UN Secretary-General Asks India to Help Sri Lankan Country Held Hostage to Debt, and Sri Lanka buys oil from Russia

Banaspati -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for India's support in making one of several G20 countries, to help some developing countries burdened with debt. It is now mentioned that three of India's neighbours have been seeking IMF debt amid economic paralysis.

"I entrust India's support in mobilizing several G20 countries around debt relief," Guterres told students and faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, as quoted by Reuters Wednesday, October 19, 2022.

Guterres said that many developing countries are in the middle of, or approach, debt distress and need multilateral treatment, including the expansion and extension of the G20 Debt Service Delay Idea.

The idea of the G20 Debt Service Delay was built in May 2020 during an outbreak. This general framework allowed almost 50 countries to cancel US$ 12.9 billion or around Rp 200 trillion in debt service payments until the end of last year.

Guterres said the weather shift was a major terror for India's economy, agriculture and food fields. Not only that, the terror can have an effect on the health, lives, and livelihoods of several hundred million people.

"Record-breaking heatwaves, droughts and floods on a number of sides of India have wreaked havoc. This is preliminary, without greater global weather treatment," guterres said.

India will replace the G20 presidency from Indonesia for a year starting December 1, 2022. India's neighbors; Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh have in recent months sought IMF debt as high oil prices made it difficult to recover from the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Guterres explained that several G20 countries are responsible for 80% of global emissions and must lead in cutting them. According to him, some rich countries should also financially help some developing countries do so.

"I have already said consolidation of support in all countries counting India, with the idea of ambitiously accelerating the spread of renewable energy," Guterres said.

Touching on other rumours, on a similar occasion, Guterres pressured India to swear the teachings of malice unequivocally, to protect the rights and freedoms of journalists, human rights activists, students and academics, and ensure the independence of the judiciary.

Guterres will meet Indian Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday, October 19, 2022.

The Sri Lankan government is asking for contributions to the Federation of Nations to prepare basic food in the midst of the famine terror of its people. Shortages of food, fuel and some other important items, gave rise to the suffering that became more widespread due to the critical economy.

The scarcity of gasoline, diesel fuel and fertilizer supplies is already making it difficult for farmers to grow crops. Meanwhile, agriculture has not recovered from organic regulations that destroyed last year's crop.

According to the office of Sri Lanka's First Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization plans a critical food response to support reserves in the country. The UN will offer more and more funding for urban agriculture.

Mahinda parliament speaker Yapa Abeywardana warned that Sri Lanka faced the most chronic food shortages and hunger in April. About 1/2 of Sri Lanka's rice production was cut last year. The last growing season that started last month has been disturbed due to fertilizer shortages.

Critically the painful economy in Sri Lanka is spurred by the minus of foreign currency, leaving some traders unable to afford important imports of fertilizer. The government has since failed to repay its US$51 billion foreign debt and sought an International Monetary Fund bailout.

The majority of Sri Lankan fertilizers are imported. But last year President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced a ban on foreign agrochemicals as the country's foreign exchange supplies began to run out.

The regulation was billed as an attempt to make Sri Lanka the world's first 100% organic farming country. But the regulation was abruptly stopped after farmers left their gardens. The head of the agriculture ministry was issued last December after warning that the pattern could lead to starvation by the end of this year.

Tankers of Russian origin carrying oil supplies, eventually moored in Sri Lanka. The tanker was at sea for a month before landing because Sri Lanka did not have the money to pay for the oil.

Sri Lanka is critically the ugliest economy since independence, with a shortage of fuel and several other essential goods. Critically, the lives of its 22 million citizens have been taken care of.

The state-regulated Ceylon Petroleum Corporation refinery closed in March after Sri Lanka's foreign exchange crisis. Critically, the government cannot empty crude oil imports.

The transportation of Russian crude oil has been waiting on the sea off the docks of the capital Colombo for more than a month. The reason is that Sri Lanka does not have US$ 75 million to pay for the oil according to Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera.

Colombo is in talks with Moscow to organize a direct supply of crude oil, coal, gasoline and diesel fuel. The purchase comes amid threats the United States and its allies have applied to several Russian banks and diplomatic protests over Russian aggression into Ukraine.

"I have submitted a legitimate wish to the Russian ambassador to directly supply oil," Wijesekera told reporters in Colombo.

"Crude oil alone doesn't meet our needs, we need other artificial (petroleum) products."

About 90,000 tonnes of Siberian light crude will be delivered to Sri Lankan refineries after the transport is credited by dubai-based mediator Coral Energy.

Wijesekera explained that Ceylon Petroleum Corporation had arrears of US$ 735 million to suppliers. As a result, no one came forward and even bid for the oil tender.

He added that siberian grade is not a good match for Sri Lankan refineries. Refineries are actually maximized for crude oil from Iran, but no other supplier is ready to give credit.

Sri Lanka is still asking for a new supply tender in two weeks before Siberian Light oil stocks run out, Wijesekera said. The Sapugaskanda refinery on the banks of Colombo will return to work in about two days.

Several EU leaders met on Monday in an attempt to talk about a new turnaround in threats to Russia over the Ukraine dispute, including an oil embargo.

Sri Lanka's critical economy has already resulted in long lines of motorists outside gas stations. Residents have to wait several hours and sometimes even a few days because of the lack of gasoline and gas supply to process.

Its citizens are struggling with chronic shortages of food and some imported medicines, along with record inflation and long daily power outages.

Anti-government protests exploded into chaos initially this month, resulting in 9 deaths and many injuries.

A demonstration outside president Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office in Colombo demanded his resignation due to the government's economic mismanagement. The demo is already in its 50th day on Saturday.