{"id":97865,"date":"2020-01-20T01:20:09","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T07:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97865"},"modified":"2020-01-19T14:33:39","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T21:33:39","slug":"millennium-challenge-compact-can-it-reach-its-goal-of-reducing-poverty-through-economic-growth-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/20\/millennium-challenge-compact-can-it-reach-its-goal-of-reducing-poverty-through-economic-growth-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennium Challenge Compact \u2013 Can it reach its \u2018goal\u2019 of \u2018reducing poverty through economic growth in Sri Lanka\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">By Samantha Kumarasinghe<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><strong>Millennium Challenge Compact <\/strong>isan agreement between the <strong>United States of America<\/strong>,\nacting through <strong><em>The Millennium Challenge Corporation<\/em><\/strong><em> (\u2018<strong>MCC\u2019<\/strong>),<\/em> and the <strong>Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,<\/strong> acting through <strong><em>T<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>he Ministry of Finance (\u2018Government\u2019)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(It is important to note that\nwhat \u2018MCC\u2019 means in the said <\/strong><strong>Millennium\nChallenge Compact document is The Millennium\nChallenge Corporation of USA and not Millennium Challenge Compact. The\nlatter is referred to as \u2018Compact\u2019 in the said document)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Following excerpts are from the Millennium Challenge\nCompact document released recently by the government of Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>December\n2015 \u2013 MCC\u2019s board of Directors selected Sri Lanka to develop a threshold\nprogram<\/li><li>During\nthe development of the threshold program, the Government and MCC conducted a\nconstraints analysis in collaboration with the Centre for International\nDevelopment at Harvard University \u2013 Completed in November 2016<\/li><li>December\n2016 \u2013 MCC board selected Sri Lanka to develop a compact <\/li><li>Government\nrecruited the compact development team \u2013 housed in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office\nof Policy Development<\/li><li>November\n2017 \u2013 Government submitted project proposals that focused on addressing Sri\nLanka\u2019s binding constraints<\/li><li>June\n18, 2018 \u2013 Amended and Restated Grant and Implementation Agreement (CDF\nAgreement) Pg 9<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Consultative\nProcess as given in the <\/strong><strong>Millennium\nChallenge Compact <\/strong><strong>agreement document <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The\nGovernment consulted a wide range of public officials, the private sector,\ncivil society and development partners <\/li><li>Separate\nmeetings with various Government ministries and agencies, <strong>the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in\nSri Lanka<\/strong><\/li><li>Stakeholder\nworkshops, outreach sessions targeted at specific interest groups<\/li><li>In\n2017 \u2013 Series of workshops with Government ministries and agencies working on\ntransport and land, various think tanks and civil society<\/li><li>While\nfinalizing in May 2018 \u2013 extensive consultations and workshops with\nstakeholders<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Goal and\nFunding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Goal\nis to <strong>reduce poverty through economic growth\nin Sri Lanka<\/strong>. MCC shall provide assistance in a manner that strengthens\ngood governance, economic freedom and investments in Sri Lanka<\/li><li>Upon\nentry into force of this compact, MCC shall grant to the Government Four\nHundred Forty-Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$\n447,500,000) to implement the programme (multi-year allocation of funding is\ndescribed in Annex II)<\/li><li>Upon\nthe signing of this compact, MCC shall grant to the Government Thirty-Two\nMillion Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 32,500,000), in\naddition to above funding<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other\ninformation on Millennium Challenge Corporation and Millennium Challenge\nCompacts <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Jenner Edelman<\/strong>\nis the Resident Country Director for MCC in Sri Lanka. Her last assignment has\nbeen in Georgia where MCC had signed agreements for USD 395.3 Million in 2005\nand USD 140 Million in 2013 respectively. During the said periods Georgia\u2019s <strong>GDP growth rate declined from 9.6% to 4.7%,\n<\/strong>and today it is a poor country with a total GDP of USD 16.2 Billion. I was\nnot able to find information on what USA gained in Georgia through these two\nagreements. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>There are three types of\nMCC grants:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Compacts:\nFive-year grants for countries that meet MCC\u2019s eligibility criteria (type of\nagreement proposed to Sri Lanka)<\/li><li>Concurrent\nCompacts for Regional Investments: Grants that promote cross-border economic\nintegration<\/li><li>Threshold\nPrograms: Smaller grants for countries that come close to passing MCC\u2019s\neligibility criteria and show commitment to improving their policy performance<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The basic purpose of this MC Compact is\nsaid to be to grant USD 480 Million to Sri Lanka to reduce poverty <strong>through\neconomic development<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We will now look at how the 27 countries who have signed Millennium Challenge Compacts with USA have benefitted or lost from those Compacts based on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate criteria. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table1A-1024x355.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97944\" width=\"716\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table1A-1024x355.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table1A-300x104.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table1A-768x266.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table1A.jpg 1090w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table2-1024x627.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97945\" width=\"716\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table2-1024x627.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table2-300x184.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table2-768x470.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table2.jpg 1088w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table3-1024x611.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97946\" width=\"719\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table3-1024x611.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table3-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table3-768x458.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table3.jpg 1088w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 719px) 100vw, 719px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table4-1024x615.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97947\" width=\"720\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table4-1024x615.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table4-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table4-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table4.jpg 1091w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table5-1024x622.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97948\" width=\"713\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table5-1024x622.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table5-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table5-768x467.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Table5.jpg 1089w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table6-1024x516.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97949\" width=\"719\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table6-1024x516.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table6-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table6-768x387.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table6.jpg 1091w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 719px) 100vw, 719px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table7-1024x275.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97950\" width=\"688\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table7-1024x275.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table7-300x80.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table7-768x206.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/table7.jpg 1093w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Data Source: World Bank Data 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Observations and\nconclusions that can be made from the data given in the above table: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>15\nout of the 27 countries are in Africa and they are extremely poor, small\ncountries.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Jordan\nis the only country from Middle East and that is one of the poorest among the\noil rich Middle Eastern countries. After signing the MCC compact in 2010,\neconomic growth has declined drastically. GDP growth rate which was 7% in 2008\nhas declined to 2.3% in 2010 and further declined to 1.9% by 2018. Total GDP of\nJordan is USD 42 billion which is about 50% of\nthe GDP of Sri Lanka.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>There\nare three countries in Central America, and they are El Salvador, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcc.gov\/where-we-work\/country\/nicaragua\">Nicaragua<\/a> and Honduras which are\npoor countries with small populations. All three countries have experienced\nserious economic problems after signing the MCC agreements and have ended up\nwith negative economic growth within few years after signing the agreements.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Only\ntwo countries in Western Asia, Georgia and Armenia, have signed MCC agreements and\nboth countries have experienced negative economic growth after signing MCC\nagreements. They still remain to be countries with extreme poverty levels compared\nto their neighboring countries such as Turkey, Bulgaria and Russia. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Philippines\nand Indonesia are the only countries with a considerable GDP size that have\nsigned MCC agreements. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Although\nthe GDP growth rate has not significantly declined in Philippines, there is no improvement\nin growth after signing the agreements. Philippines has now become a country\nfaced with a major drug problem. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Indonesia\nhas experienced a gradual decline in economic growth rate after signing the MCC\nagreement in 2010 from 6.2% to 4.9% in 2015.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Nepal\nis the only country in South Asia that has signed a MCC agreement. As it was\nsigned in 2017, not much can be said yet about the impact of the MCC agreement on\nNepal. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MCC-\nA grant from the \u2018biggest debtor in the world\u2019 with very high poverty levels?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In Sri Lanka, <strong>4.1%<\/strong>\nof the population lives below the national poverty line as per World Bank data for\n2016.<\/li><li>The official poverty rate\nfor USA is <strong>12.3%<\/strong>, based on the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s 2017 estimates. Deep\npoverty is <strong>5.7%.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/poverty.ucdavis.edu\/faq\/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states\">https:\/\/poverty.ucdavis.edu\/faq\/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>USA has the biggest external\ndebt in the world which is USD 20.2 Trillion in 2019. This is USD 4 Trillion\nhigher than the external debt of entire EU.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gfmag.com\/global-data\/economic-data\/xtegh9-external-debt-in-countries-around-the-world\">https:\/\/www.gfmag.com\/global-data\/economic-data\/xtegh9-external-debt-in-countries-around-the-world<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Given the above poverty and debt\nlevels, it is obvious that USA is not going to simply give a grant to develop\nour country without significant benefit for USA. <\/strong>Sri Lanka has to be extremely careful in signing\ncomplicated and binding agreements that are subjected to international law,\nespecially since<strong> USA has a history of having signed over 100 agreements with\nthe Native American Indians during the period 1778 to 1871, which subsequently\nled to the Native American Indians losing almost all their land that they had lived\non for thousands of years prior to signing the said agreements. &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Concerns\non Land issues for Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under\nthe proposed agreement, USD 350 Million is for a Transport project and USD 67.3\nMillion for a Land project. Land project allows MCC to survey lands in\nAnuradhapura, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Mathale, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee\ndistricts. Further, the agreement allows MCC to survey lands in other areas\ncovering 67% of the total land extent of Sri Lanka. All such data collected in\nthe above surveys will become the intellectual property of MCC USA. It means\nthat MCC will have intellectual property rights to survey plans of 67% of land\nin Sri Lanka, including places of natural resources and water resources. Sri\nLankan proponents of MCC agreement do not seem to have any idea of limitations\nor bindings of such intellectual property rights given to a country like USA\nthat is trying hard to maintain their military powers in the Asian region\nthrough various strategic agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The proposed MCC\nagreement does not fall under the laws of Sri Lanka and will be subjected only\nto international law.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\ncountry that loses its land will always be a country of people in extreme\npoverty. We should not forget the important statement once made by <strong>Desmond Tutu,<\/strong> the world famous South\nAfrican Archbishop, <strong>When the missionaries\ncame to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said &#8216;Let us pray.&#8217;\nWe closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the\nland\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through\nan act in 1913, the White rulers of South Africa acquired about 93% of land\nfrom the indigenous black people, chasing them out from their traditional homelands.\nMandela fought against this and for the freedom of black South Africans. Mandela\nwas jailed in 1964 for about 30 years. He was later released and became the\nPresident of South Africa and Apartheid was said to be over. Twenty five years\nhave passed since 1994 but still the black people in South Africa have not got\ntheir land back and majority of them live in extreme poverty. <strong>Even today the average income of a white\nman in South Africa is 5 times that of a black man.<\/strong> That is why losing land\nis proven to be the beginning of the loss of future prosperity of any nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Agreements\nsuch as the Millennium\nChallenge Compact, if signed at the expense of\nentire future generations of a country,<strong> will\nonly help a handful of unpatriotic, power hungry and greedy politicians<\/strong> who\nwant to be in power for few more years till they die of old age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sri\nLanka is now an upper middle income country with a per capita income of over\nUSD 4,000 and thus technically cannot fulfill the MCC criteria for a grant. <\/strong>To overcome this issue the former Government and MCC\nhave taken the year of grant approval as 2016, which is just before the year\nthat Sri Lanka passed the USD 4,000 per capita income level.<strong> Therefore, my\npersonal opinion is that if the present Government wants it can avoid signing\nthe <\/strong><strong>Millennium Challenge Compact\non that criterion. &nbsp;<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being an upper middle income country, we do not have\nto run to other countries with a begging bowl anymore. <strong>Strong, patriotic\nleadership with good negotiation skills and confidence in local capabilities is\nthe need of the hour to develop the country, whilst improving living standards\nof the entire population.<\/strong> There is no point in increasing the GDP of a\ncountry unless it really helps to increase the income and living standards of\nthe poor people in the bottom layers of the income pyramid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I sincerely believe in the reality that \u2018Not signing\nagreements\u2019 is always better than \u2018Signing unfavourable agreements\u2019 that put\nthe future of many generations to come in a miserable situation that they can\nnever escape.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data Sources<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MCC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcc.gov\/where-we-work\">https:\/\/www.mcc.gov\/where-we-work<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GDP &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD\">https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Population&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/SP.POP.TOTL\">https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/SP.POP.TOTL<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GDP per capita  <a href=\"https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD\">https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samantha Kumarasinghe Millennium Challenge Compact isan agreement between the United States of America, acting through The Millennium Challenge Corporation (\u2018MCC\u2019), and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, acting through The Ministry of Finance (\u2018Government\u2019) (It is important to note that what \u2018MCC\u2019 means in the said Millennium Challenge Compact document is The Millennium [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}