The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit back at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut who have said that Indian economy is worse than Sri Lankas’s. Banerjee on Tuesday said Sri Lanka’s economic condition is bad, “but India’s condition is worse than Sri Lanka’s”.
Sanjay Raut concurred with her and said Sri Lanka’s condition is very worrisome and India is on that path. “We have to handle it otherwise our condition will be worse than Sri Lanka,” he added.
Reacting to this, BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma put out few numbers to counter the comparison. She said Sri Lanka’s total economy is $80 billion, while India’s is about $3 trillion. She said Sri Lanka has $2 billion of forex reserves, while India has $618 billion (fourth highest in the world).
“Sri Lanka’s annual Exports are $15 billion, while India’s $418 billion. Sri Lanka’s Food Inflation is 32%, while India’s is 5.85%. Sanjay Raut should zip it,” she said in a tweet on Tuesday. In fact, the BJP leader continued, India has decided to extend a $1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka, so that it can procure food, essentials and medicines.
Sri Lanka is reeling under unprecedented economic crisis due to shortage of forex reserves. This has forced the island nation to cut back on some imports as it is unable to pay. This has led to shortage of fuel, food, and medicines across the country. People have taken to streets to protest against the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is accused of mishandling the country’s economy.
News agency ANI today reported that food vendors in Sri Lanka are accusing the government of selling everything to China. Prices of fruits and vegetables have soared in the island country amid the crisis. Fruit vendor Farukh was quoted as saying: “3 to 4 months back apple was sold at Rs 500 per kg, now it is Rs 1000 per kg. The pear was sold at Rs 700 per kg earlier, now it is sold at Rs 1500 per kg. People don’t have money…Sri Lankan government sold everything to China. That is the biggest problem. Sri Lanka has no money as it has sold everything to China. It is buying everything on credit from other countries.”
