author and mother and all that she accomplished. much of the focus was on what a truly remarkable life. madeline albright led, 1st flea in europe twice coming through united states. eventually rising to the top position. the 1st woman, secretary of state, a leader of national security and foreign policy that lasted for decades. she died at the age of 84 petty calling al jazeera washington. and a quick reminder, you can catch up with all the news on our website. there it is on your screen, the address al jazeera dot com ah, type of quick check of the headlines here on al jazeera, russia has threatened to cut off gas applies to more european countries. after turning off the taps to poland and bulgaria over their refusal to pay in roubles, the e u says the kremlin is using energy to blackmail countries supporting ukraine. vladimir

putin, his claim, but ukraine was pushed to flash or russia moscow's reaction was just unfair. speaking to politicians in saint petersburg, he warned at any country that interferes with russia's military campaign in ukraine, will face immediate consequences of vietnam. if anyone would want to interfere with what's happening in ukraine now from the outside, they have to know rushes response will be swifter and fascinated. so we have all sorts of tools that the west cannot obtain p and we will not post of our weapons. but we will use them if need be, and i want every want to know that would and russian forces have continued to pound the last known stronghold of ukrainian forces in matter. you pull more than 2000 soldiers and civilians are still hold up. and as a style still works, where conditions are said to be growing more dire. about a $100000.00 people are estimated to be trapped across matter you pull. the you and 2nd general has arrived in ukraine as he pushes for sci fi and the 2 month wall. antonio, good ted, as was in moscow on tuesday,

where he met russia's president vladimir putin. on his arrival in ukraine. good terrorist tweeted that he'll continue to work to expand humanitarian support and secure the evacuation of civilians is expected to meet ukrainian president vladimir zalinski later in the week. despite being deeply divided over the ukraine war, russia and the united states have completed a surprise, prisoner swap. russia's foreign ministry says former us marine trevor reed as been traded for a russian pilot that was serving a 20 year sentence. one of the holiest knights of the year in islam as being observed in occupied east jerusalem. earlier, there were an estimated quarter of a 1000000 worshippers at the alex a most fort, let alcorda which marks the 27th night of the month of ramadan. it follows israeli raids of the holy site and the killing of at least 17 palestinians in a crime down across the occupied west bank. 2 of them in the last 2 days. so

those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera, after counting the cost station. thanks a lot, bye for now. frank assessments, what are the political risks of panic? russian oil, a guest for western leaders, will sanctions, on rosh, another jewish sports. awesome informed opinions. he's not abandoning to fighting rushes, invasion of ukraine in depth analysis of the days global headlines inside story on al jazeera. ah, i hello, 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 longest worst economic crisis in decades and is to pushing people to the brink. so what's gone wrong for the islands nation,

and can it secure the cash 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 wells 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 lankan coffers have old but dried up and it cannot afford to pay for imports. millions of its people are bearing the brunt of the country's economic crisis. basic goods are in short supply power, carsa frequent prices are 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 have 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 packs, or has appointed a new cabinet by the opposition, has threatened to bring it down for the countries. economic crisis is caused by a lack of foreign currency. shall 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 shall 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 rise. a common sri lankan staple increased by 93 percent since 2019 chicken and lentils have gone up by at least 55 and 100. 17 percent, respectively. the state own sale on petroleum corporation raised the price of fuel by more than a 130 per cent last week. and a standard household cylinder of cooking gas inc. fees from almost $5.00 in 2021 last year to 9 dollars this year. and the country's ruby has planned to record lows, becoming the world's worst performing currency. the government has the value that will be placed, curves on non essential imports and almost doubled interest rates in a bit to tackled economic crisis shrunk as economy has lost much of its tourism revenues because of the pandemic and remittance is dried up. but critic say

government decisions to cut taxes and shift to organic farming are among the main reasons behind the crisis. or joining us now from shall i guess capital colombo is, will mesh moore? 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 to 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 choices that starting from ex indeed elected to the office in 2019 and subsequently deployed benjamin. he did law better than adverse impact on sheila, how we would, the decision said the bowman 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 to make that is what

has actually led to disgrace because been me when we intend to because i'm going to one, it was quite clear that there was no way sheila guys going to continue with the whole industry payments because the con case for the in the so as a law and we law, significant amount of revenue to worrisome because of depend making back. and on the other hand, we didn't have the ability to go to the international capital markets and borrow, but you're issuing euro bonds was hovering. but that is because we depend to make an ass be less likely to text, but right, so you didn't, you didn't have the luxury or refinance again. the, the ideal option was the the fee structure and the government decision to not to take that option was what caused this whole crisis to the prison mind? a roger pack for has admitted making mistakes. is it just download to his policy decisions that have made sure lank as economy so so vulnerable to the stocks or the other factors that play the will the economy was one little bit because sheila

because export hasn't gone probably over last couple of decades or more and at the same time, the tax revenue was very, very low. probably one of the was among the words. so when you are in a such a position, you have to be very cautious when you make it a policy. and they will not cautious, particularly when you have a very low tech. so when you read doesn't make sense to get cut. right. but dave into, he then gave it as an election promise. and soon after they left the good, the public even to the text, which was absolutely necessary for a country that has made it look excellent. so it, and also their decision to strictly, you know, not going to, i mean, because they were insisting that they are not going to him if you're not seeking. i mean, as he says and debated the last moment, people are dying auction 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 s help, which you know 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 priced, right, for example, national disasters. we will be get this and will be i'm f bailout work this time around. let's talk about the bailout in into parts lately. the odd if i were to measure that be fine as engine and then you will have something like be called extended fun facility, which is the normal beta package that relates between ca, court in 2016. but for, for the finance the in too much to be received, sheila cost debt has to be discussed in a liver, which is not the recent stock report. but i am if clearly stipulates that free long class need these on sustainable. and unless the government easing the odd to me

that it's, i stay in the boat, i miss you may not be in a position to give, provide, lending at this point so. so it's a bit of a tricky c ration. it's quite difficult at this point to get an eye on if i, because the level of the, the fuzzy has. but we'll have to see what policy actions that i would like to look at this point. and if that policy action is to get an idea of what about china and india, they have offered credit lines. does that offer a lifeline or will it mean more debt? for sure long? well, i mean, definitely going to be more dead because that's the only way out of it will 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 overburdened yourself. and also to get to more of a transition, a form of, you know, the date that you have to pay across large, long number of years. and also we can low interest rate because we can't really

take the burden of a commercial anymore at this point in right now. and also be dictated nines. very nice. my tell in the short term, particularly in terms of was a play which might be running on these days that was poor credit lane provided by india. that's another credit line coming from india, or maybe seen essentially with an intermediate good chinese embassy in a press conference. few weeks ago mentioned that there was a willing to provide a credit line and another loan. so someone would that be received to the credit nice. but, but that's how quickly that those things comes is so important. must be equal as did you play notes. okay, now speaking of, of the debt the, the moody ratings agency has one that's your lanka, with 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 its people? the vain which we de paul did did was not the worst case. the reason being in

imperial dave treated me, made an announcement for what we call the unit i tried before door informing all the credit. we are not able to be rather than an abrupt but disorderly the 4th. so that's one good thing. so which means the tail is just that, look here we have leading to east up to date, and the point i may have negotiations. so 2 things wouldn't be bad at disorderly before, so that's one good thing. okay, that was done but, but that was to the question was that it was truly through too late. saw the stall depends on how quickly the restructuring process goes. that has to go along. the dynamic sions smith saw the sequence of feet. i wouldn't say would be betty severe . it wouldn't be bad s and disorderly before. and i don't think that the imports below kicked due to the default, but the imports how old to be affected, because that is, those are the most. and that's the key concern to address no,

fine for the injury. so strong tom bell. 20 need to get the lines to ensure that the basic powers layer who made the scene 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 of a waste for the government to improve the country's fiscal position while also protecting those who might face poverty as a result of policies that that might lean towards of charity. there has to be a corporate social safety net program, giving cash transfers to those who are particularly affected by the high food prices and short day job and make it a priority. allow me to because otherwise be forms will not be politically easy. but been because nice people come to that all and, and start writing, ingest most of the so today's class at the, at the medication at the g to communicate with the vulnerable groups. and this is what we are doing. and this is how we are going to protect you and do the need to protect them. thank you so much for talking to us about this. ensuring light on the

situation and she will mess around with dolly lecturing. economics at the university of columbus. thank you very much for your time. lasha fisher to be here . thank you. ah. china's economy has beaten all expectations for the 1st 3 months of a year. gross domestic product screwed 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 crone of iris lock 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 issue. the global situation has been complex on the fluids. domestic with coven 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 corin of iris outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic. and tens of millions of people nationwide has been confined to their home spot looked downs and purchased 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 data. 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 to 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 and 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 ad pseudo and john jo have joined shanghai in imposing restrictions, followed local outbreaks over the weekend. on joining us now is robin monte heart 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 the success of the, the wound or experience. so while the world was starting to crumble 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 for the whole year. i 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 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 are 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 and commodities driven by the, by the war. so you have all call natural gas and other commodities. food also, 3rd is inflation. and china's way to talk it is different from the other countries . it works and then production capacity is down because of the lack dollars and armors factories are kind of silly still don't. 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 in 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 coven 19 policy strategy? 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 the 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, 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 enter our 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. oh, consider this a very difficult issue because they have, ah, a play playbook rule to follow because of 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 it is very difficult to move because as we have seen already in the past beginning, the one crisis that there is

a china way of doing things. and that's why in the 1st stage of the one crisis, it was like disaster but, but 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 our 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 jumped 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. vent sanctions on russian metals are among the main

factors driving up cost and the 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 u. s. rank deferred with 735000 electric vehicle sales. while joining us now from london is casper rose, who's a chief data officer at benchmark mineral intelligence. an 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 vehicle demand at the moment in some regions. it's, it's subsidy, so you're thing some quite generous subsidies available on electric vehicles, particularly in china and in europe in the kind of policy world as well as some big drivers. so again, in europe, fleet emission standards that needs be met by over time make is across the whole fleet. so one way to achieve those is to move to more and more electric baker sales . and then just to kind of longer term as a consumer, looking at the planning to end internal combustion engine, victo sales various different base globally, but between 2030 and let's say 2050. generally speaking people are 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, to expect this rise to be temporary or will battery cost for example, stay elevated. or are we going to see at some point, some sort of stabilization, you know, the major component that's driving the rising cost of batteries is, is lucky mind battery critical, raw materials. so the cathode, which is as a cafe in a battery. cafe representative of the cost of the battery the moment, and that's what you find the lithium, the nichols, manganese and those price price is very high. as you know, high prices, it will incentivize more investment in production of federal materials in cash flowing, lithium operations, new nickel operations, etc. but it takes a long time for that to come to market. take many years and you mind to be built,

we typically say around 7 years, so we will say those investments that are 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 computation today. and they still economy discounts to be made in terms of via the vehicle production level of the production level. but we do expect these material markets to go in and out the deficit over the next decade. so for right now, the main problem is lithium and lithium deficit and the very tight. and that's why we see price for him. benchmark publishes various different grade prices. but on a global basis, the average is 465 percent new one year. and since the start and then recover, recovery is closer to $800.00. and now 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, you know,

we have the earnings call yesterday from tesla who specifically mosque. and the test that seems specifically mentioned, lithium is a major concern and could be a limiting factor in the right at which with you, my batteries can be produced. and they are exposed to cost at the moment. so, but what i mean is that no hedging mechanism, like you would having something like other large commodity markets, these, especially alex, the chemicals lithium in particular is no 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, the big win some way or margins of 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 hash tag acdc when we do or drop us an email. counting the cost that al jazeera dot net is our address. that is more for you online on al

jazeera dot com slash ctc. that will take you straight to our page, which has individual reports, link setting, tie episode for you to catch up on that is it for this edition of counting because 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 ah the story goes that the statue of an ancient greek god, hidden beneath the waves for millennia, until a palestinian fisherman on earth, the priceless relic. the story continues,

that as the world's attention was drawn to casa mysteriously, the deity disappeared once again. the apollo of casa on a jessia. ah, the u. s. accuse is russia weapon, ising energy, as moscow threatens to cut off gas applies to more european countries. ah, hello, i'm darn jordan. this is al jazeera live from dough are also coming up. i surprise prisoner swap between russia and the u. s. a for my mom.