463/
• Sri Lanka rupee stronger at Rs330/338 to US dollar (Mc20)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-stronger-at-rs330-338-to-us-dollar-115887/
• SL Rupee appreciates further against USD (Mc22)
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/SL-Rupee-appreciates-further-against-USD/108-256329
• Sri Lanka rupee stronger at Rs318/320 to US dollar
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-stronger-at-rs318-320-to-us-dollar-116234/
• Sri Lankan Rupee appreciates against US Dollar
– adaderana.lk/news/89248/sri-lankan-rupee-appreciates-against-us-dollar-
• Sri Lanka’s mid-day shares edge up on wait and see approach (Mc20)
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-mid-day-shares-edge-up-on-wait-and-see-approach-115881/
• CSE expected to maintain growth momentum in wake of brighter IMF bailout hopes
– island.lk/cse-expected-to-maintain-growth-momentum-in-the-wake-of-brighter-imf-bailout-hopes/
• Sri Lanka stocks edge up in thin trade on expected IMF approval
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-edge-up-in-thin-trade-on-expected-imf-approval-115945/
• Sri Lanka’s mid day shares edge down on profit taking after IMF approval (Mc21)
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-mid-day-shares-edge-down-on-profit-taking-after-imf-approval-116024/
• Tepid response from stock market for IMF news
– dailymirror.lk/business/Tepid-response-from-stock-market-for-IMF-news/215-256309
• No cheer at CSE over IMF deal as indices dip by 1%
– ft.lk/front-page/No-cheer-at-CSE-over-IMF-deal-as-indices-dip-by-1/44-746620
• Sri Lanka stocks end a five day rally on banking sector concerns over domestic debt restructuring
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-end-a-five-day-rally-on-banking-sector-concerns-over-domestic-debt-restructuring-116139/
• SL shares fall at close on local debt restructuring speculation after IMF approval (Mc22)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-shares-fall-at-close-on-local-debt-restructuring-speculation-after-imf-approval-116253/
• Sri Lanka’s shares edge down in mid day trade
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-shares-edge-down-in-mid-day-trade-116226/
• Sri Lanka shares dive to two-week low on local debt restructuring fears (Mc23)
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-shares-dive-to-two-week-low-on-local-debt-restructuring-fears-116306/
• Sri Lanka’s shares edge down in mid day trade
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-shares-edge-down-in-mid-day-trade-116283/
• Bearish sentiment persists at Bourse; crossings boost turnover
– ft.lk/front-page/Bearish-sentiment-persists-at-Bourse-crossings-boost-turnover/44-746698
• Sri Lanka’s shares rise slightly after three-day fall as buying interest returns (Mc24)
– economynext.com/sri-lankas-shares-rise-slightly-after-three-day-fall-as-buying-interest-returns-116435/
• IMF deal fails to prevent CSE suffering first weekly loss in a month
– ft.lk/front-page/IMF-deal-fails-to-prevent-CSE-suffering-first-weekly-loss-in-a-month/44-746736
• Powell and Yellen Say the Banking System Is Sound as Another Global Bank Teeters
‘Systemic Risk Among Deutsche Bank and Global Systemically Important Banks…brainwashed by the banking cartel and its captured regulators’
– wallstreetonparade.com/2023/03/powell-and-yellen-say-the-banking-system-is-sound-as-another-global-bank-teeters
• Thiel’s Founders Fund Withdrew Millions From Silicon Valley Bank
– bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-11/thiel-s-founders-fund-withdrew-millions-from-silicon-valley-bank
• SVB: When Silly Valley Sneezes, DevOps Catches a Cold
– devops.com/svb-devops-bank-run-richixbw/
• UBS Quietly Bailed Out in 2008 Gets $173 Billion Backstop to Buy Credit Suisse Shares
– wallstreetonparade.com/2023/03/ubs-was-quietly-bailed-out-in-2008-now-its-getting-a-173-billion-backstop-to-buy-credit-suisse-at-82-cents-a-share/
• At Year End, JPMorgan Chase Held Over $1Trillion in Uninsured Deposits Versus $119 Billion at First Republic
– wallstreetonparade.com/2023/03/at-year-end-jpmorgan-chase-held-over-1-trillion-in-uninsured-deposits-versus-119-billion-at-first-republic/
*
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D9. Business (Rentierism: money via imports, real-estate, tourism, insurance, fear, privatization)
ee Business focuses on the rentier diversions of the oligarchy, the domination by a merchant mafia, making money from unproductive land sales, tourism, insurance, advertising, etc. – the charade of corporate press releases disguised as ‘news’
• Japan Deputy Head of Mission visits Board of Investment (BOI) to discuss new investment
• Sri Lanka China Business Council office bearers elected
‘Chaminda Perera, Deranya as President and Minidi Gamalath of Sudath Perera Associates, as Vice President, Haroun Cader of the Sinwa Holdings as Senior Vice President, Aruna Perera as Immediate Past President. Acorn Aviation Private, Bank of China Colombo Branch, David Peiris Motor Company, Ernst & Young, Heritage Teas, Prima Ceylon, Singer Sri Lanka, Spillburg Holdings, South Asia Gateway Terminals, and Sunshine Tea were elected as Committee Members. The Sri Lanka China Business Council operates under the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce…’
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-china-business-council-office-bearers-elected-115845/
• National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) recognises the contribution of Halal certification
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/columns/economic-gains-of-inclusivity-and-nondiscrimination-514993.html
• Issuing permanent, daily liquor licences in Maharagama suspended
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Issuing-permanent-daily-liquor-licences-in-Maharagama-suspended/108-256292
• Cabinet nod to table Betting and Gaming Levy (Amendment) Bill in parliament
– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Cabinet-nod-to-table-Betting-and-Gaming-Levy-Amendment-Bill-in-parliament/108-256313
*
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D10. Politics (Anti-parliament discourse, unelected constitution)
ee Politics points to the constant diversions and spectacles and the mercantile and financial forces funding the political actors, of policy hijacked by private interests minus public oversight.
• Election is worthwhile investment to make the irate public simmer down and bring stability
– island.lk/celebration-of-debt/
• With IMF funds, Ranil will target 2024 Presidential poll – Jeyaraj
– dailymirror.lk/opinion/With-IMF-boost-Ranil-will-target-2024-Presidential-poll/172-256530
• NPP/JVP popularity surge in Feb. Opinion Tracker
– island.lk/npp-jvp-popularity-surge-in-feb-opinion-tracker/
• JVP-led NPP scents sweet smell of polls success
– ft.lk/columns/JVP-led-NPP-scents-sweet-smell-of-polls-success/4-746598
• What JVP-NPP needs to do to win – Jayatilleka
– island.lk/what-jvp-npp-needs-to-do-to-win/
• Rehashing the failures of the Left – Devapriya
– island.lk/rehashing-the-failures-of-the-left/
• Lessons from current political agitations – Merril Gunaratne
– island.lk/lessons-from-current-political-agitations/
• The All-Powerful Sri Lankan Presidency– Srinivasan
‘He brutally crushed a massive general strike of workers in 1980, sacking about 40,000 public sector workers using emergency regulations’
– island.lk/the-all-powerful-sri-lankan-presidency/
• Witnessing the rise of the Sri Lankan version of the Third Reich – Island Editorial
– island.lk/doomed-democracy-2/
• SJB, JVP move SC against Finance Secy. for contempt of court
– island.lk/sjb-jvp-move-sc-against-finance-secy-for-contempt-of-court/
• SJB & NPP files contempt of court petitions against Treasury Secretary
– ft.lk/front-page/SJB-NPP-files-contempt-of-court-petitions-against-Treasury-Secretary/44-746617
• Refusal of funds for LG polls: SJB to move SC against Treasury chief
– island.lk/refusal-of-funds-for-lg-polls-sjb-to-move-sc-against-treasury-chief/
• Kiriella: Govt. intimidating judiciary, EC and media
– island.lk/kiriella-govt-intimidating-judiciary-ec-and-media/
• Sri Lanka govt would allow elections if Sajith’s SJB could win, claims JVP leader
– economynext.com/sri-lanka-govt-would-allow-elections-if-sajiths-sjb-could-win-claims-jvp-leader-115946/
• Privilege issue: House warned against move to summon SC judges
– island.lk/privilege-issue-house-warned-against-move-to-summon-sc-judges/
• Most people desire new political culture: Herath
– island.lk/most-people-desire-new-political-culture-herath/
• Obtaining fresh mandate unavoidable requirement – USAID NPC Perera
– island.lk/obtaining-fresh-mandate-unavoidable-requirement/
• Khyentse Foundation and now UP Government of Ministry of Culture and Tourism, International Buddhist Confederation
– lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/03/20/buddhavaccana-the-words-of-the-buddha-connect-this-lifetime/
• India’s Congress leader Rahul Gandhi disqualified from parliament
– themorning.lk/articles/xuaIJYYP8OEtKAbMEpu6
*
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D11. Media (Mis/Coverage of economics, technology, science and art)
ee Media shows how corporate media monopoly determines what is news, art, culture, etc. The media is part of the public relations (corporate propaganda) industry. The failure to highlight our priorities, the need to read between the lines. To set new perspectives and priorities.
• The Rebirth of The Axis of Evil
‘Twenty years ago the USA launched its war on Iraq. This proceeded by a massive propaganda campaign paid for and directed by the Pentagon.’
– moonofalabama.org/2023/03/axis.htm
• The ‘Junior Partner’ Meme Gives No Insight To Real Changes
‘It is quite interesting how ‘western’ political memes are created and spread’
– moonofalabama.org/2023/03/the-junior-partner-meme-gives-no-insight-to-real-changes
• How The Threat Of China Was Made In The USA
– youtube.com/watch?v=KuPuXAUXZjY
• Meta permits medicine appeal for Lanka despite violation of rules
‘The ‘Oversight Board’ makes content-moderation decisions related to Meta’s social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. The Sri Lankan case was referred to it by Meta itself.’
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/news/meta-permits-medicine-appeal-for-lanka-despite-violation-of-rules-515151.html
• Kumar Nadesan, MD Express Newspapers, felicitated for receiving top Indian award
– sundaytimes.lk/230319/sunday-times-2/kumar-nadesan-md-express-newspapers-felicitated-for-receiving-top-indian-award-514933.html
• 2023 edition of SLIM-KANTAR People’s Awards under theme ‘Choices define us’
– island.lk/slim-announces-the-2023-edition-of-slim-kantar-peoples-awards-under-the-theme-choices-define-us/
• Three Ways I Actually Use AI
– indi.ca
• A pink face to passion play culture
– dailymirror.lk/news-features/A-fresh-face-to-passion-play-culture/131-256352
• Domenico Losurdo interviewed about Friedrich Nietzsche (2009)
– redsails.org/losurdo-und-telepolis/
• Chernyshevsky’s Ethics and Aesthetics – Anatoly Lunacharsky, 1928
– redsails.org/chernyshevskys-ethics-and-aesthetics/
• Twitter threatens to lock some accounts beginning today
– radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/317175-twitter-threatens-to-lock-some-accounts-beginning-today
• Reckoning with a Major Twitter Troll
– consortiumnews.com/2023/03/17/john-kiriakou-reckoning-with-a-major-twitter-troll/
*
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