But Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president, is adamant. The former army officer was elected in 2019 largely on his reputation for ruthless dynamism. In 2009, as secretary of defence under his brother Mahinda, then the president, he brutally ended a long civil war against Tamil rebels. As urban-development secretary he “beautified” cities by kicking thousands of people out of slums.
Mr Rajapaksa’s military approach to turning Sri Lanka into the world’s first fully organic producer of food overnight looks less encouraging. For sure, his manifesto did promise a revolution in fertiliser use. But it was to have taken ten years. So it was a shock to Mr Weeraratne when a total ban was announced earlier this year. No more agrochemical imports are to be allowed after stocks run out.
Meanwhile people still need to eat. Inflation is hovering near 6% and food prices are up more than 11%. Rising global commodity prices, declining foreign reserves and ceilings on domestic retail prices have been causing shortages of essentials such as sugar and milk powder. On August 31st the president declared a state of emergency and appointed an army officer to regulate the market, among other things by confiscating stockpiles.
As foodstuffs began to run out, on September 29th he lifted the ceiling on the price of rice, which promptly jumped 17-32%, depending on the variety. Price controls on milk powder, sugar, wheat flour and domestic cooking gas were lifted on October 8th. The government has also, at last, allowed some more imports. Yet its preferred solution for shrinking a trade deficit that has grown to 42% ofForeign reserves, at just $2.6bn or enough for six weeks of imports, are shrinking.
You guys truly just get off on evil don’t you
all we need is a bunch of economists reckoning shit
nice
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