The prosperity of a nation is reflected generally by its high end upscale places. Although every nation has its underbelly too. With that in mind as I entered Bally’s casino, Sri Lanka’s largest and most luxurious one
located in the heart of Colombo, it had a story to tell. Out of 100 gaming
tables it has, almost half had people betting. Its the place where money pours
in anything from 5 to 9 digits both won & los t at the blink of an eye. The
casino caters to the close proximity of all luxury hotels and takes care of its
visitors by offering a free pick & drop in Mercs & BMWs. Also offers
complimentary coupons to high end travelers entering SL. Bolllywood stars are
a common sight, not for gaming but as celebrity entertainers & mind you
they don’t come cheap. Interestingly after the economic crisis in 2022, Bally’s
Casino owner was tasked with turning the nation’s flailing economy around in
his own way.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
The signs of resurgence are showing. With India extending a lifeline with a $4 billion
credit line and a nudge to the IMF, the country manage a loan of $US 2.9
billion and ADB $350 million, the island country seems confident of its
resilience. Tuk Tuks are back on street though with much higher charges
compared to pre 2021. Fuel is costly as the government increased taxes. Malls
have opened albeit with much lesser crowds compared to last time I visited the
island country in 2018 when the famous House of Fashion was choc o bloc with
people on a weekend.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
Tourism has started picking up, hotel occupancy is catching
up too (remember Sri Lanka is an all year round tourist destination), Travel
industry wants to make the most of every single traveler. Government says inflation
is under control, fuel, food and medicines are easily available. Construction industry is what the government
is waiting to start booming again which will spur growth.
As I go into an Ayurveda products selling shop its
well stacked with oils, spices and herbal medicines but buyers are just but tricking
in the form of tourists. Ayurveda is one of SL’s main exports along with Tea
and Textiles.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
What people
say
People of Sri Lanka seemed more than thankful at the
help India has provided when the small country was in the throes of bankruptcy
and political unrest. Sri Lanka Speaker Abeywardhane, at the recently held 67th
TAAI Convention said, ‘if India wouldn’t have come in there would have been a
blood bath on the streets of Colombo.’
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
President of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Jyoti Mayal who carried 500 delegates from India, has urged Indian Tourism Industry to help Sri Lanka bounce back its tourism.
Common people too are aware of the help rendered by
India. Tour guide Nalinda John can’t thank India enough. ‘It is a great
solidarity, our big brother India stood for us throughout the crisis. India came
forward with infrastructure reconstruction after the catastrophic tsumani in
2004, in 2022 and 2023 up to June the highest numbers of tourists recorded were
from India. This is a great gesture of the
friendship of India.’
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
The Past
& Present
It was just last year that people were on the streets
and all over the Presidential palace that stands on the banks of the Port City
being constructed by China with an estimated construction cost of $392 million.
It is said that the Chinese brought prisoners from China to build road, highways,
ports and other infrastructure instead of making use of locals that would have
garnered income for them, but instead paid the Chinese prisoner who would take
it back home. A typical Chinese model replicated in Pakistan too.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
The Port City
now stands beautifully made with a grassy bulwark between the harbor and the
main arterial road lined up with skyscraping 5 star hotels standing tall just
across. China has funded most of the Highways and have invested in a terminal. China
accounted for about 10% of Sri Lanka’s US$35 billion foreign debt as of April 2021.
It is the largest investor in Sri Lanka today, with funding and investment of
nearly $15 billion.
With 13 hrs of power cut last year people were for 5
days in queue for fuel. No cooking gas, people in Colombo in posh apartments
cooked with firewood. Food inflation went upto 95% , general inflation touched
80%. ‘Had it gone a little beyond that we would have gone the path of Lebanon,
Venezuela, Argentina or Zimbabwe. That would have destroyed our fabric. $3.9
billion worth of huge credit line at a time when a country is declared bankrupt,
was a huge help,’ acknowledged Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka MUM Ali Sabry.
He further informs, ‘One year down the line no power
cuts, we have plenty of fertilizers, good harvest during the last season,
foreigners are coming in, tourism has revived, rupee has depreciated about 19%
this year. Inflation is totally under control & come down to 12% and should
further come down to 6-7% by the end of this month’.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
For Tourism
‘Give us 10% of your tourists and we are sorted,’ says
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister Haren Fernando at the 67th TAAI
Convention in Colombo. Tourism being the mainstay of Sri Lanka bringing in the
much needed forex, is the government’s main focus sector. India’s travel industry
has pledged to handhold Sri Lanka come back on the tourism map.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) organized its
67th Convention in Colombo which, as has been seen, leverages huge tourism potential
in any given country. TAAI’s President Jyoti Mayal said, ‘With India and Sri
Lanka standing as two of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, boasting a combined
population of over 1.5 billion people and a burgeoning middle class, rich
heritage and attractive tourism destinations, the potential for growth in the
travel and tourism sector is tremendous.’ She called on Indian travelers to
hand hold Sri Lanka in bouncing back in its tourism.
With just one flight everyday from Chennai &
Jaffna other than from New Delhi to Colombo, more connectivity between the
India and Sri Lanka are going to boost tourism. Ferry services and cruise tourism
along with privatization of Sri Lanka Airlines, their national carrier is being worked
out after the visit of Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe to New Delhi recently.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
Measures
being taken
With Dr Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of
India as the role model of public services & economic reforms in the late
90’s, Wickremesinghe govt has taken some bold steps, pushed by IMF aid terms. Cost
Reflecting Pricing for electricity, water, fuel, gas, & food has been
started for the state to not make losses. A 3 pronged strategy of Stabilization,
Recovery and Growth has been charted. Investment is invited from countries. Some
of them already in the pipeline are in petroleum, refinery, renewable energy,
port development and tourism. Some few big
Indian companies have come in particularly on Colombo port. Big projects are going
to come on wind power. Sri Lanka is in need of FDI as capital is needed to start new
projects.
Measures have been taken to improve revenue in terms
of taxation, reduce expenses, to decouple business from government, reform of
State owned Enterprises by privatizing them, not giving subsidies on popular
policies and working on digitization & direct transfer money.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
Factsheet
For Sri Lanka main source of foreign revenue are from
overseas remittances which is almost $2.3 million. Apparel manufacturers export
their products to Europe and North America. Tea industry which is the third highest
income source from foreign countries, has had no big impact on geo-political or
internal conditions. Hospitality industry almost collapsed during the pandemic
but gradually it is booming. Share market prices are moving forward slowly.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
Elections or
no…
However, the opposition leader and National Organizer
& Member Political Bureau of People’s Liberation Front of Sri Lanka and a 4
times MP Bimal Rathnayake has something different to say. ‘There are many facts
to prove that economy is going in negative direction. Contraction of the
economy in 2023 Q1 was 11.5%. Fuel consumption is around 35 % means great
reduction of economic activities. 500,000 formal jobs have been lost. Although
food inflation shown by the govt is 26% but reality is all poor and middle
class families now spends around 50%-60% their income for their food. Fuel has
gone up by 300% within 8 months and electricity by 250-300%. Transport bus
fares by 300-400% within last months. Now they are reducing some of them by
10%.’
As Sri Lanka is under an interim govt after the
fleeing of Rajapakse’s and the country is slowly straddling towards normalcy
the questions of elections is a matter that is on everyones’ mind. According to
Foreign Minister Sabry elections will be held on time ie next year. But the
opposition is wary about it. MP Bimal Rathanayake says elections are not a possibility.
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| Photo Credit Priti Prakash |
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