Needs, wants and destructive greed

Our country, in the words of no less a person than our president, is bankrupt. To use a colloquialism, we are ‘stone broke’. Our international debt which we are unable to repay and have defaulted stands at a staggering US$ 51 billion. 

We have no foreign reserves to meet day-to-day expenses for basic needs, such as food, medicines, fuel or gas. 
Thanks to our neighbour India, we are being supplied with limited quantities of all these basics. Not unsurprisingly the costs of these essential commodities have soared to unbelievable levels. However, we Lankans are not the only country facing rising costs and depreciating foreign reserves. 

The worldwide cost of living crisis has triggered pessimistic forecasts from economists. The World Bank has forecast many countries are likely to experience recession (a slowdown or a massive contraction in economic activities). Even the US economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter of this year.

The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, followed closely by the war between Russia and Ukraine (the countries considered the bread-basket of the world) has led to a significant economic slump worldwide in 2022. Prices for some common commodities are reaching record levels, economic growth is slowing and inflation is rising.
The World Bank report on the growth of global poverty released at the beginning of October this year, presents a graphic picture of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hundreds of millions of people in the world’s poorer countries.

According to the report, the pandemic dealt the biggest blow to poverty reduction. The number of people pushed into “extreme poverty,” defined as receiving less than US$1.90 per day, rose by 70 million to reach a total of 700 million, or 9.3% of the world’s population in 2020.

The report warns that by the end of this year, as many as 685 million people could still be living in extreme poverty. It estimated that on present trends, 7% of the world’s population — 574 million people — will still be in extreme poverty by the end of the decade.

Even before the pandemic struck, nearly half of the world’s population (47%) were living in poverty, defined as receiving less than US$6.85 a day (at current exchange rates US$ is equivalent to approximately SLR. 367/-).
The poverty line at the National level for July in our country in 2022 increased to Rs. 13,138/-. What is sad is that 42% of our people receive a monthly income of Rs. 13,138 or less! And this figure has been static since 2020. With inflation running at over 60% and food inflation running at around 90%, it means at least 42% of our population are unable to have even a square meal per day. According to the UNICEF, 7 out of 10 families are cutting down their food intake to mitigate the crisis and has the second-highest rate of acute malnutrition among children under 5 in South Asia. 

To overcome this situation, we have applied for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail out and have reached a staff-level agreement with that organization. But we have to prove ourselves capable of meeting criteria imposed by the IMF. Unfortunately, as the country struggles to get itself out of the financial crisis, corruption still continues to grow apace. 

Media reports reveal a recent crude oil scam where the country has lost US$ 90 million, at a time when dollars to purchase essentials are scarce. International lenders have placed us under the microscope to judge whether they should extend the period for the country to repay its debts.

Burgeoning corruption does not inspire confidence. Corrupt rulers have robbed this country’s resources and turned it into a bankrupt nation, their greed seems to have no end.

Leo Tolstoy’s ‘How much land does a man need’ - the story of a man who becomes fixated on the idea that his life would be perfect if only he owned more land. Will be a good read to our corrupt citizens cum rulers.
The moral: The need of human being to achieve more and more, it leads to death of morals. While it is true that one should be ambitious, excessive greed is destructive.

In Tolstoy’s story, the excessive greed and obsession of the main character, eventually consumes him; in his lust for land, he falls dead while running to demarcate hundreds of acres of land to claim as his own. 
Ultimately he is buried on a piece of land 6 x 4. The story holds good for us all.