Fuel Quota Increased: Three wheel quotas from 5L to 8L, motorcycles from 4L to 7L, busses from 40L to 60L, cars/vans from 20L to 30L, land vehicles from 15L to 25L, lorries from 50L to 75L, quadric cycle from 4L to 6L https://t.co/yIBtBPVHer

— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) April 4, 2023

The tweet above comes from Azzam Ameen, a media personality and the founder of Sri Lanka NewsWire. He is retweeting an update on the country’s fuel quotas posted by NewsWire, an independent media outlet in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka enacted a fuel quota in July of 2022 to combat the fuel shortage set on by the economic crisis the country has been consumed with for over a year. Citizens use QR codes at local pumps to keep count of their weekly fuel allowance. The QR codes are bound to the specific vehicle since various types of vehicles have different quotas. “The New Year’s festive” season was the reasoning behind this increase in the fuel quota since the prime minter suspects the season will require citizens to travel more. It has also been reported by the state that since the fuel allowance was increased, there have been fewer reports of citizens violating the quota to pump extra fuel…go figure. It will be interesting to see how the Island Nation continues to fight its fuel shortage with these quotas. Increasing the allowance too quickly and greatly could lead to some back sliding but restricting it too much would open the door to more illegal activity. With another IMF relief package and Chinese aid negotiations, one should watch the state of the fuel crisis more closely in the months to come to see if the shortage can be stabilized.

 

There was once a young Jungle Fowl who enjoyed eating seeds along the grounds of the jungle high in the mountains. The fowl would walk through the jungle carelessly and eat all day and night. but over time, he decided to stop saving his seeds. this was because he did not foresee a need for him to save his seeds. the other animals in the jungle like eagle, dragoon, lion, and others told the fowl, “save your seeds. you’ll never know when you’ll need to use the ones you have saved” but still recklessly he ate them all himself. One winter came and the seed fall suffered. The fowl realized this and when to the other birds in the jungle and borrowed seeds from them and still, he ate. years passed and he kept borrowing seeds and eating the ones on the ground instead of paying back the birds he borrowed from. another winter came and nearly every seed was gone before the fowl could eat them.

Soon the fowl realized he was unable to pay back the other birds he borrowed from and he couldn’t feed his baby fowl back home. the baby fowls started to lose opportunities to go forage for seeds and soon enough every baby fowl was hungry, unable to forage, and mad at their father. baby fowls began to leave their father to go find places and families that had seeds they could forage for. if only the Fowl was smart with its seeds and didn’t eat them when they didn’t need to or give them to his fowl buddies in exchange for back jungle activities would the Fowl have been able to prepare for the harsh winters. many animals in the jungle have approached the Fowl with plans for him to get his seed issue back on track but the fowl needs to be smart. and not eat his seeds when he doesn’t need to in a greedy manner. he needs to focus on giving his baby fowls the seeds so they can grow big and strong and help him gather enough seeds at home to pay back his bird buddies outside.

Protesters for the National Peoples Power party were met with brutal police suppression as they marched into Sri Lanka’s business district in the nation’s capital. The Elections were postponed due to the lack of financial capital to put on an election. Or so the government claimed. Once the government claimed to not have the resources to hold an election the election commission suspended them. This was met with fierce resistance from the opposition party. This wave of protest comes after the massive occupation of the presidential residence and other government builds back in July of 2022. That movement was sparked by the increasing shortages of food and medical supplies as a result of the economic crisis in the Country. The opposition party has picked up large amounts of support from the citizens in Sri Lanka but does not currently have a majority in the parliament. This election looked promising for the party which brings many inside and outside of the country to speculate that the canceled elections may not have been for honest reasons. surely, when there are free elections again in Sri Lanka, the opposition party will enjoy greater numbers in the parliament and potentially a victory becoming the majority. despite the injured citizens the opposition party does not seem to be unphased and I would expect to see more protests moving forward regarding the canceled elections.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-police-fire-tear-gas-at-election-protest-15-injured/article66556985.ece

The International Finance Corporation has sent Sri Lanka 400 million dollars in aid. The aid comes during Sri Lanka’s most significant economic crisis of the century. Sri Lanka’s economy collapsed in 2019 due to a massive shortage of currency, corruption, and poor spending by the government. The IMF, the WTO, and the World Bank warned the state about its spending but did not heed the warnings. Covid-19 brought further chaos to their economy as global trade and spending came to a standstill. This relief package was geared toward 3 central banks that manage 1/3rd of the state’s trade products. This boost in exchangeable currency is intended to increase investment and confidence from firms within and outside of the Sri Lankan domestic economy. Sri Lanka is currently waiting on a 2.9 billion dollar bailout but needs to get control of debt before the IFC will release the funds to major firms in the county. I am skeptical about this initial round of aid to Sri Lanka. corruption is widespread throughout the upper levels of government and the private sector. If Sri Lanka wants to continue to see aid and prevent its economy from shrinking another 6%-9% this year, it will need to ensure these funds are truly handed to the firms and economic sectors in a meaningful manner. Only more time will tell if the Sri Lankan government is willing to put aside its lust for wealth to support its dying economy or if this aid will find itself back in the pockets of the officials that lead to the crisis in 2019.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/world-banks-ifc-provide-sri-lanka-with-400-mln-financing-2023-02-27/

“There are elements within society who are attempting to disrupt the peace in the country. Peaceful protesters who had legitimate concerns will be engaged with by the Government and solutions will be found for them.”  ~Ranil Wickremesinghe President of Sri Lanka 

In this Tweet, the president refers to the protests that have gone violent across Sri Lanka. These Protests have been about the economic state of Sri Lanka. the country has found itself in a period of economic downturn and bankruptcy since April 2019. The Economic Crash can be chalked up to massive spending by the Government and their disregard to the warnings from the IMF and other international finical organizations who predicted the crash. The country is now facing widespread protests and social strain as a result. President Wickremesinghe has been very active on social media promoting its meetings and relief submits with the IMF, World bank, and other countries in Asia. Only time will tell if these negotiations and summits will yield results.