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Debt crisis

‘The Canary in the Coal Mine’: Sri Lanka’s Crisis is a Chronicle Foretold

7 August 2022 - by Eric Toussaint, B. Skanthakumar

Sri Lanka’s acute economic crisis and sovereign debt default, along with its people’s uprising in 2022, has drawn attention across the world. It is described as the ‘canary in the coal mine’, that is, a harbinger of the likely future for other (...)
‘Weeks when decades happen’

28 July 2022 - by B. Skanthakumar

“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen”, as Lenin never actually said. The estrangement between the regime-state in Sri Lanka and its core constituencies, while widening over the course of the pandemic (...)
Sri Lanka’s Crisis is Endgame for Rajapaksas

11 July 2022 - by B. Skanthakumar

Sri Lanka’s citizens’ movement known as the Janatha Aragalaya (‘Peoples’ Struggle’), notched its most significant victory yet, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced through the Speaker of Parliament that he would quit on 13th July, mid-way through his (...)
After a decline in movements against illegitimate debt between 2016 and 2022, will there be a resurgence in 2023?

6 July 2022 - by Eric Toussaint

The decline in “debt” movements between 2016 and 2022 The period 2016-2022 has been marked by a retreat in anti-illegitimate debt movements on a global scale with a few important exceptions: Argentina since 2020, Puerto Rico in 2017-2019, Lebanon (...)
Sri Lankan Uprising: Struggles against neoliberal austerity

10 June 2022 - by Nagesh Rao, Nimanthi Rajasingham

Sri Lanka is in the throes of political upheaval as a spiraling economic crisis has sparked widespread mass protests and strikes against the government. On May 9th, then prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned and was forced to take refuge in (...)
The IMF in Debt Restructuring, the Resurgence of Austerity, and the Urgency of Fiscal Justice

27 May 2022 - by Bhumika Muchhala

As Sri Lanka officially defaults on its sovereign debt repayments, and enters negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for access to loans in return for structural macro-economic change in response to the ongoing economic crisis, the (...)
The making and masking of Sri Lanka’s debt crisis

17 May 2022 - by Matt Withers

Sri Lanka is in the grip of its worst economic crisis since Independence. Behind recent headlines, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed structural problems that were decades in the making. The origins of today’s foreign exchange crisis are rooted in (...)
Is Sri Lanka burdened by ‘odious’ debt?

16 May 2022 - by Akalanka Thilakarathna

The current economic situation in the country can be linked to its political instability. While economic and political instability goes hand in hand, the current dilemma facing the country can be attributed to bad planning and decision making, (...)
Pakistan : Regime Change, Political Turmoil and Deepening Debt Crisis

3 May 2022 - by Abdul Khaliq

Pakistan has plunged into a major political crisis after the removal of Prime Minister Imran Khan on 10 April 22, through a successful no-confidence motion against the PTI govt. The month-long political crisis began on 8 March when the country’s (...)
The Argentinian (2001) and Sri Lankan (2022) Financial Crises: Ways Forward from a Feminist Perspective

27 April 2022 - by Corina Rodriguez

In response to Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, and the consensus across the political spectrum and even social classes that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out and structural adjustment programme is the only short-to-medium term (...)
Why should Ukraine’s debt be cancelled?

21 April 2022 - by Eric Toussaint, Sushovan Dhar

Sushovan Dhar: How much is the Ukrainian public debt and who are the main creditors? Eric Toussaint: Ukraine’s external debt, public and private, is about $130 billion, half of this debt is owed by the government, and the other half by the (...)
Sri Lanka: No agreement with the IMF!

15 April 2022 - by Eric Toussaint, Sushovan Dhar

A Sri Lankan delegation will travel to Washington next week to try to secure up to $4 billion from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders to help the island nation pay for food and fuel imports as well as stem defaults on its debt. (...)
Argentine civil society denounces new IMF agreement as illegitimate

9 April 2022 - by Bretton Woods Project

As reported by Al Jazeera, the Argentine Senate voted on 18 March to proceed with a 30-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement of $45 billion or 1000 per cent of the country’s quota. The programme was agreed upon days ahead of a payment of (...)
Frying Pan of Shortages to the Post-IMF Fire

4 April 2022 - by Ahilan Kadirgamar

The scorching heat in April and May is going to fry our working people as food and medicines are in short supply, oil shortages lead to transport disruption and power cuts shut down shop floors. What does one make of the mismanagement of an (...)
The submerging market debt crisis

4 April 2022 - by Michael Roberts

Last week, Ghana’s central bank announced its biggest ever interest-rate hike as it sought to slow rampant inflation that threatens to create a debt crisis in one of West Africa’s largest economies. The Bank of Ghana raised its main lending rate (...)
Global Sovereign Debt Monitor 2022

4 April 2022 - by Erlassjahr.de, MISEREOR

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global debt situation has deteriorated. Countries in all regions of the world will emerge from the pandemic with unsustainable debt levels. While it was possible to avoid a massive sovereign default (...)
Averting the Looming Food Crisis

27 March 2022 - by Sandun Thududgala

A food crisis is inevitable. Food prices are soaring; shortages in essential food items are creating long queues, affecting people’s ability to work and get on with productive lives; the foreign reserve crisis has restricted the country’s ability (...)
Immediately cancel Mozambique and Southern Africa’s debt!

6 February 2022 - by CADTM

The CADTM stands in solidarity with the victims of the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Ana. Indeed, the storm brought winds, heavy rains, damage and destruction to parts of Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, affecting several (...)
‘There is no money left’: Covid crisis leaves Sri Lanka on brink of bankruptcy

2 February 2022 - by Minoli de Soysa, Hannah Ellis-Petersen

Sri Lanka is facing a deepening financial and humanitarian crisis with fears it could go bankrupt in 2022 as inflation rises to record levels, food prices rocket and its coffers run dry. The meltdown faced by the government, led by the (...)
Why Not Default: A Subaltern Perspective

2 February 2022 - by Sumanasiri Liyanage

Having read many opinions over the issue about what should be done with regard to the debt crisis in Sri Lanka, I think even a scary task of summarising the argument of a book of 384 pages in 1,000 to 1,200 words column would be a useful (...)
Pakistan : Toxic austerity attack comes hot on the heels of a pandemic

31 January 2022 - by Abdul Khaliq

As the IMF executive board met on January 28 to decide on Pakistan`s request for the revival of $6bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF), the government remained optimistic having fulfilled all the five conditions imposed by the global lender to revive (...)
Pakistan in a perfect debt spiral with the worst impacts of the pandemic

24 November 2021 - by Abdul Khaliq

Pakistan is one of the 52 countries facing severe debt crisis. The most critical problem faced by the country’s economy is repayment and servicing of external debt. Persistent borrowing creates a spiral with more borrowing generating an impending (...)
The debt of integration: Montenegro’s Chinese loan and the traps of Europe

12 July 2021 - by Tijana Okić

The Balkans debt crisis continues to ravage the economies of the region, with Montenegro vainly turning to the EU for a bailout on multi-billion euro debts to Chinese contractors (Exim bank of China) on what is essentially part of the EU-imposed (...)
Haemorrhaging Zambia: Prequel to the Current Debt Crisis

25 November 2020 - by Andrew M. Fischer

Following a stand-off with commercial creditors and protracted but unresolved negotiations with the IMF, Zambia defaulted on its external sovereign debt on 13 November this year. While most commentary has focused exclusively on the government’s (...)
G20: the debt solution

22 November 2020 - by Michael Roberts

This weekend, the G20 leaders’ summit takes place – not physically of course, but by video link. Proudly hosted by Saudi Arabia, that bastion of democracy and civil rights, the G20 leaders are focusing on the impact on the world economy from the (...)