Thread by @Economynext

#SriLanka PM @ranil on Sri Lanka's "Twin Crisis": “We are only seeing the beginning [the of global impact of the Ukraine crisis]...it will get much worse as it goes along...most probably be a shortage of food [which] will go globally till 2024.”
#EconomicCrisisLK #Ukraine

@ranil #SriLanka PM @ranil on Sri Lanka's "Twin Crisis" says: "There's a shortage of fertilizer in California, there's a shortage of fertilizer in Brazil. Already countries are banning the export of food."
#EconomicCrisisLK

"There are going to be many countries affected by the Ukraine crisis. Some say 40, some say 70. But we are unique... until the Ukraine crisis took place [other] economies were normal. Not in our case. We [were] already suffering"-@RW_UNP.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis #EconomicCrisisLK

#SriLanka PM @ranil says the country is collecting dollars to pay fuel shipments and "if we miss one then there will be a shortage that day."
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis #EconomicCrisisLK

"The problem we face now is so bad that what will happen when the Ukraine crisis comes on is another story." - @RW_UNP said.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis #EconomicCrisisLK

"We have run down our economy. We have state enterprises owning trillions and trillions of rupees to the banks, we have projects which will not benefit Sri Lanka, there are no priority lists." - @RW_UNP said.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis #EconomicCrisisLK

"There are no priority lists. Even till recently different agencies were actually using different credit lines to order what they wanted. We have to establish a priority order and.. centralize the access to foreign credit lines" - @RW_UNP said.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"This is still the start of what we have to do. The worst is yet to come."- @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

@RW_UNP said "We may not have food. Our food supplies are enough until about September October because we didn't have enough fertilizer either for Maha or for Yala."
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"Now we are trying to have for get fertilizer for the next Maha season if we do then we will certainly be self-sufficient by February next year."- @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"As the economy fails...time will come when people may not eat three meals a day. If they survive they may need two meals. This situation will come for some of our people."
@ranil said that this situation would go on to 2024.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"We are talking with...friendly nations to get help. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but to ensure there are no earth slips while we go through the tunnel, that's the problem." - @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"We cannot get through this year by ourselves. We need a few billion dollars, otherwise this country cannot survive. We have to reach out again to the people we rejected. To the Japanese, who have been our friends from the 50s to today who are hurt by what happened." - @RW_UNP

"Which country rejects three billion dollars worth of aid without a thank you? Without even having a negotiation? And how do you bring back confidence with those people? We are lucky that India has come forward to help us at the hour of need. Other countries are also chipping in"

"China has come with assistance. But someone in the government went-and negotiated alone-the swap,which we cannot use." - @RW_UNP said.
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"We have to look at europe and the west but unfortunately...the west are also … having a problem.
one is the inflation...and secondly they are putting their money into Ukraine. Over 100 billion dollars have gone into Ukraine-100 billion less for the rest of the world." - @RW_UNP

"It is essential, that we get help from our friends and make up with them. If the fault is ours we should apologize, if the fault is theirs' tell them, You can't have [friendly] relations with countries and then throw them aside [when] some official decides 'we don't want it."

"Whenever we had a problem earlier it was japan who bailed us out...during the kuwait war...[i was sent] to meet PM Kaifu. Before i went i was told 'there are 600 million dollars for you.' That is how we worked. Today is different" - @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"We have to reach out to the ones like japan. India had started the process, China had come in, but Japan is needed and the West is needed." - @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"The economy is slowly coming to a halt in different sectors...construction...tourism...two of our major sectors of the economy [have come to a halt]. Into this we have to ensure that people at least are fed [and] food is available." - @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"We are going to start a food security program of cultivating our own food, and that will have to go on till 2024 because 2023 also may be a bad year globally." - @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"..at the end of this exercise of stabilizing, debt would have gone up higher. the 50 billion would have gone up more. then every year we will have to keep borrowing. so how are we going to repay it?" - @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"If we don't repay within three to four years we will come back to the same position" @RW_UNP
#SriLankaEconomicCrisis

"We have to earn...more dollars. We must have an export oriented economy. for the export-oriented economy to function we must be highly competitive. we have to restructure the economy, make it outward looking. your business must be able to go out to create markets" - @RW_UNP

"Our professionals are leaving the country. how are you going to fill it? People can get onto the street and demonstrate...but at the end of the day if we don't help ourselves no one else will help us. so we have to get ready to go through a tough time and to change the system"