Why is India Helping Sri Lanka To Payback Chinese Loan?
Sri Lankans have had to contend with debilitating power cuts lasting 13 hours, inflation rates crossing 17% and a steeply devalued currency.
Sri Lanka is currently going through a major economic crisis. The Sri Lankan government has been unable to pay for essential imports such as fuel, food items and other essential goods. There are power cuts lasting 13 hours, and the value of the currency has gone down. The prices of vegetables have doubled in recent weeks, while rice is being sold for Rs 220 per kg and wheat for Rs 190 per kg. 1 Kg of sugar was being sold for Rs 240, while coconut oil for a whopping Rs 850 per litre. A single egg costs Rs 30. Even more unbelievably, a 1 kg pack of milk powder now is being sold for Rs 1900. To know why Sri Lanka is facing these issues, you can see our video here: What Has Happened to Sri Lanka’s Economy? | ISH News The government in which the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is Mahinda Rajapaska and his brother Gotabaya Rajapaska is the President. #GoHomeRajapaksas and "#GotaGoHome" have been trending for days on Twitter and Facebook in Sri lanka as people are unhappy with their management of the economic crisis. There have been strong protests. The brothers imposed a state of emergency on Friday 1st April. On that day the crowd attempted to storm Gotabaya’s home in the capital Colombo. A nationwide curfew was in effect until this Monday morning. Defying curfew orders, Sri Lanka's opposition party staged an anti-government protest in Colombo. At least 664 people were arrested for violating the curfew. Social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc. were blocked. All 26 ministers in the cabinet except President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa submitted letters of resignation at a late-night meeting.
All the ministers submitted their letters of resignation so that the president could constitute a new cabinet. Sri Lanka also has a whopping $7 billion in debt due in 2022. And that is where the main problem lies, Sri Lanka's ever growing loans and it's over dependance on China. Example - In the early 2010’s Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaska wanted to build a port in Hambantota, but requests for funds were rejected by many countries and companies as they felt that the port would not earn any profit. Finally, China agreed and gave Sri Lanka a loan of more than $1 billion.
However, Mahinda Rajapaska lost in the elections in 2015 and the new government did not want to pay back the loan as it was a huge amount. They then said that the port and 15,000 acres of land around the port can be used by China for 99 years. China will have full control over the land. Similarly China gave them many other loans and Sri Lanka is unable to pay back and is now stuck under the influence of China. This has become a cycle as Sri Lanka has to give up land to China or take more loans to repay China. Between 2012 and 2018, Sri Lanka’s external debt to China doubled from $2.2 billion to $5 billion. As per our last video, India has again decided to give a loan of $1 billion to Sri Lanka. We also gave $500 million to buy fuel. Many wonder why is India helping Sri Lanka when our country is having so many financial problems. Well according to many sources. India wants to help Sri Lanka repay their loan to China. Because if Sri Lanka does not repay, then China will have full control over the country. This would mean China would come very close to India and can attack India any time. Already India is having problems with China in the north of India in Ladakh. We don't want them in the South either. So India is doing everything to help Sri Lanka. This may sound familiar to you. Remember how Russia was afraid of NATO coming closer to their border, seems like India feels the same way now with China.
