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Nov 1, 2024 | 
foreignpolicy.com | Dushni Weerakoon
The conventional wisdom is that a growing economy helps the incumbent, and a weakening one helps their opponents. But the effects of economics on election outcomes are never straightforward. Sri Lanka’s presidential election, held in September, came in the middle of a steady recovery from a debilitating economic crisis two years ago.
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Jan 27, 2024 | 
island.lk | Thilina Walpola |Dushni Weerakoon
By Dushni Weerakoon(East Asia Forum) Nearly two years after announcing a debt default in the middle of a severe social and political crisis, the Sri Lankan economy is showing the first signs of recovery. Year-on-year inflation dropped sharply to a low of 1.5 per cent in October 2023 from its peak of 70 per cent a year earlier. Interest rates are edging down accordingly and the highly volatile currency is now fluctuating within an acceptable range.
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Jan 22, 2024 | 
eastasiaforum-dev.anu.edu.au | Jia Qingguo |Barbara Stallings |Ghulam Ali |Dushni Weerakoon
A glimmer of hope for the stabilisation of China–US relations sparked in 2023. Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met in Bali on 14 November 2022. They agreed that the two countries should re-establish contact and dialogue to improve the management of this important but increasingly troubled relationship. Several developments contributed to the China–US agreement.
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Jan 15, 2024 | 
eastasiaforum.org | Dushni Weerakoon |Allison Alexy |T.Y. Wang |Chung Min Tsai
Author: Dushni Weerakoon, IPSNearly two years after announcing a debt default in the middle of a severe social and political crisis, the Sri Lankan economy is showing the first signs of recovery. Year-on-year inflation dropped sharply to a low of 1.5 per cent in October 2023 from its peak of 70 per cent a year earlier. Interest rates are edging down accordingly and the highly volatile currency is now fluctuating within an acceptable range.
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Jul 24, 2023 | 
island.lk | Sahan Weerasooriya |Dushni Weerakoon
By Dr Dushni WeerakoonDebt restructuring is fundamentally about allocating the associated economic costs to someone. The onus is typically on the debtor country to secure participation from its creditors, applying comparable treatment to all. As with all negotiations, the level and modalities of relief will always be subject to some degree of controversy. Sri Lanka’s recently gazetted domestic debt restructuring (DDR) exercise too has drawn expressions of both support and criticism.
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Jul 22, 2023 | 
island.lk | Thilina Walpola |Dushni Weerakoon
By Dr Dushni WeerakoonDebt restructuring is fundamentally about allocating the associated economic costs to someone. The onus is typically on the debtor country to secure participation from its creditors, applying comparable treatment to all. As with all negotiations, the level and modalities of relief will always be subject to some degree of controversy. Sri Lanka’s recently gazetted domestic debt restructuring (DDR) exercise too has drawn expressions of both support and criticism.
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Mar 31, 2023 | 
eastasiaforum.org | Peter McDonald |Katharine H.S. Moon |Dushni Weerakoon
Authors: Oyuntugs Davaakhuu, Economic Research Institute and Tuvshintugs Batdelger, Economic Research Institute and National University of MongoliaAt the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was widely expected that the war would have a profoundly negative impact on the Mongolian economy. Mongolia is Russia’s direct southern neighbour and its economy significantly depends on the import of strategically important goods from Russia.
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Mar 26, 2023 | 
eastasiaforum.org | Peter McDonald |Katharine H.S. Moon |Dushni Weerakoon
Author: Editorial Board, ANUJapan–South Korea relations have been on a rocky road for far too long. While both countries are economically advanced democracies and US allies with common security concerns about North Korea and China, the history of Japan’s colonisation of the Korean peninsula (1910–1945) continues to haunt their relations.
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Mar 24, 2023 | 
eastasiaforum.org | Jikun Huang |Peter McDonald |Dushni Weerakoon
Author: Jikun Huang, Peking UniversityChina’s food imports have increased significantly since the nation joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Annual imports and net imports of food reached US$160 and US$93 billion, respectively, between 2019–2021. But as rural incomes rise and China’s population falls the gap for trade to fill between domestic food production and consumption in the future is uncertain.
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Mar 23, 2023 | 
eastasiaforum.org | Chen Chen |Dushni Weerakoon |Peter McDonald
Author: Chen Chen, US Council on Foreign RelationsIn November 2022 a female undergraduate stood outside a cafeteria at Tsinghua University in Beijing with a blank sheet of paper — a symbol of protest against censorship and control. Tsinghua, which is renowned for churning out future Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders and even has an Institute for Xi Jinping Thought, is one of the last places where one would expect a zero-COVID protest. As the student stood there, classmates began to join her.
