Sri Lankan rupee devaluation
Mar 12, 2022, 9:27 pm
#1
Original Poster
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Sri Lankan rupee devaluation
After a number of months hovering around 200 LKR / US$ the rate has moved with a couple of days to about 250 LKR / US$.
My friend living in a village is having difficulties with the food cost inflation.
But will it make for easier wandering
Fred
My friend living in a village is having difficulties with the food cost inflation.
But will it make for easier wandering
Fred
Mar 28, 2022, 6:50 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
Things will get better. But in the meantime spending your money there is probably the only thing most people can do to help.
Mar 29, 2022, 2:53 pm
#4
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We were there in January. The government will be replaced, the current government is universally hated. China will also find out that having a piece of paper signed by a corrupt official saying they own something won't go too far when the population of the country decides to take it back. Sri Lanka is not the Solomon Islands, it would require a full scale invasion by China if they want to keep the current government in power.
Things will get better. But in the meantime spending your money there is probably the only thing most people can do to help.
Things will get better. But in the meantime spending your money there is probably the only thing most people can do to help.
Mar 29, 2022, 7:33 pm
#5
Join Date: Apr 2016
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So are you suggesting that all foreign tourists boycott the country? Seems to me that the lack of tourism is one piece of this messed up puzzle.
Mar 30, 2022, 11:45 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2017
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Not at all; I merely said that one cannot enjoy a vacation if there is misery all around - no joie de vivre to infect the tourist. I know next to nothing about Sri Lankan politics, though having several executives from the same family cannot be much good. Plus they never realy sorted the Tamil-Sinhalese problem, but simply masked it up.
Mar 30, 2022, 11:56 am
#7
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Not at all; I merely said that one cannot enjoy a vacation if there is misery all around - no joie de vivre to infect the tourist. I know next to nothing about Sri Lankan politics, though having several executives from the same family cannot be much good. Plus they never realy sorted the Tamil-Sinhalese problem, but simply masked it up.
Apr 1, 2022, 9:45 am
#8
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,131
Covid & falling tourism did not cause Sri Lanka’s debt to climb to 90%+ in 2019, which is nuts for a small developing country like Sri Lanka.
Covid did not cause the new government to then cut taxes by 30% in 2019. (Though, it did cause the already significantly-reduced incoming revenue stream to reduce further, but tourism is also only 12% of GDP.)
Covid did not cause the Central Bank to continue printing money over the past year+ instead of trying to refinance the debt, which has led to what is now hyperinflation.
Sorry, I know this is OMNI, but you can’t blame the current situation primarily on the pandemic and a slowdown of tourism dollars: this has been years in the making.
I too wish there was a concrete way to help those in Sri Lanka, but not sure parachuting tourists in to spend a couple of dollars on cheap hotels / food while competing with locals for staples is the way to go right now…
Covid did not cause the new government to then cut taxes by 30% in 2019. (Though, it did cause the already significantly-reduced incoming revenue stream to reduce further, but tourism is also only 12% of GDP.)
Covid did not cause the Central Bank to continue printing money over the past year+ instead of trying to refinance the debt, which has led to what is now hyperinflation.
Sorry, I know this is OMNI, but you can’t blame the current situation primarily on the pandemic and a slowdown of tourism dollars: this has been years in the making.
I too wish there was a concrete way to help those in Sri Lanka, but not sure parachuting tourists in to spend a couple of dollars on cheap hotels / food while competing with locals for staples is the way to go right now…
Last edited by crackjack; Apr 1, 2022 at 10:15 am
Apr 2, 2022, 8:06 pm
#9
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 1,721
If you want to get a picture of what is going on, read this article from Bloomberg - it chronicles the sorry state of affairs pretty well, I think
Apr 3, 2022, 5:00 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2005
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If you want to get a picture of what is going on, read this article from Bloomberg - it chronicles the sorry state of affairs pretty well, I think