Not true.

China charges an interest rate of 6.3% for its loans to Lanka, while the
interest rates on soft loans from the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) are only 0.25–3%. Interest rates of India’s Line
of Credit to the neighbouring countries are as low as 1%, or even less in
some cases

Read more at:

//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65659719.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

But Chinese loans are not the reason for our debt trap. Financial market
instruments are the reason for it. They have a very high interest rate.
China refused to give these junk loans.
On Sunday, October 21, 2018, 5:14:21 PM GMT+11, Anoma Silva
<priyani55@googlemail.com> wrote:

By the way does anyone know the interest rate for the loans MR was giVen. By
China. ?? I. Think it was 2.5 % . Correct me if I am wrong. . Thanks.

Anoma

On Saturday, 20 October 2018, Dilrook Kannangara <dilrookk@yahoo.com> wrote:

Once again Chandare is stuck with GDP. That is useless to measure our
ability to repay loans (without drastic taxes, rupee depreciation, economic
collapse, etc.). We need hard currency to repay foreign debt. Further, the
loan stock to GDP does not consider the interest rate. We borrowed at
6.75% USD interest rate!

The only proper yardstick is debt repayment and interest over state
revenue. This was over 95% during Mahinda's last 3 years and this
regime's first 2 years. After wasting money to repay loans and interest,
there is no money for government expenditure. This is again borrowed.

Take a look at this. It was published early 2015 based on 2014

data. Sri Lanka was in debt trap by then. Page 13.

https://jubileedebt.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/2015/07/The- new-debt-

trap_07.15.pdf

Countries already in debt crisis

1
Armenia
2
Belize
3
Costa Rica
4
Croatia
5
Cyprus
6
Dominican Republic
7
El Salvador
8
the Gambia
9
Greece
10
Grenada
11
Ireland
12
Jamaica
13
Lebanon
13
14
Macedonia
15
Marshall Islands
16
Montenegro
17
Portugal
18
Spain
19
Sri Lanka
20
St Vincent and the
Grenadines
21
Tunisia
22
Ukraine
Also, countries in default or debt negotiation
23
Sudan
24
Zimbabwe

On Saturday, October 20, 2018, 1:00:42 AM GMT+11, 'Chandre dharma-wardana'

via Strategy, Battle & Military Study Group - RASSL <bmsg-
rassl@googlegroups.com> wrote:
So, let us use Dilrook Kannangara's own figures
to test his claim that Basil Rajapaksa borrowed
11.3 billion (foreign debt) in 2011 and caused
the collapse of the Lankan economy that the
Yahapalanaya government is facing today.

Dilrrok K has given a link to the Treasury

Document report 2012.
This compares 2012 with 2005.
Instead of getting over-whelmed with numbers,
just look at the relevant parts:

Sri Lanka at a glance - 2005 & 2012

2005
2012
Total Govt Debt (US$, Mn) 22,115
47,023
Total Debt Service (GDP%) 14.3
13.4
Total Govt Debt (GDP%) 90.6
79.1
Domestic Debt (GDP%) 51.6
42.6
Foreign Debt (GDP%) 39.0
36.5

GDP at market Price ($US, Bn) 24.4

59.4
Actual Foreign Debt ($US, Bn) 952
2168

So you see from the first high-lighted line that

the Foreign part of the debt has
actually decreased by about 2.5% of the GDP.
There is no evidence of Basil Rajapaksa creating
a debt of 11.3 billion in 2011 as claimed by
Dilrook Kannangara and causing the "economic
collapse" of Sri Lanka.
If the 2012 debt is 2168 billion, 11.3 billion is
about 0.5% and negligible.

Dilrook K has also rubbished the GDP as a

constructed number (it reflects
your total earning-so to speak), but does not give
his own alternative number which he would take
with confidence.
[All the numbers, be it debt, foreign debt etc. in
economics are constructed. It is not like in
physics where you can measure it
experimentally.]
But these constructs are accepted numbers by
economists and bankers the world over, and also
by FITCH and other foreign raters.
If you don't like that yardstick, you can multiply
by the GDP and get it in US billions, and I have
given it in the yellow high lighted rows. You may
of course say that the US$ is a fiction
manipulated by the US treasury.

Chandre Dharmawardana
On Friday, October 19, 2018 5:48 AM, "'Dilrook Kannangara' via Strategy, Battle & Military Study
Group - RASSL" <bmsg-rassl@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Loan percentage of GDP is a different and irrelevant measure. Our GDP is

not in dollars. It is in rupees. Therefore, a percentage of GDP means
nothing. No matter how large the GDP is, we will still struggle to find
dollars and repay loans. On the other hand Japan has a loan to GDP of
close to 300% but that is not a problem because those loans have an
interest rate of near 0%.

Also the GDP is a manufactured number by a heavily politicized central

bank.

Further, loans of $9.5 billion was hidden. They were direct borrowings by
CPC, CEB, Srilankan airlines, etc. so they were not included in the central
bank figure. But since these are loss making, the Treasury underwrites
them and must show in the total loans. An accounting trick by the
accountant turned UNP provincial council politician, later central bank
governor!

Look at the whole numbers of foreign loans (though heavily understated).

A more relevant measure is the debt service ratio. When you try to get a
long term loan, the bank checks this. It is the loan repayment and
interest over total state revenue in this case. This was close to 100% in
2012! All government income went on to repay loans and interest like a
family of a drunken husband. This is called the debt trap. These data is
published by the Treasury.

Take a look. Page 200. Foreign Debt Service/Export Earnings and

Remittances in 2012 was 14.2 times! That means we needed 14.2 times
more than our export earnings and foreign remittances to repay loans and
interest in that year. 96.8% of state revenue!

http://www.treasury.gov.lk/ documents/10181/12870/2012/ ff6bcb87-

3e8d-4af0-b9d6- d67c57e81f38

On Friday, October 19, 2018, 2:20:25 PM GMT+11, 'Chandre dharma-wardana' via

Strategy, Battle & Military Study Group - RASSL <bmsg-rassl@googlegroups.com>
wrote:

Please look at the following figure (Central Bank

data):
There is no sharp increase in debt in 2011or
2012 due to borrowing by Basil Rajapaksa as
claimed by Dilrook.

We can also consider the following numbers

back to 1989, not shown in the chart:

1989 1990 1995 2000 2005

2006 2007 2008
109% 94 % 92 % 94 % 91 % 88 %
85 % 81 %
Sri Lanka recorded a government debt
equivalent to 77.60 percent of the country's
Gross Domestic Product in 2017. Government
Debt to GDP in Sri Lanka averaged 69.69
percent from 1950 until 2017, reaching an all
time high of 108.70 percent in 1989 and a
record low of 16.30 percent in 1951.

Chandre

On Thursday, October 18, 2018 3:49 PM, "'Dilrook Kannangara' via Strategy, Battle & Military Study
Group - RASSL" <bmsg-rassl@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Take a look at Sri Lanka's borrowings. Total net foreign borrowings from
1948 (or 1833) to November 2005 was $11.3 billion. 2011 net foreign
borrowings was $11.3 billion. This was (supposedly) managed by Basil.
That's just one year. Mind you these are only official figures.

I'm not talking about his alleged corruption. He was called "Mr Ten
Percent" and is facing various massive frauds. Let the court decide that.

Basil and Bathurdeen are accused by Malinda (and Nagananda) for the
destruction of Wilpattu, etc. The case is still going on I think.
He was also involved in allocating a disproportionately large percentage of
borrowings to the north. Humanitarian, etc. matters apart, all borrowings
must be repayable with added state revenue from those investments. The
north did not return a sufficient excess to government coffers to repay
these loans. The key word is sustainable. Unsustainable debt is the reason
we are in an economic crisis.

"Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that 85 percent of

foreign loans to the country were spent on developing the North and
resettling people displaced by the war."

85% of loans spent for North-Basil

85% of loans spent for North-Basil

85% of loans spent for North-Basil, Economic Development
Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that 85 percent of foreig...

On Thursday, October 18, 2018, 8:04:22 AM GMT+11, 'Chandre dharma-wardana'

via Strategy, Battle & Military Study Group - RASSL <bmsg-
rassl@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Dilrook says of Basil Rajapaksa

He is also responsible (among others) for the

economic crisis Sri Lanka is in now.

I am no fan of basil, but the above singular

statement is totally incorrect.
On Wednesday, October 17, 2018 3:49 PM, "'Dilrook Kannangara' via Strategy, Battle & Military Study
Group - RASSL" <bmsg-rassl@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Everyone knows what political clans are after. We have far too many of
them. Rajapaksas are no different.

On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 4:47:14 PM GMT+11, Malinda Seneviratne

<malindasenevi@gmail.com> wrote:

my gut feeling is that few outside the family circle know how the rajapaksas think
about politics. so i won't offer predictions now speculate on choices. :)

On Wed, Oct 17, 2018 at 1:40 AM Dilrook Kannangara <dilrookk@yahoo.com> wrote:

Basil is the main reason for Mahinda's defeat in 2015. He is also
responsible (among others) for the economic crisis Sri Lanka is in now. He
is uneducated on matters he handled. He used 63 navy ratings at his
personal premises. Some had to clean his toilets, wash his dogs, etc. He
implicated the STF in war crimes (Wikileaks). Basil is an accused in the
Wilpattu forest destruction and illegal settlements case. He is a very poor
organizer contrary to what some like to portray. Since 2015 there is no
real opposition. His party grabbed that opportunity. That movement was
created by Wimal ("Mahinda samaga nagitimu") but due to nepotism,
Basil was given credit by the Mahinda camp. In 2007, he used racial
abuse ("para demala") on a Tamil deputy minister of Mahinda's regime.
Promoting Basil for president will be a disaster.

Looks like Gotabaya and Basil have joined forces against Namal after
Mahinda introduced Namal as his successor to Modi last month. Mahinda
is happy to forego 2019 presidency for his party. Namal can contest in
2024. He can win easily if SLPP does not win the 2019 presidential
election.
On Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 5:34:14 PM GMT+11, Malinda Seneviratne
<malindasenevi@gmail.com> wrote:

So Basil is in the mix, that’s for sure, either as candidate or one of the key
backers of the SLPP candidate and in the event of a victory would be one of the
most powerful individuals in the government that would subsequently be formed,
if not THE most powerful one. A man worth watching for a multiplicity of reasons,
certainly.

https://malindawords.blogspot. com/2018/10/basil.html

--

Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer who writes a weekly column titled

'Subterranean Transcripts' for the Daily Mirror. His articles can be found at
www.malindawords.blogspot.com. His poetry: www.malindapoetry.blogspot.com
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