[ VO ]Sri Lanka has become the first Southeast Asian country in 2022
unable to pay its foreign debt. This totals 51 billion dollars.
51 000 000 000$
[ Kanchana Wijesekera ]Even during the war we didn't face such an economic challenge.
[ VO ]The sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia have
brought this island nation to its knees, prices have skyrocketed.
OIL
GASOLINE
MEDICINE
FOOD
[ Murtaza Jafferjee ] Fertiliser price has gone up 200%.
Thousands of people took to the streets. [ VO ]And this is just the beginning. A similar
scenario could unfold in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and other Asian countries, and Africa.
[ Alexey Kupriyanov ]No fat, then the lean die! It's happening in Sri Lanka now
[ VO ]It’s the same old Western trap - victims swallow the bait. It could
be an individual, an industrial company, or even an entire country.
[ VO ]First, you’re lent money, and then you have to pay it back - with huge interest.
[ KATHERINE CHI TAI, UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE ] Our partners are
very excited to welcome US-enhanced economic engagement with the region.
[ HOWARD NICHOLAS PROFESSOR, ERASMUS UNIVERSITY, ROTTERDAM ] We know the West can
industrialise any country they want. They've done it with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore,
Malaysia. All for geopolitical reasons. Now they do it in Eastern Europe. Same. Exactly
the same. Whenever they want to, they can do it. When they don't want to, they block.
[ Researcher ]Some US experts say the Indian Ocean
will be the main hotspot in the 21st century
[ VO ]Sri Lanka is paralysed.
TORCHED: SRI LANKA’S ECONOMY
[ VO ]Tens of thousands have gathered in front of the presidential administration building on this square in the
capital of Colombo. It’s become a kind of tent city, where the protesters sleep, cook, chant, and await change.
[ Ahangama Gunarathne ] This is the main protesting place in this 'GotaGo home' village
[ People ] Power to the people! Power to the people!
We came here on April 9, and this is the 22nd day of this struggle
[ VO ]'Gota' is a shortened version of President Gotabaya's name.
[ AHANGAMA GUNARATHNE LEADER, "YOUTH FOR CHANGE" MOVEMENT ]The 3 reasons for this economic, crisis in Sri Lanka:
UNREST IN SRI LANKA MAY 2022
[ Ahangama ]The 1st thing is the Covid crisis. That's the starting place
[ Ahangama ]The 2nd thing is the Russia and Ukraine war,
because our export market is hugely placed in Russia
[ Ahangama ]So we lost that market
[ Ahangama ]The 3rd factor is... the government's mismanagement
[ Ahangama ]All these reasons amount to one
thing: the people are in a deep crisis
[ People ]We have nothing to eat! We're hungry!
[ VO ]Sri Lanka’s example clearly shows the global economy isn’t a set of rules that produces a single
correct policy. It’s impossible to punish one country with sanctions without hurting the interests of
others. The embargo on oil from Russia immediately increased energy costs. Sri Lanka isn’t able to pay
the new price set by the West. And bypassing sanctions is risky. You’re liable to be sanctioned yourself.
[ Alexey ]It's been a perfect storm: on the one hand, foreign debt deepened,
and on the other fuel prices went up, causing an avalanche effect
[ Murtaza ] But what has compounded it more is that the price of diesel has gone up significantly.
[ MURTAZA JAFFERJEE FINANCIAL ANALYST ] As you know, there is a shortage of diesel
even in the United States. There is a shortage of diesel in many countries.
[ Howard Nicholas ] I think that Sri Lanka has no choice now but to actually directly buy Russian
oil and gas, in my opinion, you know? And bypass the sanctions just like India is doing.
[ VO ]After Russian ships were banned from entering ports, wheat supplies were severely
cut. Exports almost halved, which immediately undermined the country’s food security.
[ VO ]Disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system has impacted the
tourism industry. Today the Sri Lankan budget is hemorrhaging billions of dollars.
[ People ]Gota... is a madman!
ARCHIVE FOOTAGE, 2003
[ VO ]In the recent past, Sri Lanka suffered a civil war, when Tamil separatists tried to create their own independent state.
[ VO ]They were defeated at the cost of 80,000 lives.
[ VO ]These are former Sri Lankan army soldiers who fought in the civil war.
[ VO ]Heroes! But now they’re barely making ends meet.
[ VO ]Today, they question the great sacrifices they made.
[ Mahinda ]I joined the Special Forces, because it was the only way I could
serve my country I was always thinking about how to stop the war in Sri Lanka,
[ MAHINDA SIRI EX-SOLDIER ] and defend my country’s independence.
[ Mahinda ] I didn't have much of a choice. I was born into a poor family
[ VO ]The war ended in 2009, and former soldiers don’t want to see their nation mired in civil conflict again.
ARCHIVE FOOTAGE, 2003
[ VO ]Things used to be simple: they fought against a terrorist group, partly funded by Western countries.
[ Mahinda ]Sometimes terrorists attacked innocent people and cut their heads off!
[ VO ]Today, it’s ordinary people who are suffering from the sanctions imposed on Russia, and its resulting economic meltdown.
[ Mahinda ]Politicians have taken everything from the people
[ Mahinda ]They confiscated the terrorists' gold and money
[ Mahinda ]They seized their property. Where is that money?
[ Mahinda ]We're fighting to return it to the people
[ Sivanu Sivakumar ]Yes, I've been driving a tuk tuk for 16
years In Sri Lanka I go everywhere by tuk tuk
[ VO ]Sivanu is a motor rickshaw driver. He lives in a village, like millions of others.
[ VO ]If they have a job, they can keep going. But everything’s changed now. The transport system has all but collapsed.
[ VO ]The country’s out of petrol, which means no more income. That's why Sivanu has also joined the protest.
[ Sivanu ] Everything's very expensive! You can't survive without a job Food prices
have risen. 1 kg of rice now costs up to 240 rupees ($0.7). Life’s become hard.
[ Sivanu’s Wife ] This 400-gram jar of milk is 850 rupees ($2.4), a kilo's 2,500 rupees ($7). We can't afford it anymore
[ VO ]Sivanu's family is running out of food, and they don't know what they’ll do.
[ VO ]The same goes for their neighbours. In fact, all the villagers and
residents of all villages and towns in Sri Lanka are in the same boat.
[ Sivanu ] There are very long queues at petrol stations I queued
an hour to buy 5 litres. 2 or 3 litres cost 1,200 rupees ($3.4)
[ Sivanu ] It used to cost about 117 rupees ($0.3) a liter, and that
was okay We need much more. We won't survive if it stays like this
[ SIVANU SIVAKUMAR DRIVER ]We don't buy gas for cooking either
[ Sivanu ] A cylinder now costs 5,200 rupees ($15)
[ Sivanu ] How much?
[ Sivanu ] To buy 2 litres, which last a day, we have to make 700 rupees ($2)
[ Sivanu ] We can't afford to bring anything home It's very difficult to live like that. I'm sick of it
[ Sivanu’s Wife ] Because of the kids, I can't get a job
[ Sivanu ] You can't leave them alone
[ Ahangama ]The inflation situation: currently 117% inflation in this country
[ Ahangama ]So people try to resist in different ways
[ AHANGAMA GUNARATHNE LEADER "YOUTH FOR CHANGE" MOVEMENT ]Some are marching, some are screaming by saying slogans,
some are waving banners
[ Ahangama ]The big banner in the middle of the road,
that one, 'Give our stolen money back'
[ Ahangama ]The government's corrupt. It has stolen people's money
[ Ahangama ]Currently, I'm also a victim of this economic crisis. I'm jobless
[ Ahangama ]The previous month, I paid 10,000... Normally, currently
10,000 rupees ($28) for my mother's… medicine Now I can't pay for them
[ Ahangama ]You can see the police behind this barrier
[ Ahangama ]They're protecting Gotabaya’s Presidential Office
[ Ahangama ]They are there, and we are here
[ Ahangama ]We'll never be... We know someday, they will join with us
[ Ahangama ]We know that. Because in the near future, the government,
who lost that money, won't be able to pay their salaries
[ Ahangama ]If they shoot at us, I'll go to the frontline Definitely, I'll go to the frontline
[ Ahangama ]Because I don't want this coming to the next generation
[ Ahangama ]If it ends here, it ends with me... it ends with me!
[ Kanchana ] One of the biggest hurdles that we have in terms of oil
purchasing is that the cost of crude oil and other fuels on the market.
[ KANCHANA WIJESEKERA POWER AND ENERGY MINISTER ] The main reason
behind this is the Russia and the Ukraine conflict going on right now.
[ Kanchana ] And Russia is one of the biggest exporters to the world in oil.
[ Alexey ]Oil and gas are being delivered to Sri Lanka, but higher fuel prices worsen Sri Lanka's debt crisis
[ Howard ] We should try and borrow this from the international capital markets,
which could make our problem even worse, because we haven’t been able to meet those international debt obligations.
UNREST IN SRI LANKA MAY 2022
[ VO ]A chronicle has been started for the momentous upheaval in Sri
Lanka. One of its founders documents everything that’s happening online.
[ Ranjana Senasinghe ]A state of emergency!
[ Ranjana ] Their main rallying cry is, 'Gota go home!'
[ VO ]His Russian is fluent because he graduated from the People’s
Friendship University in Moscow. He asked us to call him Roma.
[ Ranjana ] The president must step down!
[ Ranjana ] The government is just... The whole government apparatus
[ RANJANA SENASINGHE DEPUTY EDITOR, NATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SRI LANKA
] It's not just politicians, but also, public officials
[ Ranjana ] They ransacked the country!
[ RANIL WICKREMESINGHE PRIME MINISTER OF SRI LANKA ] While this goes on, we
must also look into why adequate precautions were not taken in this respect.
[ Ranjana ] They all want a slice of the cake, in addition to their salaries
[ People ]Now everything’s expensive.
[ People ]Oh! This is a big problem for this country.
[ People ]What's government doing?
[ People ]Government needs to understand the pulse of the people.
[ People ]This insensitivity must be crushed.
[ Ranjana ] What's happening now in the world arena, rising oil and wheat prices
and so forth, is having an impact, because we are one community, after all
[ Ranjana ] But falling this low?
[ VO ] Even tea, a core sector industry, has been affected. Production volumes of Sri
Lanka's main export have plummeted and returned to the figures of twenty years ago.
[ Dinesh ] In an account of the current situation where, as you
know, with the Ukraine-Russia situation and shortage of fertiliser.
[ DINESH AMBANI BOARD CHAIRMAN, TEA COMPANY ] The prices have gone hugely spite up.
[ Mohamed ] When the fuel prices are going up, then the transportations are getting
held up, people are reluctant to buy the teas to send it across to Ukraine and Europe,
[ MOHAMED FEROZE MAJEED, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, TEA COMPANY ]
...because they are not certain whether their ships will go there.
[ Marimuttu ]Pick only trefoils, not the footstalks, or they'll reject the whole batch
[ Marimuttu ]Tea puts food on our table!
[ VO ]Marimuttu works at a plantation in the central part of Sri Lanka, where the most
premium and expensive tea grows. But she and her family are barely making ends meet.
[ Marimuttu ]We must be at work every morning by 8 am
[ MARIMUTTU KUMARASAMY, TEA PICKER ]We have to pick 20 kg of tea in a
day We work until 4 pm If we don't hit our targets, they don't pay us
Sometimes we get bitten by snakes and leeches
[ VO ]The protests have raged for several weeks, and they’re getting stronger every day.
UNREST IN SRI LANKA MAY 2022
[ VO ]The entrance to the President’s Secretariat is blocked. Police
are holding the line, and serious clashes may begin any moment.
[ People ]We want democracy, they impose dictatorship!
[ Ahangama ]We want democracy, they impose dictatorship! You can see there's a farmer He
came from Nuwara Eliya District to Galle Face That's nearly 250 km. He came on foot!
He's demanding fertilisers! We are in a deep, chronic crisis: no gas, no fuel, no
electricity, no medicine, no food... We can see every age group in this struggle
[ AHANGAMA GUNARATHNE LEADER "YOUTH FOR CHANGE" MOVEMENT ] For our exporting
markets, our main buyer is Russia Russia and Ukraine And they are
exporting products, too, to Sri Lanka. So that marketplace is lost for
us. So, it's affecting our foreign exchange, foreign currency market.
[ Ahangama ]The European Union and NATO and America also should be responsible
for this economic crisis in Sri Lanka. They should be responsible for this.
[ Ahangama ]Yeah! They’re like deaf people.
[ Ahangama ]Some people come here and they resist because they can't pay their kids' tuition fees
[ Ahangama ]Some people can’t pay for medicine for their parents.
[ Ahangama ]Because...
[ Ahangama ]Just a few days ago the government raised the price of meds by 40% That's how this
economic trouble is That's how big this economic
trouble is On one side, fuel prices are rising
[ Ahangama ]Two or three weeks ago, the fuel price was like 220 rupees ($0.7) Now it's 330
rupees ($1). That's how inflation is in our
country Now we are third in the world for inflation
[ Ahangama ]Currently, I'm full-time in this struggle I know we can win this fight We'll
overcome these issues. Someday we will win this fight... definitely win this fight
[ VO ]The leader of the Youth for Change movement always carries
a red flag. The hammer and sickle symbol isn’t just a reference
to the Soviet Union, it’s also about social equality and justice; a protest against the monopoly of US financial capital
and certain government officials are criticised for allegedly having passports of other countries
[ Man ]They are citizens of America — they’re Americans. But they are ruling our
country, they are stealing our money. This country’s ours, not the American people’s!
[ Man ]How can American people rule 20 million people, by only one family?!
[ Howard ]The US is in decline and no doubt about that. And they will scavenge on everyone.
[ HOWARD NICHOLAS PROFESSOR ERASMUS UNIVERSITY, ROTTERDAM ]I mean, what
is happening in the Ukraine, to me, is the US scavenging on Europe.
[ Howard ]These companies work very closely with the United States. You know, we get more and more enmeshed.
[ RANJANA SENASINGHE DEPUTY EDITOR, NATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SRI LANKA ]How much for a coconut?
[ Ranjana ]100 rupees ($0.3)!
[ Ranjana ]It's a hard life for ordinary folk
[ Ranjana ]For example, a kilo of potatoes used to cost 100 rupees ($0.3)
[ Ranjana ]Now half a kilo is 100 rupees ($0.3)
[ Ranjana ]Chemical fertiliser shipments have stopped, and the
whole agricultural sector, including rice production, has crashed!
[ Man ]No deliveries! No transport!
[ Ranjana ]It's because the diesel needed to
deliver vegetables to Colombo and other cities is
in short supply So the situation is likely to
become disastrous... Famine is also possible
[ VO ]Medicine prescribed by Sri Lankan doctors is usually foreign made, and
therefore, it’s all imported. The dollar’s sharp rise has decimated supplies.
[ Doctor ]So many medicines that are used in anaesthesia are in shortfall.
[ Doctor ]And then so many items, not only drugs, but items that is required for, to perform surgeries are in shortfall.
[ Doctor ]You have to make a noise, you have to make a row to get your medicines.
[ Doctor ]This is the way that hospitals are running at the moment in Sri Lanka.
[ VO ]There’s still petrol for ambulances, but doctors who
live far away from work have to queue for petrol themselves.
[ Marimuttu ]You should only pick the trefoils
[ VO ]Tea picking is Marimuttu’s only skill. There was never enough money for her to get an education.
[ VO ]She works hard to provide for her children, so
they can, at least, have one meal a day and go to school.
[ Marimuttu ]Food prices are now much higher We can't give
the kids what they ask for. Milk powder prices have gone up.
[ MARIMUTTU KUMARASAMY TEA PICKER ] And we can't give them a proper education either
[ Marimuttu ]We can only afford one meal a day, because our wage is low, only
800 rupees ($2.3) a day It's only enough for three loaves of bread, and
250g of dal for a family of five We don't have enough money to eat properly.
We're poor! The kids are always asking to buy food, but we can't afford it
[ VO ]Sri Lanka’s deep crisis has affected all families. There are fuel, energy and
food shortages… and you can lose your job anytime. Only rainwater is in abundance.
[ Marimuttu ]We don't care if we get sucked by leeches, or cut
ourselves with a knife while picking We need to earn a living
[ VO ]This is the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. About 80 animals live here.
[ Rahula ]We care for the elephants. They won't survive in the wild
[ RAHULA BANDARA ELEPHANT KEEPER ]They're used to people!
[ VO ]Sometimes their parents abandon them, and occasionally poachers leave them
behind. The elephants need lots of food, each consumes up to 76 kg of leaves a day.
[ Rahula ]We spend about 15-20,000 rupees ($42-$56) on each elephant daily
[ Rahula ]The elephants are already facing severe food
shortages, and we're having difficulties with supplies
[ VO ]In 2021, twin elephants were born, a first for the orphanage.
[ Rahula ]They still need mother's milk. With 2 babies we need more milk
[ VO ]Sri Lanka’s elephant population is around 7,500. Finding food is hard, even for
those living in the wild. So, there’s no guarantee their numbers will remain the same.
[ Ranjana ]Caw-caw-caw!
[ Ranjana ]Like a crow's cry Caw-caw-caw!
[ RANJANA SENASINGHE DEPUTY EDITOR, NATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SRI LANKA ]
That's how people mock the ex-minister of finance, the president's and the premier's brother
[ Ranjana ]The country depends completely on foreign loans
[ Ranjana ]There are extreme shortages of cooking gas and petrol
[ Ranjana ]Many who live in Colombo and the suburbs switched to wood
[ Ranjana ]Over 40% of electric power comes from diesel power stations
[ Ranjana ]Due to fuel shortages,
diesel power stations stop working periodically
[ Ranjana ]We don't have stable power supplies either
[ Ranjana ]The middle-classes, for the first time in their lives,
took to the streets to protest...
teaming up with Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslim Moors
[ Ranjana ]They're one united team
[ Ranjana ]What it means to be Sri Lankan is now being decided
[ Ranjana ]For 300 years, this country was dominated by the Netherlands and the UK
[ Ranjana ]During this time, the people lost their self-governance skills
[ VO ]Sri Lanka is the first country to face such a huge crisis, but, apparently,
it won’t be the last. After the West imposed sanctions against Russia, ties
between suppliers and consumers were severed. So, several other nations risk being
sucked under! Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan are the top three on the list.
[ ALEKSEY KUPRIANOV SENIOR RESEARCHER, INSTITUTE OF WORLD ECONOMY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (IMEMO) ]
Those countries are politically unstable: small economies... heavily dependent on foreign fuel and food supplies
[ Kanchana ] Most of this Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, even Singapore.
[ MOHAMED FEROZE MAJEED, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, TEA COMPANY ]Ukraine is an issue, I’d say,
is an international issue. And most of these third world countries are going to get affected.
[ Howard ]IMF takes them to the international capital markets. So, you know, they don't
get money, all the money they need from the IMF. The IMF gives them some restructures
of their economies and then says “Okay”. They're asked you have to borrow from the
international capital markets that are dominated by American investment companies.
[ NIRMAL JEWASIRI PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY COLOMBO ]I'm a student of history. And so then, I
mean, you're talking about what revolutions are. So, you have every component of revolution.
[ Official ] So I think it has impacted the lives of everyone in Sri Lanka. You have seen the crisis and the shortages.
[ Tea Picker ]This is what I cooked for lunch. We had rice, beans and dal It'll be for
dinner too! We don't even drink tea with milk We have it black, we can't afford milk
[ Sivanu ] I had a dream to build a house, but I
only managed half of it I borrowed 500,000 rupees
($1,400), but I can't continue building during
this crisis I may be smiling, but inside I feel so bad.
[ SIVANU SIVAKUMAR, DRIVER ] I don't know how to put it I'm thinking
of how I can build a house... and live there with my kids.
THE NEXT DAY, SIVANU WENT TO COLOMBO TO PROTEST AGAIN.
[ KANCHANA WIJESEKERA POWER AND ENERGY MINISTER ] We had to announce a technical default,
because our debt was in a state that we could not manage for the next few installments.
THE GOVERNMENT RESIGNED THE DAY AFTER THIS INTERVIEW.
THE PROTESTS IN SRI LANKA CONTINUE.
UNREST IN SRI LANKA MAY 2022