Despite Total Collapse, Sri Lanka Brags of Zero Covid Deaths

“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." ~ Milton Friedman

• In times of crisis, programs expand with even less scrutiny and oversight.
• Bad governance led to an ill-advised fertilizer ban which stoked a severe food shortage and export drought, coupled with public debt servicing pains as central banks around the globe tighten policy.
• Thankfully, there have been zero COVID-related deaths thus far, and the central bank has launched an effort to create a "comprehensive data gathering system on cross border transactions and domestic foreign currency transactions".
• However, the timing of this initiative is absurd, as tax payers must also fund the ITRS Monitoring Unit to ensure they are being properly spied upon.
  1. Sri Lankan residents must be reassured to know their authorities are focusing on the essentials during a time when public debt servicing rates have risen 6-fold from 5.22% a year prior to 31.01% today. In this same period, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s balance sheet more than doubled from roughly $11 billion USD to over $27 billion USD.
  2. Leaving civil liberty concerns aside, the timing of such an initiative is absurd! On top of subjecting private banks to additional compliance costs, which ultimately will be passed on to customers in the form of higher lending rates (rates that have already quadrupled since last July, see below), tax payers must also fund the ITRS Monitoring Unit to ensure they’re being properly spied upon.
  3. In the spirit of never letting a good crisis go to waste, the central bank has launchedan effort to create a “comprehensive data gathering system on cross border transactions and domestic foreign currency transactions”.  

https://brownstone.org/articles/despite-total-collapse-sri-lanka-brags-of-zero-covid-deaths/