Sri Lanka
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Cyclone Ditwah and Disaster Capitalism
15 December 2025 - by Sushovan Dhar
This audio recording features a public lecture delivered at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) in Colombo on 10 December 2025, following Cyclone Ditwah. The main objective of the presentation was not to approach the event as (…) -
Then as farce, now as tragedy: The second coming of Microfinance and Credit Regulatory Authority
14 December 2025 - by Amali Wedagedara, Suneth Aruna Kumara, Renuka Gunawardena
The Microfinance and Credit Regulatory Authority Bill that was defeated by communities affected by microfinance, women victims and community credit providers in April 2024, has reincarnated. The one gazetted in October 2023, with zero community (…) -
People of Sri Lanka demand renegotiation of the IMF deal, debt, and climate justice in the face of the national disaster
10 December 2025 - by Collective
Cyclone Ditwah has inflicted devastating impacts across Sri Lanka. As of December 6, 2025, the death toll exceeds 600, with several hundred still missing, thousands displaced, with massive property, infrastructure, and livelihood damages. (…) -
The Great Flood
5 December 2025 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar
Cyclone Ditwah ripped through Sri Lanka between 27 and 29 November. The toll is devastating. Seven days later, the official count is 486 deaths and 341 missing. To which should be added five navy and one air-force officer killed in rescue (…) -
FCEJ demands prioritizing marginalised communities in disaster preparedness, equitable relief and economic justice
4 December 2025 - by Feminist Collective for Economic Justice
It’s been many days of relentless rains and winds devastating the island as Cyclonic Storm Ditwah approached and made landfall in Sri Lanka. At the time of writing, we are heartbroken that 355 people have lost their lives and 366 people are (…) -
FCEJ Calls for an End to the Microfinance Menace
17 October 2025 - by Feminist Collective for Economic Justice
The National People’s Party (NPP) marked the completion of its first year in government in September 2025. Sadly, the new government has already lost touch with the realities on the ground. Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the JVP - the main (…) -
Sub-Saharan Africa and Sri Lanka: Examples for understanding the debt crisis in the South [Part 4]
6 May 2025 - by Maxime Perriot
Having described the new debt crisis in the first three parts of this series, we now turn to illustrating it with examples from sub-Saharan Africa and Sri Lanka in South Asia. The perfect example: Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is (…) -
US tariffs will intensify debt crisis in lower-income countries
10 April 2025 - by Tim Jones
Countries with high debt payments all hit with tariffs No benefit from falling price of dollar Borrowing costs increasing Largest impact will be global downturn hitting export revenues ***Updated data on 7 April*** The US’s planned (…) -
Made in Sri Lanka, Taxed in America, and Failed by the IMF
9 April 2025 - by Taniya Silvapulle
On 2 April 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, imposing trade measures on partners across the globe. The policy included a baseline 10% tariff on all imports, along with strict, country-specific ‘reciprocal (…) -
How IMF stole Sri Lanka! debt expert explains!
2 April 2025 - by Eric Toussaint, Balasingham Skanthakumar, Tharindu Uduwaragedera
In this interview, Eric Toussaint and Balasingham Skanthakumar explains the consequences of the IMF “bailout” of Sri Lanka and the impact of IMF conditionalities on the Sri Lankan economy. He highlights how these conditions often lead to (…) -
Budget 2025: Playing A Bad Hand
31 March 2025 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar
1. Introduction ‘Budget 2025’ – delivered before parliament on 17 February by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) in his capacity as Minister of Finance and passed on 21 March – is the first concretisation of the economic agenda of the (…) -
Sri Lanka : IMF’s iron clasp, a maiden Budget and protecting the poor
22 February 2025 - by Niyanthini Kadirgamar
In his spirited Budget speech, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake described the priority for the first Budget of the NPP Government as thus: “Mass struggles and last year’s election saw people asserting their political rights. What is necessary (…) -
The policies of Sri Lanka’s new government: a historic opportunity lost
14 February 2025 - by Eric Toussaint
Éric Toussaint reviews the situation in Sri Lanka since 2022. From the popular revolts to the new centre-Left government elected in late 2024 and the negotiations with the creditors, this overview provides a better understanding of a country (…) -
Sri Lanka’s ISB Restructuring
10 February 2025 - by Dhanusha Gihan Pathirana
CADTM is happy to republish this paper, which is extremely valuable in comprehending the arrangement reached by former Sri Lankan authorities with bondholders two days before the September 2024 presidential elections. Key Takeaways The (…) -
Sri Lanka : Fiscal and Redistributive Reform: The Burden of Interest Costs
8 February 2025 - by Dhanusha Gihan Pathirana
Context The Sri Lankan government is currently facing a significant burden due to high interest costs on Treasury Bonds, which is severely constraining the fiscal space available for critical social protection programs. There is a valuable (…) -
The Case Against Odious Debt. Dr. Eric Toussaint on Face To Face
6 February 2025 - by Eric Toussaint, Niresh Eliatamby
We are publishing a 48-minute interview with Eric Toussaint broadcast on 5 February 2025 by the ‘News 1st’ television channel. The international spokesman for the CADTM is interviewed by journalist Niresh Eliatamby, who interviews politicians (…) -
Sri Lanka
Budget 2025: Adjusting and adapting inside IMF prison
4 February 2025 - by Amali Wedagedara
The Budget 2025 illustrates the drudgery of making ends meet inside a debtors’ prison. The Appropriation Bill for Budget 2025 reveals the fiscal squeeze and constraints imposed by the IMF program and the struggle to set the economy on a (…) -
Sri Lanka’s People Have Kicked Out the Old Political Class
25 November 2024 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar
The progressive alliance that backs Sri Lanka’s new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won a landslide victory in last week’s parliamentary election. The government has a clear mandate for change but now faces many obstacles to its reform (…) -
Sri Lanka: Reading the General Election 2024
22 November 2024 - by Amali Wedagedara, Pasan Jayasinghe
The National People’s Power (NPP) has made history. With its unprecedented, record-breaking electoral victory at the general election of 2024, the NPP has succeeded in engineering popular dissent towards comprehensive regime change. Its (…) -
Austerity, dispossession and injustice: Facets of the debt crisis in Sri Lanka
7 October 2024 - by Ahilan Kadirgamar
Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt for the first time in its postcolonial history in April 2022. The International Monetary Fund (IMF)-led process of recovery that followed has not only been disastrous in terms of the economic policy (…) -
Comrade President? Change and Continuity in Sri Lanka
29 September 2024 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar
Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s (AKD) victory on 21 September as the candidate of the centre-left National People’s Power (NPP) coalition is highly significant for symbolic and substantive reasons. His predecessors have been from the social and (…) -
Is There A Life Without IMF: Debunking The Myth
22 September 2024 - by Eric Toussaint
Given that Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the progressive presidential candidate from National People’s Power, is leading in the election on September 21, 2024, it is crucial to consider the question: Could life exist without the IMF? According to (…) -
Sri Lanka’s debt default
21 September 2024 - by Michael Roberts
Today, 21 September, Sri Lanka will hold its first presidential election since the July 2022 popular uprising known as the Aragalaya, which drove the corrupt President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from power. Sri Lanka had entered the most damaging (…) -
Sri Lanka: The conjuncture in the crisis
10 July 2024 - by Balasingham Skanthakumar
“Aaranchiya Subhai!” (‘Await Good News’) read posters plastered across the country recently. It was the build-up to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s televised speech on June 26, passing off a bad deal with official creditors on debt servicing as “Sri Lanka (…) -
New International Debt Crisis
2 April 2024 - by Eric Toussaint, Abdul Khaliq, Solange Koné, David Calleb Otieno, Amali Wedagedara, Aamanur Rahman
On February 16, 2024, at the World Social Forum in Kathmandu, Nepal, CADTM organised a discussion on the New International Debt Crisis, which discussed the new debt crisis engulfing a series of countries in the South. A number of speakers drew (…)
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