Thread by @ChayuDamsinghe

This is the story of Sri Lankan corruption - I use a hypothetical example to show how we lose billions of rupees every year due to oligarchy.

Let's say there's a company that makes "nails". Call the firm Acme Nails Lanka. (ANL)

#GoHomeRajapakshas #පන්නමු

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Now, Sri Lanka needs a lot of "nails" of course. Statistics suggests ANL produces 11m units (majority of local production) instead of allowing imports.

But imports are bad right?

Not necessarily.

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The average global cost of importing a "nail" (exc duties) is ~750 LKR per unit. ANL's production, if imported would be ~8bn.

But the average retail price that ANL sells their "nails" at is ~1800 LKR for total costs of ~20bn.

That's a ~12bn LKR difference every year.

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What could this 12bn be used for if we imported all the "nails" ANL makes?

We could upskill all (~10k) the "nail" factory workers to make better "nails" later. We could build schools. We could train hundreds of IT technicians that bring us dollars.

Every. Single. Year.

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But that would mean ANL and it's owner, who is called Mr. Dishonest, don't get so many profits. So what does Mr. Dishonest do?

He goes to the government, forces them to raise taxes on imported "nails", has import licenses and all sorts of nonsense to stop imports.

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Now, Mr. Dishonest isn't doing this just with ANL, he's been doing this for so many other businesses he owns. But let's focus on ANL.

Sri Lankan consumers have been spending an extra 12 bn LKR every year to keep Mr. Dishonest richer. And losing out in the process.

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The Rajapaksas have been a part of this. They allowed this, they encouraged this, they supported their friends over the people.

This is what corruption in Sri Lanka looks like. It is terrible because it's subtle and you can't "bring back" the stolen money anymore.

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Everyone must realise what actually happens in Sri Lanka. It is only with proper knowledge that we can actually vote in proper policies (through leaders).

Otherwise, #SriLankaEconomicCrisis will happen again.

For now, #GoHomeRajapakshas

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