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Sri Lanka seeks China debt restructure

President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has asked China to restructure its debt repayments.

President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has asked China to restructure its debt repayments. Deshal de Mel is an economist at Verite Research, and tells us how Sri Lanka built up more than $5bn in loans from China for roads, ports and an airport over the past decade. Also in the programme, the Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International will stop buying potash from Belarus by the end of April, due to the impact of international sanctions on the country. Hanna Liubakova is a Belarusian journalist currently in exile, and explains the significance of the potash industry to Belarus. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Laurence Knight explores the potential for psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mental health conditions. Plus, our regular workplace commentator Stephanie Hare considers the prospects for a "basic income for the arts" scheme being introduced in Ireland, which will involve a minimum income being paid to several thousand people working in the sector.

Today's edition is presented by Rob Young, and produced by Joshua Thorpe and George Thomas.

(Picture: Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa and China's foreign minister Wang Yi. Picture credit: EPA.)

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27 minutes

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  • Mon 10 Jan 2022 15:32GMT