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Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

noahpinion.substack.com

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Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#11

Post by themitigating »

afterburner wrote: post #7

> But the most boneheaded, bizarre mistake that the Sri Lankan government made was a disastrous plan to shift the entire country to organic agriculture. In April of 2021 the government banned the import and use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. This devastated Sri Lankan agriculture, since, as it turns out, fertilizer is really really important. Production of tea — Sri Lanka’s main cash crop — fell by 18% in a…

The US is very lucky as a significant amount of people have been taught that government aid/handouts are wrong, as in generally. I'm even impressed Trump spent a few trillion and still didn't get blasted for it by most people. The only two serious politicians who spoke up about it was Ben Sasse who in a conference call with constituents said "he spends like a drunken sailor" and Ted Cruise who at the end with the last aid package voted against it.

What will happen to this country if the next president actually stops spending in order to do what his voters want?

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#12

Post by duxup »

afterburner wrote: post #7

> But the most boneheaded, bizarre mistake that the Sri Lankan government made was a disastrous plan to shift the entire country to organic agriculture. In April of 2021 the government banned the import and use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. This devastated Sri Lankan agriculture, since, as it turns out, fertilizer is really really important. Production of tea — Sri Lanka’s main cash crop — fell by 18% in a…

You would hope that someone wanting to switch to organic agriculture would encourage it … rather than just flip a switch…

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#13

Post by shigawire »

anonymousiam wrote: post #6

Quoted post unavailable.

What is the "take" here? That "global elites" purposefully crashed the economy in Sri Lanka to get people to eat bugs?

Or that they are incompetent?

Also what does this have to do with what appears to be a climate change denial YouTube channel?

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#14

Post by lanstin »

asciiresort wrote: post #8

> Without imports, many Sri Lankans will quickly find themselves hungry, stranded How did these island nations sustain themselves before ? In other words, what has changed that they can’t live off the land anymore? And by that, I mean the sea. Has Sri Lanka’s fish been pillaged? Is it being exported to wealthier nations that command higher prices, even as there is a domestic food crisis? How much of this is because o…

As the article notes the government forced the food production to go all organic in one year with no plan, yields crashed, and now they have to import even rice.

It sustained itself thru tourism and local food production.

They have sold tea overseas since being a British colony.

Also, another factor is they have to import all their medicines and oil, which is also dependent on foreign reserves. So now not enough food, no cooking fuel, no medicines, no petrol, and not enough fuel for electricity. Truly a wretched set of problems.

You can buy Dilmah tea to help, Hand made Batik shirts, and visit. It is a truly lovely country, with good tourism facilities.

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#15

Post by kumarvvr »

The drastic move to organic farming is puzzling.

Any level headed person, forget a politician, would want to experiment first, see the results, gauge and then expand selectively. That is common sense.

I guess when you are a dictator ish government and you rule the country with an iron first, the institutions of the state stop being anything and simply become rubber stamps.

This also underlines the importance of self sufficiency in necessities. A country ought to feed its people, provide basic services like power and medical facilities on its own, without depending on imports.

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#16

Post by lanstin »

blackoil wrote: post #3

Because of Islamophobia people elected known corrupt leaders, who made all the bad decisions possible. The pandemic and Ukraine war unraveled it all.

Or anti-Tamil. The Islamophobia is sort of new, since the Easter bombing, but the Rajapaksas have been authoritarian for much longer than that.

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#17

Post by bergenty »

duxup wrote: post #12
afterburner wrote: post #7

> But the most boneheaded, bizarre mistake that the Sri Lankan government made was a disastrous plan to shift the entire country to organic agriculture. In April of 2021 the government banned the import and use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. This devastated Sri Lankan agriculture, since, as it turns out, fertilizer is really really important. Production of tea — Sri Lanka’s main cash crop — fell by 18% in a…

You would hope that someone wanting to switch to organic agriculture would encourage it … rather than just flip a switch…

Organic agriculture is where it belong. Mom and pop farms sold in stores where it costs 3x as much for no particular increase in nutritional value. Fertilizers are tangentially bad for the environment but not directly, only in that it causes algal blooms in water bodies. Pesticides are bad yes but the research should concentrate on finding pesticides that work well with the environment. We got close with glyphosate but we’re finding out that we didn’t.

The nutrients in soil are a non-renewable resource. You can’t grow on the same piece of land and expect a bumper crop every year if you don’t use fertilizers.

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#18

Post by ch4s3 »

Victerius wrote: post #5

Quoted post unavailable.

Since 2014 more than 6 million people have fled Venezuela, bringing the population from 30 million to just under 25 million. That’s 20% of the population. Imagine 1 out of every 5 people you’ve ever known deciding to literally pick up and physically walk out of the country.

That sounds like an absolute collapse of civil society.

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#19

Post by aetherson »

asciiresort wrote: post #8

> Without imports, many Sri Lankans will quickly find themselves hungry, stranded How did these island nations sustain themselves before ? In other words, what has changed that they can’t live off the land anymore? And by that, I mean the sea. Has Sri Lanka’s fish been pillaged? Is it being exported to wealthier nations that command higher prices, even as there is a domestic food crisis? How much of this is because o…

Sri Lanka's population is 2x what it was in 1965.

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/LKA/sri-lanka/populati...

Japan imports about 60% of its food.

https://www.merlofarminggroup.com/agri-view-japan%E2%80%99s-...

Re: Sri Lanka is having a textbook currency crisis, triggered by policy mistakes

#20

Post by plantain »

asciiresort wrote: post #8

> Without imports, many Sri Lankans will quickly find themselves hungry, stranded How did these island nations sustain themselves before ? In other words, what has changed that they can’t live off the land anymore? And by that, I mean the sea. Has Sri Lanka’s fish been pillaged? Is it being exported to wealthier nations that command higher prices, even as there is a domestic food crisis? How much of this is because o…

Well, not from producing copious quantities of tea. Globalization meant they (thought they) could specialize in growing tea and let someone else specialize in growing food. In theory - everyone wins.
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