Getting Sick in Venezuela Has Become a Death Sentence

From Tylenol to chemo — if you need it, you’re out of luck.

BY DANIEL LANSBERG-RODRÍGUEZ-MARCH 11, 2016

For her 13th birthday, my wife Marianella was given a child’s Swiss Army watch with a glow-in-the-dark dial. This portable treasure would soon become one of her only possessions. Seven weeks later, she was evacuated from her rooftop by helicopter as her hometown, Los Corales, and most of her friends and neighbors, were swept into the Caribbean Sea. An estimated 30,000 souls lost their lives to the torrential rains, mudslides and flooding that befell Venezuela’s Vargas state in December 1999, although we will never know precisely how many.

We’ll likewise never know how many of the lost might have been saved had the country’s newly elected president, Hugo Chávez, not spurned offers of U.S. assistance on ideological grounds. In so doing, he turned back hundreds of American military engineers along with their equipment — the most advanced naval and logistical support on the planet. For all Chávez’s many faults, this may have been his most unforgivable crime.

Today Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s ineffectual handpicked successor, is once more following in his predecessor’s footsteps and sacrificing the lives of his countrymen at the altar of ideology. By steadfastly staying a disastrous course despite the unprecedented and growing scarcities of medicine and medical supplies he may even be surpassing his storied mentor. According to official statistics from the ministry of health, the crisis has tripled the mortality rates for patients in public hospitals, and shows little sign of abating.

That Venezuela currently faces an acute shortage of medical supplies and medicines is one of the tragic results of the chaos wrought upon the country’s imports sector by the combination of plunging oil prices, economic mismanagement, and draconian currency controls. In particular, the state’s heavy-handed price control policies make importing pharmaceuticals and other medical goods a losing game. It’s much more profitable for importers to concentrate on seeking opportunities for arbitrage within the country’s arcane, multi-tiered exchange rate system.

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Man charges security barricade at Trump rally in Dayton

Social video captured a man charging through a security barricade at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Joel Menken)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told his supporters in Ohio that the scuffles caused at his Chicago rally the night before were caused by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. (Reuters)

By Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson-March 12


DAYTON, Ohio — An unidentified man charged at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday during a campaign event here in Dayton, one day after increased security concerns forced his campaign to cancel an event in Chicago.

The Secret Service quickly surrounded the real estate mogul after a man attempted to get beyond the barricades to the dais where Trump was standing. The man, whose motives remain unclear, was charged with disorderly conduct and inciting panic by the Dayton Police Department, according to an official familiar with the matter.

“I was ready for him, but it’s much easier if the cops do it, don’t we agree?” Trump quipped after the man was taken away. “And to think I had such an easy life! What do I need this for, right?”

Saturday marked Trump's first appearance since violent clashes in Chicago erupted after the campaign abruptly canceled an event there Friday night. The incident has raised questions from critics about the tone he has set for the campaign. As Trump has inched closer to the Republican nomination in recent weeks, protesters have become increasingly drawn to his events; those demonstrations have, in many instances, resulted in physical altercations.

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RBI Gov Rajan wants global rules of conduct for central banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan listens to a question during a news conference after the bi-monthly monetary policy review in Mumbai, India, February 2, 2016.REUTERS/DANISH SIDDIQUI/FILES

BY RAJESH KUMAR SINGH AND RAFAEL NAM-Sat Mar 12, 2016 

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan called on Saturday for global central banks to adopt a system for assessing the wider impact of their actions, including unconventional monetary policies now in use.

Rajan proposed that a group of academics should measure and analyse the "spillover" effects of monetary policies and indicate which should be used and which avoided. He suggested a traffic light system, grading policies green, orange or red.

The monitoring system could be implemented through an international agreement along the lines of the Bretton Woods currency accord or via the International Monetary Fund.

Rajan's speech was the highlight of a three-day International Monetary Fund event in New Delhi, attended by IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at which worries about the global economy were front and centre.

"The international community has a choice," Rajan said. "We can pretend all is well with the global financial non-system and hope that nothing goes spectacularly wrong. Or we can start building a system for the integrated world of the 21st century."

Rajan's speech came days after the European Central Bank eased monetary policy further by cutting all its main interest rates, expanding asset purchases and launching a loan programme which could see it pay banks to lend to firms and households.

The Bank of Japan has also taken interest rates into negative territory for the first time while the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to tighten monetary policy only gradually after years of near-zero rates and quantitative easing.

Rajan has been a vocal critic of such policies, saying central banks seeking to fulfil domestically focused mandates are ignoring the impact of their actions on the global economy.

Saturday's speech was the most comprehensive given on the subject by Rajan, who is widely credited with having predicted the global financial crisis that began in 2007.

The former IMF economist, tipped by local media as a potential successor to Lagarde, also called on the Fund to take a lead role in ensuring policies adopted by its members do not have "beggar-thy-neighbour" consequences.

"We need new rules of the game, enforced impartially by multilateral organisations, to ensure countries adhere to international responsibilities," he said.

Lagarde had advice of her own, urging Asian nations on Saturday to employ growth-friendly monetary and fiscal policies to counter challenges posed by a fragile global economy.

RAJAN'S POLICIES

When Rajan became RBI Governor in September 2013, India was in the midst of its worst currency crisis in more than two decades as fears the Fed would begin tightening policy exposed the country's weak finances and big current account deficit.

India eventually stabilised the rupee, partly by building up its foreign exchange reserves, but his ringside view of the crisis has made him a strong critic of the kind of stimulus measures adopted by developed economies in recent years.

On Saturday, he warned that such policies spook people into fearing "calamity is around the corner", leading them to save rather than to spend and thus diminishing any benefits.

Rajan has stated India will not follow other countries and devalue its currency, a view endorsed on Saturday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who ruled out 'beggar thy neighbour' policies.

Early in his tenure, Rajan raised interest rates to tackle double-digit inflation but the RBI cut by 125 basis points last year as consumer prices eased, to help boost an economy growing fast by global standards but below its potential.

Markets expect another 25 bps cut in the next month after the government stuck to its fiscal deficit target for the year starting in April.

That pledge was praised on Saturday by Rajan, although he declined to comment on whether it would affect the central bank's monetary policy stance.

(Additional reporting by Neha Dasgupta in NEW DELHI and Sumeet Chatterjee in MUMBAI; Editing by Catherine Evans)

India: ‘We Argue, We Listen, We Debate’

This JNU Slogan Should Be Adopted By India

by Kavita Krishnan

( March 10, 2016, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Delhi has seen upsurges of the young and idealistic before – in the anti-corruption movement and in the anti-rape movement. Those skeptical of seeing hope of a political awakening of the young in those protests, have asked if the young were merely dancing to tunes played by a supportive media?

Well, the sea of young people on the streets of Delhi on 18th February should reassure us and renew our hope and confidence in the political good sense of the young. Defying a vicious high-decibel campaign against ‘anti-national slogans in JNU’ led by the Modi Government and amplified aggressively by much of the media, an estimated 15000 students from Delhi’s many Universities marched to express solidarity with JNU. The fear of being branded ‘anti-national’ which is the Government’s trump card for a chilling effect on free speech and activism, simply failed to work. The students demanded the unconditional release of the JNUSU President Kanhaiyya Kumar and withdrawal of all charges against the other five students including JNUSU General Secretary Rama Naga, former JNUSU office bearers Ashutosh and Anant Prakash Narayan, and students Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid. What was most reassuring was their sense of indignation at the Islamophobic incitement of hatred against Umar Khalid, one of the organizers of the 9th February event at JNU.

By now, it is clear that many of the videos being shown as proof of ‘anti-national’ activities in JNU are doctored. The slogan of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ was probably never raised at all. Another video showing Kanhaiyya shouting slogans for Kashmir’s ‘Azaadi’ have now turned out to be fake – his slogans sought freedom from casteism and communalism. One ‘News’ channel ran a story of an ‘IB report’ proving ‘Jaish links’ of Umar Khalid –intelligence and Home Ministry officials have denied it as “a figment of someone’s imagination.”

It is such figments of the fevered Sangh imagination that have led to eight students (the six named above as well as a JNUSU School Convener Shweta Raj and GSCASH representative Aishwarya Adhikari) being debarred from academic activities, and hunted by the police. ‘Why are they absconding?’ bay some anchors. The mob attacks in Patiala Court, blessed by the Police Commissioner and his boss the Home Minister, threats by the MLA to ‘shoot dead’ these students, the posters inciting violence against them on the city’s walls are signs that the media-fuelled hate-campaign has endangered the lives of these students.

 In such circumstances, if the JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid leads the movement from the front, it is a remarkable act of courage and commitment. While the case of ‘sedition’ against Kanhaiyya begins to look legally untenable and unable to stand its ground even in public perception, the heat is being turned towards others. This is the basis for the hunt for the other activists and raid on homes of Kashmiri students in Delhi.

Organising an event to protest Afzal Guru’s execution can hardly be a crime, else one would have to arrest many legal luminaries and political leaders. As for the slogan of Kashmir’s Azaadi, it is undoubtedly one of the most universal slogans in the Kashmir Valley. Before arresting students for raising these slogans on campuses, perhaps the BJP should ask its erstwhile and would-be J&K ally the PDP whether it will condemn the ‘pro-Afzal’ and ‘Kashmir freedom’ slogans? How can the same slogans and sentiments be selectively seditious depending on whether they are raised by PDP or by students in JNU?

The slogans raised by former JNUSU President and AISA leader Ashutosh Kumar try to persuade Delhi’s students to engage and empathise with Kashmir’s urge for freedom by linking it with slogans for freedom of women and of every citizen. The slogans raised by Kanhaiyya in the 11th February video, from a different political vantage point, attempt something similar.

The slogans for ‘Bharat ki barbadi’ and ‘Bharat ke tukde honge hazaar’ – raised by a few – should be condemned not because they are ‘anti-national’ (a term of meaningless abuse) but because they choke off any room for empathy and meaningful political engagement, thereby defeating the very purpose of the event organized by Umar and his friends, which was to persuade Delhi students to feel the pain and hear the voices of people from ‘The Country Without A Post Office.’

Slogans and political events are not sedition. JNU students held placards in the march saying ‘We Argue, We Listen, We Debate, – We Are JNU.’ India should tell all its dissenting and contentious voices, its oppressed castes, its workers, peasants, students, minorities, and all the people from Kashmir or Manipur or Nagaland, to our neighbours, ‘We Argue, We Listen, We Debate.’ That willingness of Indians to listen, engage and empathise, to say ‘Not In Our Name’ to media trials and capital punishment for Akzal or Yakub, to fake encounters, to Army and police rapes, political massacres and pogroms, would bring us closer to political solutions for long-festering questions. Rohith Vemula of HCU, or Kanhaiyya, Rama, Ashutosh, Anant, Anirban or Umar of JNU, are not ‘anti-national’ for seeking to do so.

Greece promises refugee transfers as camp baby photo emerges

People to be moved from Macedonian border within a week after image shows newborn being washed over bare earth

 Refugees wash the baby born in a tent at the Idomeni refugee camp near the Greece-Macedonia border. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Jessica Elgot-Saturday 12 March 2016

The Greek minister for refugees has vowed to move people from a squalid camp on the Macedonian border within a week, as a photograph emerged of a baby who may have been born in one of the crowded tents.

The arresting image showed the infant being washed with a bottle of water over bare earth outside the makeshift dwellings at the Idomeni refugee camp, where more than 12,000 people are living in deteriorating conditions in the hope of crossing the Greek border.

Aerial footage of the Idomeni camp – video

Sarah Collis, a nurse with the charity Doctors of the World, who has been at the camp for the past two months, said there had been many women in the late stages of pregnancy in the camp but most were taken to local hospitals to give birth.

“Conditions in the camp are truly horrendous, we have not had outbreaks of particular diseases yet but young children are very vulnerable to pneumonia and dehydration from gastroenteritis. Pregnant women who might have complications might have issues getting medical help quick enough.”

Collis herself had recently treated a Syrian woman in her 20s who had given birth in a local hospital five days earlier and was now living in a two-man tent with her newborn, her husband and mother.

“She had a caesarean and she was bleeding late last night, and obviously she was terrified so she sought out the help of the medical tent, and we called an ambulance,” Collis said. “She and the family were living in a tent which wasn’t even waterproof, you wouldn’t even take it to Glastonbury.”

Dimitris Vitsas, the minister charged with coordinating the refugee situation, reiterated the government’s promise to move the stranded men, women and children to reception centres within a week.

“I hope the situation at Idomeni is resolved within a week without recourse to force,” Vitsas told the country’s Mega TV station on Saturday.

Greece will have capacity for 50,000 people in the reception centres, 10,000 more than currently available.

Vitsas said the government hoped to convince refugees to accept the transfers to reception centres, with 400 having moved to facilities in northern Greece on Friday.

Officials had been handing out flyers to the refugees asking them to consent to the move because border closures meant there was “no hope” they could take the western Balkan route to northern Europe.

On Monday, European Union leaders reached a provisional “one-for-one” agreement with Turkey that the country would take back refugees landing in Greece, in return for Syrian refugees being resettled from Turkey in Europe.

Greece has already begun sending back dozens of people who it says do not qualify as asylum seekers under international law, many from Pakistan and north Africa.
The plan, the legality of which has been questioned by the UN and other human rights groups, will be finalised at an EU summit on 17 March.

STUDY: long-term use of Xanax, Valium, Klonopin and other psychoactives may lead to cancer

by: Jennifer Lea Reynolds-Monday, March 07, 2016

(NaturalNews) Benzodiazepines (BZDs), the group of central nervous system depressants known to create feelings of calm, sleep and drowsiness, are under fire for findings that suggest they may lead to cancer. This means that the likes of Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, and a host of other psychoactives, are playing a role in chipping away at people's health, putting them at risk for one of the most life-threatening diseases around.

The finding comes from experts who engaged in a longitudinal population-based case-control study in which information was assessed from the Taiwan National Health Insurance database. The goal was to determine any association between use of BZDs and cancer risk in people who were 20 years of age or older.

Unsurprisingly, but still terribly saddening, they found that the answer was a very likely "yes."

The psych med-cancer link

According to the published study entitled, Is Long-term Use of Benzodiazepine a Risk for Cancer?, there's a correlation between BZDs and specific cancers. The study notes that it was observed "... that benzodiazepines exposure increased the overall cancer risk up to 21%, specifically for brain 98%, colorectal 25%, lung 10%, esophagus 59%, prostate 36%, bladder 39%, liver 18%, pancreas 41% and other cancers 27%."

While they suggest that, "therapeutic effectiveness of BZDs should be monitored closely for long-term users" in order to fully understand the scope of the implications, the experts don't shy away from the likelihood that the use of such drugs poses cancer-causing threats. They write that "... we assume that risk of cancers could be associated with individual BZD, which might have some relationship only with particular cancers etiology need to be identified."

The mind-altering drugs most of us don't need, but are prescribed anyway

Unfortunately, many of us are walking around with a variety of psychoactives in our systems, popping pills like it's going out of style. In fact, it's all part of a vicious cycle in which doctors prescribe psych meds to people who – in many cases – don't even need them. At the same time, such medical experts enjoy the perks that come with Big Pharma bribes, in the form of cash, decadent meals and fancy vacations.

So, while your health is put in jeopardy, some doctors literally laugh all the way to the bank. It's of grave concern that this behavior continues; doctors who do this are playing a role in the approximately 5 million deaths that have occurred in the West just in the past decade alone – and it's all due to unnecessarily prescribing psych medications to people who don't really need them in the first place.

Not only are such drugs linked to certain cancers, as the aforementioned study shows, but they're also associated with suicides and other worrisome issues.

In addition to cancer, psych meds linked to suicides, mass shootings

The British Medical Journal found that antidepressant drugs increase the risk of suicide and aggressive behavior; although this was especially so in people under the age of 18, the finding involved all age groups. A total of 70 trials were assessed to examine the safety and effectiveness of the most common antidepressants available to consumers, and it was found that such medications put the under-18 age group at double the risk of suicide.

Use of BZDs is even linked to the surge in mass shootings that seem to be occurring just about every other day. Surely, it's not just a coincidence that the amount of prescriptions tripled between 1996 and 2013, while the number of overdoses quadrupled – quadrupled! – during that same time. What else has been happening though the years? You guessed it – a ridiculous number of mass shootings and acts of violence, in which it's often discovered that the person or people involved were taking mind-altering psych meds.

"We found that the death rate from overdoses involving benzodiazepines, also known as 'benzos,' has increased more than four-fold since 1996 — a public health problem that has gone under the radar," says Dr. Marcus Bachhuber of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Such easy access to dangerous meds – which is intensified by the ease with which they're prescribed – poses a serious threat to our health. Drugs designed to assuage our feelings of anxiety and depression are repeatedly shown to raise suicide rates and aggressive behaviors, play a role in mass shootings, and even contribute to the likes of brain, lung and liver cancers, to name just a few.

CPA and Central Provincial Council to uplift living condition of plantaion workers

 

Plight of Women Worker in Sri Lanka

Mar 11, 2016

The Outreach and Capacity Building team of the CPA, working together with the Central Provincial Council and the management of the Mocha Estate, helped provide addresses to 1,500 families of the plantation sector in Maskeliya.

‘Vilaasam’, a project inaugurated in 2013 began by providing road names and addresses to families living on estates in Passara, Badulla. Since then, CPA has been advocating and negotiating with local authorities to provide the same basic human rights to as many estate families as possible. This phase of the project was made possible largely due to extensive cooperation on the part of the estate management and the superintendent, the Ambagamuwa Divisional Secretariat, Ambagamuwa Pradeshiya Saba, the Grama Niladhari Officer at Mocha Estate, and the Maskeliya Police Station.

CPA facilitators established three Citizen Councils in the estate and worked through the residents of the estate to ensure that this basic civil right was protected. Communities that have lived on plantations for generations still do not have addresses to the homes they inhabit. This has proven an extreme challenge in the reception of correspondence in relation to civil administration and education circulars from schools or universities.

The event on Sunday was a great celebration for these families. Numbers were put up on the houses in the three new areas demarcated in the estate. Students from the Mocha Estate school began the proceedings with the singing of the National Anthem in Tamil. Several cultural performances were carried out. Leaders from the three Citizens Councils handed over a directory that listed each family’s address to representatives from the Grama Sevaka office, the Maskeliya police, the principal of the estate school and the estate superintendent.

CPA Senior Researcher Lionel Guruge who conceived and leads the execution of the Vilaasam project addressed the crowd that now, having received one of their fundamental rights, he hoped that this would open the door for greater achievements. In doing so, he reminded the people of the importance of using their voices to hold accountable authorities and local authorities to ensure their rights were fully upheld.

Executive Director of the CPA Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu’s address noted the event as a celebration of the enjoyment of fundamental human rights by fellow Sri Lankans.
‘It is sad that in the year 2016, we are celebrating that our fellow citizens are getting addresses. While we should acknowledge that this is going to change, we should also be ashamed that we have let it go on for so long. We want a Sri Lanka where all citizens are equal,’
He added that at this time where a new constitution was being drafted for the country, he hoped that all Sri Lankans will be treated equally by the state and by each other.

Tamil IDPs in Mallakam urge resettlement

11 March 2016

In the latest demonstration by Tamil IDPs across the North-East, displaced persons at the Mallakam Neethavaan camp protested demanding resettlement. 

The protesting families, who held a sit down demonstration with placards were observed by Sri Lankan CID officers. 

Have We Found A Solution To Our LG Conundrum?

By Laksiri Fernando –March 10, 2016

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Have we found a solution to our local government (LG) conundrum with the recent ‘women’s representation’ bill adopted on 9 February? Perhaps nearly, but not really.

The local government system has been in the doldrums for some years or decades now, and the recent hiccups have added to the drama in unmeasurable terms. Problems are both structural and political. All local government bodies expired by 15 May 2015, and some of them much earlier. There are delays in conducting elections apparently for several articulated and unarticulated reasons. Two reasons attributed are (1) some technical defects found by the National Elections Commission (NEP) in election legislation, and (2) the difficulties encountered by the Ministry (Provincial Councils and Local Government) in finalizing the delimitation of Wards.

However, “Waiting for Polls” (Editorial, ‘The Island,’ 4 March 2012) should not be like ‘Waiting for Godot.’ There can be drastic consequences for democracy, if the elections are delayed unnecessarily.

Alienation from the Local

Let me discuss some of the political matters first in respect of the LG conundrum. The local government institutions are primarily for resolving local issues and supplying services to the local communities. This is one way of developing a country from ‘bottom-up,’ provided that necessary resources are given through the national budget and the equally important ‘political will’ is there.

But throughout years, the local government institutions have excessively got involved in national politics and have neglected their primary tasks. In defining the tasks of local government or governance, I will go by John-Mary Kauzya (Ugandan) who has supplied a useful description:

“What determines whether governance is local or not is the extent to which the local population is involved in steering (i.e. determination the direction) according to their local needs, problems and priorities.”

The above was presented in a paper in Stockholm in May 2000. The emphasis is not only on ‘local needs, problems and priorities,’ but also on the ‘involvement of local population.’

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Jaffna Uni students protest demanding release of Tamil political prisoners

11 March 2016

Students at the University of Jaffna on Friday launched a one day hunger strike to protest at the ongoing imprisonment of Tamil political prisoners. 

Demanding their immediate release, the students sat outside holding placards asking, "Is death the only release for political prisoners?". 

Criticising the failure of politicians to secure the release of the political prisoners, another placard read, "Promise until one comes to power, then why silence?".

The protest is the latest in a series of protests across the North-East by Tamils calling for the release of political prisoners. 

Constitutional Reforms & Ethnic Coexistence: On The Kandy Forum’s Submission

By Mahendran Thiruvarangan –March 11, 2016 

Mahendran Thiruvarangan

The government’s move to gather people’s proposals on constitutional reforms has created an opportunity for diverse social and political groups to present their vision for Sri Lanka’s future. The proposals made by the Kandy Forum on the status of the Eastern Province and the political concerns of the non-territorial minorities in Sri Lanka need special mention because they frame devolution as a creative project while acknowledging its limits. Unlike several other federalist proposals which call for a merged North-Eastern province with a non-contiguous Muslim unit or a separate Muslim province within it, the Kandy Forum’s proposals make the point that the separate, contiguous Eastern Province that exists today should be retained:

“The Eastern Province could be a model for co-existence of communities in Sri Lanka. It is the only Province in Sri Lanka that has a near equal ethnic balance, where the Tamils constitute 39.79%, Muslims constitute 36.72% and the Sinhalese constitute 23.15%. It is an ideal situation for the evolution of a model for ethnic pluralism, good governance and peaceful coexistence and this province could be equipped with special constitutional provisions to strengthen inter-ethnic relationships within and between other regions.”

Why is it that ethnicity should always be the framing logic of devolution everywhere in Sri Lanka? Why can’t we consider ethnic coexistence, rather than individuated ethnic identities, as the basis for power sharing when we think about regional autonomy for at least some parts of Sri Lanka like the Eastern Province or the Colombo municipal region? Sometimes it is important that we retain, as solutions to ethnic conflicts, existing territorial boundaries that produce culturally heterogeneous territories, instead of creating non-contiguous ethnic enclaves that cleanse territories of cultural differences, even if those boundaries are colonial in origin or imposed from the top. Because such boundaries underscore the importance of harmonious cohabitation across and despite differences at the local and regional levels, and prevent ethnicity, religion and culture from over-determining our political and social lives. And these boundaries which actively include rather than exclude differences remind us again and again, in our everyday lives, of the importance of acting with a sense of responsibility toward the Other, the ones who do not speak our language and the ones who do not worship our god(s). It is these boundaries that have the potential to create a vibrant cosmopolitical public culture and public space necessary for all the communities to co-inhabit the earth peacefully in the long-run, even as constitutions ought to recognize and territorialize ethnic identities time to time taking into consideration the historical contexts that produce them. In this respect, the Kandy Forum’s creative framing of the Eastern Province as a model for ethnic co-existence in Sri Lanka should be applauded.

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Deadlier than the Male

Featured image courtesy Kentridgecommon

• by Dr. Devika Brendon 
• - on 03/10/2016 

I have just read Kishani Jayasinghe’s excellent article ‘My Experience of Independence’, published in The Sunday Times ‘Plus’ of March 6, 2016.

In this, she expresses her perceptions of the barrage of comments she received from some members of the public after her recent performance at the 68th Independence Day Celebrations.

She organised the received responses into a hierarchical scale of malice, based on the punishments members of the public felt she should suffer, ‘in order to give a comprehensive idea of what lies beneath this veneer of civilisation and ‘culture’ that these individuals were fighting so hard to protect’:

In third place – ‘I should be born mute in my next birth.’

In second place – ‘I should have a painful and speedy death preferably in some sort of horrible road accident’.

The first place winner was ‘so driven by violence that they felt it necessary to include innocents in the message’.

Sifting through over 500,000 emails, messages and notes cannot have been easy. But the good thing about such a quantity is that they can be categorised by quality and kind (if not kindness). I am sure that, across such a range of responses, certain patterns would have emerged – of tone, and motivation: stances both posturing and feigned (‘well-meant advice offered out of concern for the benefit of the receiver’) and impossible to feign – of hypocrisy, of envy and of an unholy desire for retribution.

This incident highlights what many people know about contemporary Sri Lanka: that, despite its many positive aspects, it is a repressed, vindictive and punitive culture. There are practical reasons for the existence of exorcism ceremonies and protection rituals, and invocation of charms against the Evil Eye.

Continue Reading →

S&P downgrades Sri Lanka rating outlook to negative

Mar 10, 2016

ECONOMYNEXT – Standard & Poor's ratings agency has lowered the outlook on Sri Lanka’s 'B+' long-term sovereign credit rating to negative from stable, citing rising fiscal and external imbalances.

It confirmed the 'B+/B' ratings and the 'B' short-term credit rating and left its transfer and convertibility risk assessment on Sri Lanka unchanged at 'B+'.

“Sri Lanka's external and fiscal performances have underperformed our expectations,” a statement said. “A high government debt and interest burden, and gaps in institutional capacity constrain its policy options and responsiveness.

"The negative outlook indicates that we could lower our rating on Sri Lanka in the next 12 months if we see no tangible signs of a substantial and sustained reversal of the weakening of external and fiscal credit metrics we currently project," S&P's said.

The full rating report follows:

Sri Lanka's external and fiscal performances have underperformed our expectations.

A high government debt and interest burden, and gaps in institutional capacity constrain its policy options and responsiveness.

We are revising our outlook on the long-term rating on Sri Lanka to negative from stable and affirming our 'B+' long-term and 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings.
 

RATING ACTION

On March 10, 2016, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised the outlook on its 'B+' long-term sovereign credit ratings on the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to negative from stable. We also affirmed the long-term rating and the 'B' short-term credit rating and left our transfer and convertibility risk assessment on Sri Lanka unchanged at 'B+'.

RATIONALE

The negative outlook reflects rising pressure on Sri Lanka's external liquidity resulting from a weaker trade balance and remittances, and short-term capital outflows that have eroded its reserve buffers. The outlook also reflects the country's weakened public finances. We expect sizable and rising projected fiscal deficits to push borrowings higher in 2016-2019. In our view, the authorities face significant challenges in effectively addressing the rising imbalance due to institutional constraints and a fragmented political landscape.

The rating constraints on Sri Lanka are the country's weak external liquidity and a high general government net debt burden (at 72% of GDP in 2015). Sri Lanka's general government dedicates a higher share of its revenues to interest payments and it is among the highest in the world (39% in 2015). With GDP per capita at US$4,000 (2016), Sri Lanka's level of prosperity is low.

Another credit weakness lies in what we consider as an uncertain commitment and capacity to fiscal consolidation following the Aug. 17, 2015, parliamentary elections and the 2016 budget delivered on Nov. 20, 2015.

Institutional capacity remains low by international standards and poses risks to the effectiveness and predictability of Sri Lanka's policy choices. These rating constraints weigh against Sri Lanka's robust growth prospects, which are above average for sovereigns at similar levels of development.

Sri Lanka's weakening external liquidity has been driven, inter alia, by the following trends:

Our expectation of the trade deficit widening to an estimated 11.4% of GDP in 2016, versus 10.2% in 2013-2015. This development is due partly to a sharp rise in motor vehicle imports for investment purposes and personal use. A reduction in import-related taxes on motor vehicles in the 2016 budget, low interest rates for leasing facilities, and increases in public sector salaries were reasons for the higher demand.

Our projection of net current transfers--mostly workers' remittances, of which more than half come from the Gulf states--dropping to 7.2% of GDP in 2016 versus an average 7.7% in the three preceding years.

A pickup in short-term capital outflows.

On the financing side, negative net portfolio inflows in 2015. We currently do not expect a recovery before 2017.

We expect external liquidity (measured by gross external financing needs as a percentage of current account receipts [CAR] plus usable reserves) will average 122% over 2016-2019, compared with 111% in 2014-2015. We also forecast that the country's external debt (net of official reserves and financial sector external assets) will be about 143% of CAR this year but will rise gradually to a little below 146% by 2019.

The risks associated with Sri Lanka's weak external settings had previously been mitigated by growing reserve buffers that buttressed the country's external resilience. We estimate, however, that Sri Lanka's gross international reserves (excluding gold deposits) were US$5.5 billion as of January 2016 (over two months coverage of current account payments), compared with an average of US$8.2 billion in 2014 (3.5 months of current account payments). These reserves include a fully drawn contingent currency-swap facility of US$1.1 billion with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI; due for repayment in March 2016) and the US$2.15 billion proceeds from bonds issued in May and October 2015 (both maturing in 2025)

We believe the attendant risks could be mitigated by extending the maturity of the currency-swap facility with the RBI, increasing a US$1.6 billion facility with the People's Bank of China, and a US$400 million financing facility for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation member country Central Banks.

Securing external liquidity support from the IMF could also ease rising external funding pressure. Other factors that mitigate Sri Lanka's external risks include its low banking sector external borrowings and some exchange rate flexibility (the rupee fell about 9% in 2015, although this has yet to translate into higher export demand).

Fundamental weaknesses remain in the government's fiscal metrics. We project annual growth in general government debt to average 6.2% of GDP for 2016-2019.

In view of Sri Lanka's robust nominal GDP growth, we expect net general government debt to remain near current levels of close to 70% of GDP through 2019. Should the rupee depreciate further against the U.S. dollar, the net debt ratio may rise further, given about 60% of government debt is denominated in foreign currencies. In addition, we expect only slow progress in reducing debt-servicing costs, which we project to account for more than 40% of government revenue in 2016. This is the second-highest ratio among all 131 sovereigns that Standard & Poor's currently rates, second only to Lebanon (see "Sovereign Risk Indicators," published Dec. 14, 2015; a free interactive version is available at spratings.com/sri).

The gaps we observe in Sri Lanka's policymaking capacity partly reflect the political uncertainty associated with two elections within seven months. We believe this hinders responsiveness and predictability in policymaking and weighs particularly on business confidence, investment plans, and overall growth prospects. Elsewhere, we believe the Central Bank of Sri Lanka's (CBSL) ability to sustain economic growth while attenuating economic or financial shocks has improved somewhat. Although CBSL is not independent of other policymaking institutions and we continue to consider monetary policy credibility and effectiveness as a weakness, the central bank is building a record of credibility, shown in reducing inflation through the use of market-based instruments to conduct monetary policy.

Sri Lanka's growth outlook continues to be underpinned by government investment (including rebuilding the war-torn northern districts), rising tourist arrivals, and declining inflation, which we expect to remain in the single digits.

We continue to expect Sri Lanka's growth prospects to be favorable. We believe the country will most likely maintain growth in real per capita GDP of 5.5% per year over 2016-2019 (equivalent to 6.2% real GDP growth). Stronger growth, in our view, would require an improved business environment and a pick-up in export markets.

Combining our view of Sri Lanka's state-owned enterprises and its small financial system (banks' loans to the private sector account for only a third of GDP), we view the government's contingent liabilities as limited.

OUTLOOK

The negative outlook indicates that we could lower our rating on Sri Lanka in the next 12 months if we see no tangible signs of a substantial and sustained reversal of the weakening of external and fiscal credit metrics we currently project.

We may revise the outlook back to stable if Sri Lanka's external and fiscal indicators improve significantly, or if we conclude that the strength of Sri Lanka's institutions and governance practices is on a significant and sustained improving trend.
(Colombo/March10/2016)

A Radical Review of our Tax System

Some general thoughts put together to generate discussion and to encourage Government Policy towards a system that would encourage greater economic activity and also enable the Government to collect the required revenue.

by An Untaught Economist

( March 11, 2916, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Hon. Prime Minister has announced more changes to the tax structure in an attempt to overcome the severe financial situation that the country is faced with due to heavy borrowings.

The proposals appear to follow traditional patterns that would be acceptable under ordinary circumstances. We are however in an extraordinary situation where not only revenues fall far short of requirements but the economy is also far below the degree of dynamism required at this time.

The current situation demands out of the box thinking and quick changes to galvanise the economy and to generate the necessary revenue for the government.

We need to re-invent 1977.

The country as a whole has to be galvanized to much higher level of economic activity such that there would be an intensified work ethic, greater production and increased exports.

It is necessary for us to recognize the following:

• By and large, the majority of our citizens are very content with their living standards and do not strive to increase their incomes.
• The growth of an industrious person is inhibited by lack of opportunity, archaic rules, bureaucracy and taxation.
• There are extensive tax evasion and avoidance. Only the employed and a few others pay income tax.
• The rich do not contribute a fair share to Government revenue.
• Revenue is collected mostly from inefficient indirect taxation.
• Corruption is extensive at all levels.
• A large proportion of our population are impoverished and cannot be further burdened.

It is also necessary to recognize the following:

• Incomes can only be spent or invested.
• Taxes on income is dysfunctional to economic activity.
• Incomes if spent is good for the economy because money circulation will generate more activity and economic development.
• If invested wisely, then again the economy will benefit.
• If the money is invested in a bank, then it would enable the bank to utilize this money for further economic development. Money in Banks should not be taxed.
• Transmission of funds and also assets would result in movement towards more productive hands. Debit tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty on land transfer are all dysfunctional for greater economic activity.
• Cheaper goods will result in greater economic activity and exports.

I would propose the following:

• Abolish all forms of taxation including Income tax, Corporate tax, VAT, NBT, ESC, Customs Duty, Stamp Duty etc.
• Introduce a Revenue tax to be collected through Government and Semi Government authorities as described below

Government Revenue is generated in the following manner:

• All local authorities are required to add a revenue tax of minimum 100% of the rates and taxes on all land and buildings and remit to the Government. The percentage to be worked out according to the amount of the current rates. Exemption to be granted to the poor holding land/building below a specified size.
• All vehicle registration will include a tax of 100% or more depending on the engine capacity instead of Customs Duty and other charges.
• Annual vehicle license fee will include a tax of say 100% or more depending on the engine capacity.
• All purchase of foreign exchange will include a tax of say 100%.
• Instead of Excise duty, a further percentage of tax be added at the time of Foreign Exchange purchase on Excisable items
• Petrol 92 and normal diesel will be taxed at 50% and Super Petrol and diesel at 100%.
• Consumption of Electricity and Water over a certain limit will attract a tax of 100%.
• All tax holidays be withdrawn
• Exporters and other FE earners will receive an additional 5% (say) on their foreign exchange earnings to compensate additional costs incurred due to the above taxes.

The objective of the scheme is :

• make a huge reduction in unproductive costs. Prices will tumble and both productive organisations and the average citizen will benefit. Since no tax returns are required, reduction of costs of accounting etc. will benefit small businesses.
• Revenue collecting Government organisations will get downsized over a period of time and Government expenditure will reduce.
• to remove all discrimination in tax collection with no room for corruption, tax evasion or avoidance.
• This will ensure that taxes will be directed more towards the wealthy.
• No Tax returns and the attendant issues are all avoided.
• The collection is through established economic institutions such as the Banks, Petroleum Corporation, Electricity Board, Water Board, Local Authorities etc.
• Individuals and Private Institutions can fully engage in economic activity without revenue collectors breathing down their necks.
• Tax collection will be guaranteed as the bill collection systems of all these institutions have efficient systems.

Conclusion

These are some general thoughts put together to generate discussion and to encourage Government Policy towards a system that would encourage greater economic activity and also enable the Government to collect the required revenue. The proposals including the tax percentages indicated above are not sacrosanct. These are mentioned in order to describe the system. The final rates and areas for revenue collection have to be determined by the Government using statistics available to them.

So long as the objective of non-discriminatory tax collection which will target all people liable for tax leaving out the poor is achieved, then the project can be considered successful.