The leaders are engaged in an orgy, while the rest of us are struggling

Sri Lanka is in a pathetic situation. Nero is enjoying in Rome, oblivious to the cries at home. The finance minister who happens to be President does not understand Finance, the Governor who is the policy maker does not understand Banking and the Global Calamity. The country is being held to ransom, with no coherent stand by the opposition to address the issues and notify the people of the crisis at hand. This all because the country is being held to ransom on the pretext of being on hold to win the war at all costs.

This is the background today, and the purpose of my essay is to alert the reader to take a stand in some way to notify people in power and try to take action to minimize the effects of what is in store.

The captains of industry are busy shoring up their diminishing portfolios by taking full advantage of the substantial drop in commodity prices to maintain and enhance their profit margins, without upsetting the apple cart. No wonder the importers are not agitating for devaluation, as they are taking full advantage of the price falls to make large profits, despite a fall in demand for their products. There is therefore no agitation from them who are also helping the politicians to keep the status quo while the rest of the country which really does not have a say is suffering under this heavy burden.

This conspiracy of silence is being carried out because there is little competition in Sri Lanka, and the large businesses that are oligopolists are able to act in concert for their mutual benefit. In other words, the industrialists in Sri Lanka collectively seeing the demand for their products falling, due to lack of money with the consumer, is not passing the cost reductions arising from halving of commodity prices. Instead they are increasing their profit margins to maintain the cumulative profit. This process is being carried out both by the multinationals such as Unilever, the milk powder and flour producers as well as paint manufacturers and even the animal feed importers, just to quote a few industries. I have not noticed Arpico reduce the price of any rubber product, despite the drop in rubber sheet prices from Rs325 two months ago to Rs70 today.

The government is complicit in this scam, and instead of defending the rights of the people who have elected them are either in cahoots or ignorant of what is happening around them. Not even the Newspapers have competent staff to be even aware of this state of betrayal.