will want to invade other countries. of course, we will resist for as long as possible to break this ambition of the russian federation, but also of the nations they believe in the victory of life over a devil. they have to fight together with us. they have to help us. russia's defense ministry has admitted for the 1st time that a sailor was killed when its flagship miss uncles or the mos crash sank last week. it also confirmed their $27.00 service men are missing, but almost $400.00 cool members were rescued. in other news, israel has close the garza border crossing to workers citing rockets fired by her mass from the territory. the rockets target is southern israel after a week of raids by israeli police into the aisle oxer most compound in occupied east jerusalem. the taliban says at least 33 people have been killed. no explosion at a mosque n school in afghanistan. it happened in condos province. at least 43 people were injured. an explosion in somali as capital has give at least 6 people gunmen stormed a hotel in the leader beach area of mogadishu. after detonating a bomb, a u. s. judge has ordered former honduran president, one, orlando, have mandate to be detained, pending a possible bail application. the order came at hernandez, his 1st appearance in your court a day after being extradited to the us on drug trafficking charges. the european union has agreed new rules that will require internet and social media companies to remove illegal in harmful content from their platforms. the regulation will also been advertising aimed at children, all based on sensitive data, such as religion, gender, and race. and the u. s. state of florida is revoking the rise of the war disney company to self govern his steam parks near orlando. critics say it's retaliation for the entertainment giant opposing legislation, banning the teaching of sexual orientation issues in schools. and those are the headlines. very navigator will have the al jazeera and use our for you right after counting the cost. the race to succeed, the regal to start to as president of the philippines is heading into its final stretch, struggling with its worst recess. and in years the country is desperate for solutions . but what are the candidates offering and what direction will the philippines think under you leadership, special coverage on al 0? i flew, i'm fully back to bo, this is counting the cost on al jazeera, your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week is to lancaster worst economic crisis in decades, and he's pushing people to the brink. so what's gone wrong for the islands nation, and can it secure the cache? it needs to buy basic supplies old. so this week, china's g d p growth for the 1st quarter beats forecast, but the countries way down by lockdown. so can be gene, keep the economy growing or well, the world's manufacturer a grind to a halt. and as fuel prices rise, electric comic as i an increase in sales, but his demand for the vehicles really increasing among drivers. and if so, is there enough to supply them? ah, thank you very much for joining us, sri lanka, coffers have old but dried up and it cannot afford to pay for import millions of its people a bearing. the brunt of the country's economic crisis. basic goods are in short supply power cuts. a frequent price is a sorry, and the value of incomes is eroding. many people blame the president for the worst economic crisis in more than 70 years. and they've taken to the streets demanding, he stepped down, go to buy a roger pox, a has admitted making mistakes and promises he will correct them. and roger coxa has appointed a new cabinet, but the opposition has threatened to bring it down farther. countries economic crisis is caused by a lack of foreign currency. should. anchors finance minister has started talks with the international monetary fund seeking a rapid financing instrument or r f i. the island nation has also turned to india and china for debt relief. but both countries have offered more credit lines. to buy commodities, sri lanka has suspended payments on its international debt of more than $51000000000.00 effectively putting the country. in default, the island nations foreign reserve stood at at less than $2000000000.00 at the end of march. while the countries foreign debt obligations were this year exceed $7000000000.00. the stock exchange was also suspended for 5 days last week. now, should anchors inflation rate climb to almost 19 percent last month up from more than 15 percent in february is highest level since october 2008 and the fastest raised in asia. here's an idea of how much basic necessities now cost white rice, a common sri lankan staple increased by 93 percent since 2019 chicken and lentils have gone up by at least 55 and 117 percent, respectively. the state own sale on petroleum corporation raised the price of fuel by more than a 130 percent last week. and our standard household cylinder of cooking gas increased from almost $5.00 in 2021 last year to 9 dollars this year. and the country's ruby has plunged to record lows, becoming the world's worst performing currency. the government has the value, the v. p place curbs on non essential imports and almost doubled interest rates in a bid to tackle the economic crisis shrunk as economy has lost much of its tourism revenues. because of the pandemic and remittance is dried up. but critics say government decisions to cut taxes and shift to or attic farming are among the main reasons behind the crisis. or joining us now from shall i guess capital colombo is, will mission where i'm with dolly, who is an economics lecturer at the university of colombo. thank you so much for being with us on counting the costs. this is by far the worst crisis lanka face in independence in 1948. how do we get to this point? what went wrong? to start, we'd be going made a cds or bad trades that starting from x in the elected to the his in 2019 and subsequently the core we pending, he did law that had an adverse impact on sheila, how we were, the decisions that the government made some sequence to defend me, particularly to, to hold that will be following up exchange a pigeon, particularly the decision not to restructure date. and going by admit, that is what has actually led to this crisis. because when we, when we enter into those and 21, it was quite clear that there was no way sheila case going to continue with the food industry payments because the con, case for the law. and we lost significant amount of revenue to worrisome because of depend to make impact. and on the other hand, we didn't have the ability to go to the international capital markets and borrow money to issuing euro bonds with hovering books. that is because of the pen to me can as be less likely to text, but right, so you did, you didn't have the luxury or refinance again. the, the ideal auction was the, the fee structure and the go and when decision to not to take that option was what caused this whole prices to the prison mind. a roger pack for has admitted making mistakes. is it just download to his policy decisions that have made shrunk as the economy so, so vulnerable to the stocks or the other factors that play the will the economy was one little bit because she long because export hasn't gone from your last couple of decades or more and at the same time the tax revenue was betty, very low, probably one of the lowest among the world. so when you are innocent, your position, you have to be very cautious when you make a policy. and they were cautious, particularly when you have a very lot actually when you read doesn't make sense to get tax cuts. right? but dave into, he then gave it as an election promise, and soon after they let the good the public dave into the text, which was absolutely unnecessary for a country that has made it excellent. so it also, there are decision to strictly, you know, not going to emit because they were insisting that we are not going to him if you're not speaking. i mean, as he says and debated the last moment, people are dying or ages to make that decision. so it was the wrong policies that pursued, ignoring the economist advice that has led to these shortages and the daily suffering of the experience today. what the government has now officially requested. you know, the i m f help which has been criticized because as yourself, many people have said it's taken too long for them to go to the i m f. they've requested an r f i, which is usually granted to countries with urgent funding needs because of shop commodity price rights. for example, national disasters. we will be get this and will be i am if bailout work this time around. let's talk about the bailout in into parts lee. the are the flavor major that be fine as instrument then you will have something. but be called the extended fun festivities. the normal beta package that you may be trailing called in 2016, but for, for the finance the in too much to be received. sheila cost debt has to be sustainable level, which is not the recent stock report made. i mean, clearly stipulates that priyanka piece on sustainable and unless the government easing the odd to me that it's a stable value miss, you may not be in a position to give, provide, lending at this point. so. so it's a bit of a tricky situation. it's quite difficult at this point to get an eye on it because the level of the, of the funky has. but we'll have to see what the actions that you would like tree lung gate at this point. and if that policy action is to get an idea of what about china and india, they've offered credit lines. does that offer a lifeline or will it mean more debt for sure long? well, i mean definitely want to be more dead because that's the only way out of this. you'll have to borrow what you need to be cautious. this at this point you will have to borrow but, but you have to borrow for sure. lease, or that you don't or what, but did. and also to get to more of a transition, a form of you know, the date that you have to pay across large, i mean long number of years. and also we can low interest rate because we can't really dig the burden of a commercial that anymore at this point. in right now. and also we dictated nines, very nice mitel in the short term, particularly in terms of was a play, which is what we're running on these days. the poor credit line provided by india. that's another credit man coming from india or maybe seen essentially would then intermediate, a good chinese embassy and in a press conference few weeks ago mentioned that they are also willing to provide a credit lane and another known. so some of the woods that be received with a pretty nice but, but that's how quickly that those things comes is what's important must equal x reaching play notes. ok. now speaking of of the debts the, the moody's ratings agency has one that's your lanka. we'll see a series of defaults on it foreign debts after the government said it would stop re payments. of course. what are the implications of that? what would that mean for sure, lanka, and this is people, the vein which we de paul did day was not the worst case. the reason being in prayer, dave treated me, made an announcement for what we call the union. i tried before though, informing all the creditors that we are not able to be routed in and drop will be stored in the 4th. so that's one good thing. so which means the tailor could just that look here we have building to restructure the data going play. it may have negotiations. so things wouldn't be bad as disorderly before. and so that's one good thing that was done but, but that was to the question was that it was too late, too late, or the school depends on how quickly the debt restructuring process goes. that has to go along the day and she shouldn't have smith's or the consequence of the, i wouldn't say, would be betty severe. okay. it wouldn't be bad as the disorder before. and i don't think that the imports below kicked due to the default. but the courts, how old are the affected because that is, those are ignored and that's the key concern to address. no fine for english, so strong tom bell, 20 need to get these lines to ensure that the base, the power cord may be seen oil. and i was going to ask you about the fact that the choice is the bed. best options now for sure. lank as government, i've a waste for the government to improve the countries fiscal position while also protecting those who might face poverty as a result of policies that that might lean towards charity. there has to be a plus or show safety net program, giving cash transfers to those who are particularly affected by the high food prices and short gauges. and navy defied along the b c for him to good. otherwise, d, c forms, he will not be politically feasible. been because nice people come to that all it's and start writing in just most of the so today to quietly at the medication strategy to communicate with the vulnerable groups that this is what we are doing. and this is how we are going to protect you and to do the need to protect them. thank you so much for talking to us about this ensuring light on the situation in formation round darley lecturing economics at the university of columbus. thank you very much for your time. michelle. they should be here. thank you. ah. china's economy has beaten all expectations for the 1st 3 months of the year. gross domestic products grew by 4.8 percent compared to a year earlier, but consumer spending fell and unemployment rows suggesting tougher months ahead. that says the country is expected to feel the full blown impact of corona virus locked downs and the war in ukraine. many economists say beijing growth target of around 5.5 percent for 2022 appears to be out of reach. katrina, you report somebody. jane. china's economy beat most expert forecasts and expanded by 4.8 percent in the 1st 3 months of 2022 strong manufacturing activity and a boost in infrastructure. spending early in the year drove much of that growth. but major challenges threatened the outlook of the world's 2nd largest economy. sure, you should. the global situation has been complex on the fluid. domestic, we're covering 19 continues to have impact. that's why some major indicators were slow down and there's a pressure i can army performance. other china is battling, it's worse corrine, a virus outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic and tens of millions of people nationwide has been confined to their homes, look downs and pers march across major industrial and commercial hubs. including shanghai and sion, gen have crippled supply chains and assembly lines. analysts say the damage caused by shutdowns will be further felt in future economic daughter. but retail spending has already contracted by 3.5 percent. unemployment has also risen. foreign business leaders say badging 0 tolerance approach to corporate 19 is harming both the domestic and global economy. the western and japan, korea, all the big economies have strong interest. the china changes to one because it said percent of all goods and china manufacture could have some sort of china in there. so of china actually sneezer, you know, the world catches a cold. we need child to succeed. we need china to open up in order to actually maintain also good the global economy at a certain speech speech and a global economy needs china now to succeed because we have a war in ukraine which as a rebel on effect. and this is like a perfect storm coming altogether. unfortunately, rising inflation and a cash crunch in the property sector are also dragging on growth. the government has set a g d p target of around 5.5 percent this year. it's the lowest in decades, but many believe this figure will be tough to achieve without the rolling out of more aggressive stimulus measures. still, china's leaders insist on maintaining the most heavy handed pandemic measures in the world. the cities of she and pseudo, and john jo have joined shanghai in imposing restrictions, followed local outbreaks over the weekend. on joining us now is robin monday high professor of asian, initially at the i. e. s. e business call and president of the asian studies association of hong kong. thank you very much, miss them on behalf of being with us on counting the cost. let's start with the good news. the positive news. first, the chinese economy making a solid start at to the year. what are the main factors driving this growth? well, as you know, they are still benefiting from their success of the wound or experience. so while the world was starting to cromwell down they actually were actually, china was recovering. so they continued being the world. so factory. so they were exporting and they were making the goods that the world demanded. so this is a result of that but, but the 1st quarter a g d p does not tell the whole story, does it? i mean, what's the reality of the situation right now on the ground? ok, they said 515 percent is the target. so the whole year are personally i've, i'm doubtful about that. it depends on several things. i would, i would mention 3 things. the 1st one is the revival of the domestic consumption. ah, in, within china. the 2nd one is the resumption of international trade, which was disrupted by the a ukraine ukraine war sauce imports of china has gone down. and also, you know, the china imports an array of goods which are later are re exported. so both are done because the ports have also begun to be close flights of also been reduced. so oh, and contributes to down flow of international 3. and the 3rd one is the supply and demand factors. first of all is the your grain war. second is the prizes of commodities driven by the, by the war. so you have all called natural gas and other commodities. food also, 3rd is inflation. and china's way to talk it is different from other countries. it works and then production capacity is down because of the lack dollars and armours. factories are kind of still down, right. well, let's talk about those locked down since the beginning of march. china has struggled to, to contain it's worth over 19, not breaks into the start of the pandemic. as you yourself said, when the world was dealing with china was actually doing much better than most countries. but now it's in the grapes of this crisis. we've seen important ports like shanghai shut down. how does the government make economic stability at top priority, while also maintaining the 0 covered 19 policy strategies? one solution to china always had was to use infrastructure investment. what if, if things are down, they will double down and on, on making more infrastructure. that's to preserve employment, to keep the economy going because external will be difficult. so they will use internal tools in order to, to keep the economy going. but you know, that's not very easy to do because there are other, other issues that they have to contend with. for example, the aging of the population, the factor in the lying down attitude of the population. the positive side is innovation and technology improvement goes up. but those are the things that they have to, you know, make sure that they interact property. so the economy is able to do briefly miss that one to her. let me ask you about that. the global impact on this, you know, especially for those countries who rely on chinese production and on demand for chinese investment. how, how difficult do you see the situation being for them in the coming months? for me, i consider this a very difficult issue because they have, ah, a play playbook rule to follow because a vague this year is special for china. they have this, they have this special meeting in ridge, ah, presidency is expected to have another another term, another 5 year term. so that cannot be disturbed. so in, in the past once this things happen. so is, is very difficult to move because as we have seen already in the past beginning the one crisis with verse a china way of doing things. and that's why in the 1st stage of the one crisis, it was like disaster. but bits, they quickly changed. but that change has to be decided by the cup. okay, so and that is the problem here. thank you so much for your time. thank you for talking to us. we'll been one day hi. with petrol prices storing the preferences of ca, shop is, are shifting drive is increasingly choosing cars that plug into sockets over those that burn fossil fuels. global sales of electric vehicles are estimated to have jump nearly a 120 percent in the 1st quarter of the year. despite the high cost of the vehicles and batteries. the average cost of lithium ion battery sales increased to at least $160.00 per kilowatt hour in the 1st quarter of this year. as compared to 105 dollars last year. the high battery cost added almost $1500.00 for the best selling electric vehicle in china, for example, supply chain disruption vend sanctions on russian. metals are among the main factors, driving up cost and a market share of electric vehicles around the world increased $41.00 times in the last 10 years, reaching 8.3 percent and sales broke records globally last year. global e v purchases reached more than $6000000.00 units in 202108 percent more than the previous year. 130000 electric vehicles were sold throughout the year in 2012. that figure was reached in a week in 2021. china recorded the high sales at 3400000 . 2.3000000 electric vehicles were sold in europe. this figure was by 66 percent compared to 2020. the us rank deferred with 735000 electric vehicle sales. well, joining us now from london is casper rose, who's a chief date, the officer at benchmark mineral intelligence and agency specialize in electric vehicles and battery supply chain casper. thank you so much for being with us on counting the cost. so what is driving this demand for electric vehicles? our environmental concerns, motivating buys always. it more about gas prices is a combination of factors driving driving electric vehicles, amount of the moment in some regions. it's a subsidy, so you're thing, some quite generous subsidies available and electric vehicles, particularly in china and in europe in the kind of policy world as well as some big drivers. so again, in europe there's fleet emission standards that need to be met by we can make is across the whole fleet. so one way to achieve as is to move to more and more electric baker sales. and then just kind of longer time as a consumer looking at the planning to end internal combustion engine. victo sales, very different based globally, but between 2030 and let's say 2050 generally speaking, people thinking now more and more about electric vehicles. and i guess just finally kind of a consumer preference to move to more and more environmentally friendly technology . as speaking of the longer term, let's talk about the cost, the price of these vehicles because there's been a continuous search in prices, right? for electric vehicles, costs rose because, you know, of supply chain disruptions, the sanctions on russia, for example, do you expect this rise to be temporary or will battery costs, for example, stay elevated? or are we going to see at some point, some sort of stablish ation. you know, the major component that's driving the rising cost. the battery is leaky mind. battery critical roll material. so the cathode, which is captured in a battery cafe representative of the cost of the battery the moment. and that's what you find the lithium, the nickels manganese, and those pray. price is very high. as you know, high prices willing been incentivized, more investment in production of federal materials, everything cash flowing, opperation, new nickel, opperation, etc. but it takes a long time for that to come to market, take many years and you mind to be billed. we typically say around 7 years. so we will say those investments that happening now and, and commence last year coming to play in the coming year. and that will, that will balance costs. now, the ultimate cost of the b, i guess, is really what matters in the compensation today. and they still economy discounts to be made in terms of the vehicle production level of the production level. but we do expect these material markets to go in and out and deficit over the next decade . so for right now, the main problem is lithium and lithium deficit in the market very tight. and that's why we see price for him. benchmark publishes various different grades, but the price is on a global basis. the average is about 465 percent year one year. and since the start and then recover, recovery is closer to 800 percent. and i was gonna ask you how manufacturers are getting around the supply chain disruptions? i mean, it's very challenging at the moment. i mean, we have the earnings, korea from tesla who specifically, you know, mosque and the theme specifically mentioned, lithium is a major concern and could be a limiting factor in the right of which if you, my batteries can be produced and they are exposed to cost at the moment so by that what i mean is that no hedging mechanism, like you would having something like other larger commodity markets. these are speciality chemicals. lithium in particular is no a commodity. you can't just use any kind of him in your process. you have to qualify that product, so it's very, very challenging. so at the moment what we're seeing is largely speaking, those additional material costs are being added to the vehicle in some way or margin to being casserole. thank you very much for talking to us. thank you. very much, and that is our show for this week, get in touch with us by tweeting me at fully bought a g e and do use the hashtag acdc. when you do or drop us an email. counting the cost that al jazeera dot net is our address. that is more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash ctc. that will take you straight to our page, which has individual reports, link, sending, tie episodes for you to catch up on that is it for the sedition of counting the cost? i'm fully back to go from me and the whole team here in doha, thanks. we're watching the news on al jazeera is next are china and the u. s. leave walking their way to war in the struggle over ukraine? here is the test for president joe biden. what proven is really trying to do is rewrite the security architecture in europe. it's your personal united states, you serious to go to walk and chew gum at the same time, your weekly pay on us politics and society. that's the bottom line. the you are always of impact. the people wrote the world. people pay attention to what we thought here, and i'll just, he was very good at bringing the news to the world from here. as we can, stories from african perspectives. i'm the marine by the just a business when short documentaries, from african he'll make. i'm going to do from south africa, ethiopia, and nigeria. we been to go over some stuff in this class. she saw this as my, and my role africa direct on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera. ah, your waterman is are alive from headquarters in del hi. i'm debbie and obligation coming up in the next 60 minutes. ukraine's president warrens moscow may invade other european countries. after a general said, rushes army aims to take control of the south and east. israel closes, it's only at border crossing to the gaza strip for workers after rockets were fired from the territory. a bombing at a mosque in northern i'm gonna stand, kills more than 30 people the latest in a series of attacks across the country. and disney.