Economy

DAKAR (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged debt relief for African countries and more investment to help their economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and weather the impacts of the Ukraine war.The United Nations chief spoke in Senegal on the first leg of a trip that will also include Niger and Nigeria, where he will visit communities affected by conflict and climate change.Supply disruptions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have caused simultaneous food, energy and finance crises in Africa and beyond, Guterres said. The coronavirus pandemic pushed many poor countries into debt distress and the Ukraine war has disrupted their economic recovery, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Public debt ratios in sub-Saharan Africa are at their highest in more than two decades, the IMF said last week.”International financial institutions must urgently put in place debt relief measures by increasing liquidity and fiscal space, so that governments can avoid default and invest in social safety nets and sustainable development,” Guterres said.The United Nations has made proposals to the World Bank and the IMF regarding the mobilization of various funds and debt relief instruments, but so far the measures taken have been insufficient, he added.He called on wealthy countries and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate donations of COVID-19 vaccines and invest in local vaccine production, with almost 80% of the African population still not vaccinated against COVID-19.”Beyond vaccination, we see big imbalances when it comes to investments in post-COVID recovery,” he said, adding that economic growth per capita is projected to be 75% lower in Africa than in the rest of the world over the next five years.Guterres said he visited a vaccine manufacturing unit in Dakar with Senegal’s president Macky Sall which will soon be equipped to produce vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases.An executive at South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare (OTC:APNHY) told Reuters earlier, however, that Africa’s first COVID-19 vaccination plant, touted as a trailblazer last year, now risks shutting down after receiving not a single order. More

Haulage companies that spent last year battling to hire drivers have a new problem: a shortage of trucks.On both sides of the Atlantic, rising wages have helped lure workers back on the road after a lack of drivers strained the industry to breaking point, leaving shipping containers stranded at ports on the US west coast and petrol pumps running dry on British forecourts.But a longstanding shortfall of equipment — due originally to coronavirus restrictions and chip shortages — is becoming more severe as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shuts down the supply of critical components and lockdowns in China threaten further turmoil in global supply chains.“The driver has been the biggest constraint of the last two years . . . The bigger supply constraint now is the truck, and to some extent the trailer,” said Tim Denoyer, analyst at Indiana-based ACT Research. Rico Luman, an economist at ING, said some European truckmakers were not taking more orders because their backlogs were already long, while others could not quote a price because they were unsure of the cost of raw materials for vehicles that might be delivered “far into” next year.“Trucks one to two years old are almost the same price as new ones at the moment: there is no option B to get spare capacity,” Luman said.“We are struggling to keep the UK fleet on the road,” said Kieran Smith, chief executive of the recruitment agency Driver Require, who said vehicle availability at the operators with which he works had dropped noticeably because of a lack of spare parts.Higher pay — wages across the industry rose about 25-30 per cent over the past year, according to Denoyer — and the easing of the Omicron coronavirus wave has alleviated worker shortages in the US. The wave of new workers, meanwhile, has helped cap costs for companies transporting their goods by truck. US dry-van spot rates, excluding fuel, fell abruptly in March and are down more than a third since the start of the year. The picture is similar in the UK, where industry associations said driver shortages had eased as pay improved, testing for HGV licences resumed and large-scale government-backed training schemes got under way.“A year ago we were bleeding drivers all over as a result of Covid,” said Rod McKenzie, head of policy at the Road Haulage Association. “Now things are really easing.” McKenzie estimated a shortfall of 100,000 drivers had dropped to about 65,000.Luis Gomez, president of XPO Logistics Europe, said vacancies in the company’s UK business had fallen and wages had stabilised across the industry, with job applicants giving priority to shift patterns that offered a better work-life balance over large pay packets.Paul Day, chief executive of Turners Soham, a Cambridgeshire-based trucking and warehousing company, said the UK market was “close to equilibrium” between the number of drivers and the amount of work, with wages in his own business up about 15-20 per cent year on year.But he and others believed the haulage industry was able to cope chiefly because rising prices for goods, combined with bottlenecks in manufacturing, have taken the edge off demand.“We’ve avoided the worst because ironically the economy slowed down,” said Day, who added that the volume of goods moved by supermarkets had tailed off, although demand in construction was still solid.

Ken Hoexter, an analyst at Bank of America, said shippers in the US were also reporting weaker demand as fuel prices soared and manufacturers had less work to do rebuilding their inventories, which dropped to low levels during the pandemic. However, the industry remains fragile. Although hauliers generally pass on changes in fuel prices, they face cost pressures for other raw materials. The price of Ad Blue, an anti-pollutant used in diesel engines, has quadrupled because its crucial ingredient is sourced from Russia, said Day. Small operators caught in drawn-out negotiations with customers could swiftly run into cash flow difficulties.Though the driver shortage is less acute, the industry has not solved endemic problems with recruitment and retention of an ageing workforce.“We’re in the slower part of [the] year . . . and we’re operating close to the edge,” Smith said, adding that conditions could worsen as demand picked up during the traditionally busier summer months. “It will be really tight . . . We’re not far away from another shortage.” More

(Reuters) -U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday he would act on a Biden administration request to add provisions to a $33 billion Ukraine aid package to allow the United States to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets and send money from their sale directly to Ukraine.”Ukraine needs all the help it can get and, at the same time, we need all the assets we can put together to give Ukraine the aid it needs,” Schumer said at a media briefing in New York City.President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve $33 billion in assistance for Kyiv on Thursday in what would mark a dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for Ukraine more than two months after it was invaded by Russia.His administration also asked lawmakers to include provisions to help it seize more assets, liquidate them and send Ukraine the money.Schumer said the provisions being added would streamline the forfeiture process for oligarch-owned properties in the United States, while allowing for expedited reviews in federal court, as requested by the White House.They would also make it a criminal offense to knowingly possess proceeds obtained from “corrupt dealings” with the Russian government, he said.”It’s time for sanctioned Russian oligarchs to be held accountable for the ill-gotten wealth that they have received,” Schumer said.The U.S. House of Representatives signaled its support for giving the administration more power to target oligarchs profiting from their association with Russian President Vladimir Putin when it approved non-binding legislation on Wednesday.The $33 billion in funding for Ukraine, which lawmakers have said they want to approve quickly, would be used to provide Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and other military assistance, as well as direct economic and humanitarian aid. More

Hello and welcome to the working week.Or perhaps not, if you are celebrating either the passage of spring, the rights of workers or Eid with the help of an early May bank holiday.As I’ve said before, 2022 was destined to be a year of significant elections, but some have become unexpectedly more significant, such as the UK vote on Thursday for local authority representatives. For the Conservatives, the poll will be a test of public opinion on prime minister Boris Johnson in the wake of partygate, tax rises and the first big increases in household energy prices. To make matters more interesting for the government, the Bank of England will be meeting on the same day to decide whether (or more likely by how much) to raise interest rates. For Labour, the question is whether the party can regain ground lost over the past 12 years in Scotland and northern England. In Northern Ireland, there is a high probability — although not a certainty, according to those on the ground — of history being made by Sinn Féin, once the marginalised political wing of the IRA, becoming the largest political party in the Stormont parliament.For the first time in several years, Europe has not been a significant factor among voters in a UK election. This is somewhat ironic, not least because the economic impact of the UK leaving the EU is now obvious from the queues of lorries at Dover, but also because the UK’s election day is shared with a very European birthday — the 73rd anniversary of the creation of the Council of Europe to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe in the wake of the second world war. It also comes a day before the anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel, linking the UK and France. At the end of the week, Victory in Europe Day will remind us of why we are where we are today on the continent and the dangers of conflict.If you are in Washington on Saturday, you can hear FT reporters interviewing Henry Kissinger, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and others at our inaugural US FTWeekend Festival at the Kennedy Center. And as a newsletter subscriber, you can claim a 50 per cent discount on your pass using promo code FTNewslettersxFTWF22.We are at a point where the world is both opening up — see New Zealand this week relaxing its pandemic restrictions on visitors — and closing down, thanks to the war in Ukraine. A significant moment related to the latter will be the gathering on Thursday in Warsaw of European leaders and finance heads to discuss humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as will next Sunday’s commemorations for the Red Cross and Red Crescent, reminding us all, if we needed reminding, of the human tragedy of this conflict.As ever, do get in touch with recommendations, opinion and advice about The Week Ahead. Email: [email protected] dataIt is a peak week for interest rate announcements and everyone is attempting the tricky balancing act of curbing inflation without tipping economies into recession. The headline act is the much anticipated Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday. The consensus of analysts is forecasting a 50 basis point rate rise to 0.75 or 1.0 per cent. Across the pond Bank of England watchers are expecting a 25 basis point increase when the Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday.Look out also for the start-of-month run of purchasing managers’ index reports, and on Wednesday the US employment figures.CompaniesSo far this earnings season has been about the surprisingly negative impact of moving beyond the pandemic for those that benefited from it the most — just ask Amazon, Apple and Netflix.By the way, if you have not yet had your fill of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover attempt, you can join our special subscriber event on May 4 for a virtual briefing. Send your questions in advance and claim your free pass here.This week the earnings call heralds Big Pharma, probably the most obvious pandemic winner. Pfizer, which has a new chief financial officer, will be showing off its success on Tuesday with what it has forecast will be record first-quarter earnings. It is likely to be a less rosy results call for Regeneron after the US drugs regulator rescinded authorisation for its monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid-19, which proved very effective against early strains, but less so against Omicron.European airlines have enjoyed a surge in demand for flying as pandemic travel restrictions have loosened, and investors will watch closely for signs that companies could be on the cusp of returning to profitability after two barren years. This week we will find out with results from International Airlines Group, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. “Airlines are increasingly giving encouraging guidance into summer. This industry is about to start making money again,” said Alex Irving at Bernstein. But watch too for any updates on the logistical challenges facing the industry following crew shortages and disruption as companies ramp up operations.Key economic and company reportsHere is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.MondayEurozone, Italy, France, Germany, US: S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dataUS, construction spending figures plus the Institute for Supply Management index of manufacturing company activityResults: Piaggio Q1, TuesdayAustralia, the Reserve Bank of Australia holds its monthly interest rate meetingEU, March employment figures plus industrial producer prices data, plus March retail sales figuresGermany, employment figuresUK, S&P Global manufacturing PMI dataUS, Federal Open Market Committee begins two-day meeting on interest rate policy in WashingtonResults: BNP Paribas Q1, BP Q1, CNH Industrial Q1, Deutsche Post DHL Q1, Lyft Q1, Molson Coors Beverage Company Q1, Pfizer Q1, Prudential Financial Q1, Starbucks Q2, Telenor Q1, Thomson Reuters Q1, ViacomCBS Q1WednesdayBrazil, Banco Central do Brasil’s monetary policy committee concludesEDF Q1 revenue figuresEU, European Central Bank’s governing council holds a non-monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt plus S&P Global eurozone composite (manufacturing and services) PMI dataFrance, S&P Global services PMI dataGermany, trade figures plus S&P Global services PMI dataUK, March money and credit figuresUS, April employment figures plus S&P Global services PMI dataResults: Airbus Q1, American International Group Q1, AP Moller-Maersk Q1, Boohoo FY, eBay Q1, Enel Q1, Equinor Q1, Ferrari Q1, Marriott International Q1, Novo Nordisk Q1, Regeneron Q1, Securitas Q1, Uber Technologies Q1, UniCredit Q1, Volkswagen Q1, J D Wetherspoon Q3, Yum Brands Q1ThursdayChina, UK: S&P/Caixin services PMIEU, S&P eurozone productivity PMIEurozone, France: S&P construction PMIGermany, March factory order statisticsNext Q1 trading statementUK, Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meeting on the Bank RateResults: Adecco Q1, Air France-KLM Q1, Anheuser-Busch InBev Q1, ArcelorMittal Q1, Axa Q1, BMW Q1, ConocoPhillips Q1, Henkel Q1, Kellogg Q1, Lufthansa Q1, News Corp Q3, Shell Q1, Société Générale Q1, Telecom Italia Q1, TripAdvisor Q1, Virgin Money H1FridayCanada, April employment figuresGermany, industrial production dataItaly, March retail sales dataUK, S&P construction PMI dataUS, March consumer credit figures plus American Bankers Association summit begins in WashingtonResults: Adidas Q1, Beazley Q1, International Airlines Group Q1, ING Q1World eventsFinally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week. MondayEid ul-Fitr, sometimes known as Little Eid and Sweet Eid, marking the ending of Ramadan, begins40th anniversary of the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano in the Falklands conflictNew Zealand, fully vaccinated travellers from about 60 countries on a visa-waiver list will be able to arrive in the country from todayUK, Republic of Ireland: Early May bank holidayUS, The Met Gala, “fashion’s biggest night out”, is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New YorkTuesday15th anniversary of the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing aged three from a Portuguese holiday resortCanada, the Bank of Canada’s new senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers gives her first official speech at the Women in Capital Markets event in TorontoDenmark, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visits his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen to discuss their green strategic partnership, signed in 2020Norway, the heads of the Norwegian central bank and the sovereign wealth fund, and the finance minister, testify in front of a parliamentary finance committee about the sovereign wealth fundPoland, Constitution Day marking the constitutional declaration of May 3 1791Japan, Constitution Memorial day marking the enactment of the 1947 constitutionWednesdayStar Wars Day is marked by fans around the world to celebrate the popular science fiction movie series because the phrase “may the force be with you” sounds like “May the fourth be with you”.Israel, Memorial day ceremonies to commemorate fallen soldiers of Israel’s warsThursdayEU, 73rd anniversary of the creation of the Council of EuropePoland, an international donor conference, co-hosted by the Polish and Swedish governments, European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, to focus on financing humanitarian aid for UkraineSwitzerland, General Council of the World Trade Organization meets in GenevaUK, local elections take place in England, including all London boroughs, plus all local authorities in Scotland and Wales, as well as for assembly seats in Northern IrelandFridayBelgium, government ministers set to end the last Covid measures, notably the wearing of masks on public transportBank of England MPC member Catherine Mann to speak on a panel at the European University Institute’s State of the Union conference in Italy28th anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world at 38km, linking the UK and FranceItalian cycling tour Giro d’Italia begins with opening stages in HungaryInternational Space Day, celebrating exploration beyond planet earthSaturdaySwitzerland, the traditional Swiss-cow fighting competition is held in AprozUS, the Kentucky Derby, America’s largest horse race, takes place at the Churchill Downs racecourse in LouisvilleSunday77th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, marking the end of hostilities in Europe in the second world warMother’s Day celebrated in multiple countries worldwideUK, the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards are held in LondonInternational Red Cross and Red Crescent Day More

The writer is executive director of American CompassA campaign is under way, led by officials in the Biden administration, to convince Americans that slashing tariffs on Chinese imports might offer relief from rapidly rising prices. That is not remotely the case — indeed, the argument is hard to deliver without a wry grin and a chuckle. But watch which economists embrace it, happy to use any pretext for advancing their underlying free-trade agenda. And watch which politicians, until now eager to win votes by talking tough on China, leap casually off that train and on to an inflation express running in the opposite direction. The economic problem with pitching a tariff rollback as inflation response is two-fold. First, a tariff of any given size might affect the price level but it does nothing to the rate of change. A tariff imposed in 2018 could perhaps have caused a price increase in 2018, but it cannot bear responsibility for prices rising in 2022. Likewise, a tariff eliminated in the second quarter of 2022 might cause a onetime downward shift in prices — say, an 8.8 per cent inflation print in the third quarter instead of 9 per cent — but it will not affect whatever combination of forces is driving inflation to begin with. If inflation the following quarter would have been headed towards 9 per cent with tariffs in place, it will still be heading towards 9 per cent with the tariffs gone. Thus, a tariff reduction is not so much an inflation-fighting tool as an arbitrary subsidy offered on a particular category of goods. Policymakers could just as easily take the tariff revenue and pay it to the sellers of pitted fruits and haircuts, reducing the price of those goods. In fact, that would be a better policy than the proposed tariff cut, which has the rather unattractive quality of targeting its support specifically at the Chinese imports that policymakers have rightly sought to penalise. The “random subsidy” model (which, to be clear, is a ridiculous policy idea that no economist would defend) could be improved even further over the tariff cut by targeting it at those goods and services which have actually had the largest price increases, a category that tends not to include Chinese imports anyway. And that leads to the second problem with the tariff-cutting idea, which is that tariff changes do not necessarily translate much into price changes. As analysts like RealityChek’s Alan Tonelson and the Coalition for a Prosperous America’s Michael Stumo have been observing for years, one is hard-pressed to find evidence in the consumer price data from 2018-19 to vindicate the warnings that American consumers would bear the burden of the Trump administration’s tariffs. This should not surprise economists, who in other contexts are quick to observe that where a tax is imposed and where it is paid are two different questions. Suppose the US imposes a 25 per cent tariff on a widget that a Chinese company is selling for $100. If that company is the world’s sole widget supplier, the price might rise to nearly $125 and consumers would bear the tariff’s brunt. But if an American company (or, for that matter, a Vietnamese one) can meet demand for the widget at $102, then the price will settle near there. Consumers will see little difference, and it is the Chinese company that will have to swallow the tariff’s cost or exit the market. Simply multiplying a volume of trade by a tariff level and declaring it the cost borne by consumers — as analysts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics do in a paper entitled “For Inflation Relief, the United States Should Look to Trade Liberalization” — is not economics at all, but mere globalisation propaganda. For their part, policymakers face the challenge of assessing whether a tariff rollback’s minuscule, one-time effect on inflation is worth the cost of defanging the long-term China strategy initiated by Donald Trump and thus far carried forward by Joe Biden. This is not a hard challenge. Anyone who takes seriously the need to confront China and rebalance global economic flows should not countenance abandoning the cause for the sake of a hollow inflation talking point. America’s only hope of success is to convince the investors and corporations who place decades-long bets on where to build industrial capacity, and the Chinese with whom we are engaged in a repeat game of negotiations, that we have the steadfast resolve to see this project through and bear real costs along the way. If we reverse course at the first political opportunity, who would ever take us seriously again? Politicians should be grateful this first test is such an easy one. But let’s see who passes it. More

LONDON (Reuters) – The company behind the “Bored Ape” series of NFTs has raised around $285 million worth of cryptocurrency by selling tokens which represent land in a virtual world game it says it is building.Last year, U.S. start-up Yuga Labs created the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, blockchain-based tokens representing a set of 10,000 computer-generated cartoon apes.As non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – crypto assets that represent digital files such as images, video, or items in an online game – exploded in popularity, Bored Ape prices surged to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars each.They became one of the most prominent NFT brands, with Apes sold at top auction houses and owned by celebrities including Paris Hilton and Madonna.Now, Yuga Labs – which raised $450 million in March in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz – has set its sights on the so-called “metaverse”.In an online sale on April 30, Yuga Labs sold NFTs called “Otherdeeds”, which it said could be exchanged as plots of virtual land in a future Bored Ape-themed online environment called “Otherside.”The “Otherdeeds” could only be bought using the project’s associated cryptocurrency, called ApeCoin, which launched in March.There were 55,000 Otherdeeds for sale, priced at 305 ApeCoin each, and the company wrote on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) that these had sold out.This means the sale raked in 16,775,000 ApeCoin, worth around $285 million as of Sunday, according to Reuters calculations based on the price of ApeCoin on cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) at 1210 GMT.It was not clear how the funds would be distributed, although the company said the ApeCoin would be “locked up” for one year.The sale indicates the continued high demand for speculative, high-risk crypto assets related to online virtual worlds. NFTs are largely unregulated, and reports of scams, fakes and market manipulation are common.While many are baffled by the idea of paying real money for land which does not physically exist, some virtual land NFTs have already fetched millions of dollars.The Otherside metaverse will be a multi-player gaming environment, according to its website, which says it is currently under development.Yuga Labs declined to say how many people were working on building Otherside or when it would be launched.Yuga Labs’ Otherdeeds sale comes shortly after the Bored Ape Yacht Club official Instagram account was hacked and a phishing link posted, allowing scammers to steal victims’ NFTs. More

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government’s plan to ease runaway housing prices by rapidly ramping up the pace of home construction risks pushing up construction costs in the near term and could lead to oversupply in the long run, experts said.Vowing to double homebuilding to keep up with population growth and address a shortfall that has helped fuel a real estate boom, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals last month outlined plans to build 3.5 million homes over the next decade.But experts argue Canada’s housing shortage is not nearly as acute as the government suggests, noting starts are running at historic levels – around 250,000 a year – with a record number of units under construction, though completions lag.”I think we definitely need new supply to meet increasing household growth as a result of immigration. I believe that the 3.5 million is a complete exaggeration,” said Steve Pomeroy, a housing policy consultant and professor at Carleton University in Ottawa.There are very real risks to trying to force the pace of construction higher too quickly, he added.”The consequence, if we do try to increase it, is we will run into a whole bunch of issues in the supply chain – labor, land and materials – and will actually push house prices even higher,” Pomeroy said.Alarms are already ringing in Canada’s construction industry, which is facing a dire shortage of workers and a retirement crisis, not to mention rising costs of lumber and other raw materials due to the global supply chain crisis. Homebuilding also generally falls under the jurisdiction of provincial and municipal governments, making it harder to craft a national strategy.PRICE SURGE National home prices have more than doubled since Trudeau took office in late 2015, and gains have far outpaced those of the United States and Canada’s other Group of Seven peers over the last 15 years.The price surge has made homes in cities like Toronto and Vancouver unaffordable to many residents, prompting authorities to take steps to alleviate the pressure. Trudeau’s government recently announced a two-year ban on foreign buyers. “We simply have not had enough housing supply in Canada to reflect the dramatic increase in our population compared to our G7 partner countries,” Canada’s Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen said in an interview.Hussen pointed to OECD data showing Canada has fewer homes per 1,000 people than the G7 average. The existing shortfall adds up to about 1.8 million homes, according to Scotiabank estimates.With immigration set to increase and more young people forming new households, the current construction rate is barely “chipping away” at that gap, said Bob Dugan, chief economist of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the national housing agency.”It would take 36 years in order to get there at the current pace of housing starts,” Dugan told reporters late last month. “And we have some internal estimates that suggest the need is much greater than that 1.8 million” forecast by Scotiabank. But critics of that assessment say Canada needs fewer homes overall because it has more people per household than the G7 average, due to young children and intergenerational living. And Canada’s ratio of homes to population is on par with the United States and the United Kingdom, which have not seen nearly the same price appreciation. “Count me as skeptical in terms of just how much of a massive supply shortage there is, perhaps outside of a few major centers,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Economics.A more intense construction blitz also risks oversupplying the market. The last time Canadian home prices fell for a significant period was in the early 1990s, after rapid price gains in the prior decade led to a building boom and subsequent supply glut. With rising interest rates cooling demand and housing starts at elevated levels, it is a situation that could repeat itself – to some degree – if construction ramps up too much.”It is quite, quite possible that you could end up with oversupply,” Porter said. “I personally don’t lose that much sleep over that … But I wouldn’t entirely dismiss it as a concern.” More

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Thousands of supporters of Sri Lankan opposition parties rallied on Sunday in the commercial capital Colombo as a weeks-long political and economic crisis showed no sign of abating.Sri Lanka’s economy was hit hard by the pandemic and tax cuts by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government.Dwindling foreign currency reserves have left the island nation of 22 million people struggling to pay for fuel, food and medicine imports and brought thousands onto the streets in daily protests that have occasionally turned violent.On Sunday, opposition parties ended a week-long march from the central city of Kandy, with thousands of supporters thronging Colombo’s Independence Square. Many carried Sri Lankan flags and wore headbands reading “Gota Go Home”, one of the main rallying cries of the protests. “So many people are suffering from the cost of fuel and food. There are queues for everything,” said Sunil Shantha, a 58-year-old university lecturer who said he voted for Rajapaksa at the last presidential elections in 2019.”Gotabaya is a failed president.”Rajapaksa was hit by mass resignations from his cabinet earlier this month and now faces the possibility of a no-confidence vote in his reformed government later in the week. He and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, have both refused to resign, instead calling for a unity government led by the president – an offer the opposition rejects.”I once again invite all political party leaders in (Sri Lanka) to come to a consensus on behalf of the people,” Rajapaksa said in a tweet on Sunday. “It’s my sincere wish to call on the people to join hands to steer a pro-people struggle setting aside political differences.” More