Category: News

Velu Anna Lechchami, 49, from Ratnapura village, about 100km (62 miles) from Sri Lanka’s main city of Colombo, is thankful for the smallest job she gets.

If she or her husband find work to clean, cook, or pluck tea leaves, they will be able to put food on the table that day. But with a catastrophic economic crisis in Sri Lanka, work is scarce and if they find something to do, getting to work is another challenge.

Sri Lanka restricted the sale of fuel on Monday, providing it only for essential services till July 10. The desperate move was taken as the island nation has run short of foreign currency to buy fuel.

For Lechchami, this means less work. There are days she just survives on a cup of plain tea with some sugar. On other days, she survives by boiling the jackfruit offered by her neighbour.

“There is no other option for us. We must work to buy food for the day. We are trying to survive. There is nothing else to do,” she told Al Jazeera.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years, with its economy shrinking by 1.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to official data.

The country has defaulted on its $51bn foreign debt and is now holding bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Inflation hit a record 45.3 percent last month while the rupee depreciated more than 50 percent against the dollar this year. The shortage of foreign currency required to import fuel, fertiliser and other essentials has had a devastating effect on the country’s economy.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament last week the country was facing a record recession.

Protesters have been demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the government’s handling of the crisis for months. The other two powerful Rajapaksas – Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa – have resigned.

‘We are done for’

The economic crisis has forced people across the island to stay in queues for days to buy essential goods such as fuel and cooking gas.

Security officials have been deployed at fuel stations to control the crowds.

In a bid to end the fuel crisis, power and energy minister Kanchana Wijesekara on Tuesday tweeted the government will allow import and retail sale of fuel to companies from the oil-producing nations.

Authorities also introduced a token system this week to stop people from queueing at filling stations. However, it has caused more chaos.

Kadireshan Selvachandran, 35, an autorickshaw driver working in Colombo, has been in a line to buy fuel for three days. He spent the last two nights in his vehicle, hoping he would be able to buy enough fuel to last a day. He did not get the token.

“We are done for. Now they say only essential services will be given fuel for the next 13 days. We are doing essential services too, we feed our children,” he said.

Selvachandran is determined not to leave the queue till he gets fuel.

Experts say the talks with the IMF could result in some drastic and deep-reaching structural reforms.

Political analyst Dr Aruna Kulatunga told Al Jazeera some of these reforms may include removing the duopoly in the energy sector, ending import restrictions, increasing income and indirect taxation and privatisation or selling of unproductive “white elephant” state-owned enterprises.

A repealing of the Paddy Lands Act, which bars development and even other agricultural work in abandoned paddy lands, is also on the table along with the transfer of non-productive state-owned lands to farmers and former estate workers, he said.

“This is a double-edged sword. On one side one can assume serious job losses while on the other hand, deep-reaching social reforms like land redistribution and allowing productive use of abandoned paddy lands will increase the bottom lines for many of the marginally affected people,” Kulatunga told Al Jazeera.

For Lechchami from Ratnapura, however, it is a long wait while having three meals a day has “become a luxury” for her. Experts warn that one of the long-term effects of the economic crisis could be chronic malnutrition for generations to come.

The United Nations World Food Programme says 22 percent of Sri Lanka’s population is “food insecure and in need of assistance”. The country’s Medical Research Institute (MRI) has launched a survey to look into the malnutrition status of the people.

“Malnutrition in the pre-economic period was high. Now with the economic crisis, it will definitely go up,” Dr Renuka Jayatissa, a nutritionist at MRI, told Al Jazeera.

Lechchami says the cost of most food has tripled from what she paid last year. The longer the government takes to ease the crisis, the worse it will get for her family.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

As much as India has been supportive towards Sri Lanka and doing its best to help the nation, The Indian Government needs to also pressurize for a provincial council election to be held so that the opinion of the people is made known, says Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Mano Ganesan.

He made this statement while speaking to the media today (29).

“As much as an election must be pushed forward for, due to the lack of funds, the Indian government and other nations must support financially for an election to be held. The other nations of the world are reluctant to help Sri Lanka at the moment as the credibility has been lost by the Government of Sri Lanka. The international community has lost trust with the President of Sri Lanka as well. The might have not openly stated it, but this is the fact. Thus, right now an election is needed,” said MP Ganesan.

He further mentioned that despite the voices of the people being loud and clear, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has refused to step down, thus an election was the only way forward so that the President can be ousted.

Prime Minister’s advisior Sagala Ratnayake today said that a Diesel shipment containing 30,000 metric tons was due between July 11-15 and a Petrol shipment from India is due by July 22 although the government is trying to source a Petrol shipment by July 10.

Speaking at a media discussion at the Prime Minister’s Office he said only 11,000 MT of diesel, 30,000 MT of furnace oil, 800 MT of jet fuel and 5,000 MT of petrol are available at the CPC storages.

He said that a Petrol shipment is expected to arrive by July 22 from India and no permanent order has been placed before that. However he said the CPC has strong connections with a network of suppliers around the world and they were trying to secure a shipment before that. He elaborated that there was a high demand for fuel in the international market and it was one reason for the delay in securing a new shipment.

He said that 38,000 MT of diesel would be received between July 11 and 15.

Therefore, the existing diesel stocks will only be available for essential services, until the new shipment reaches the country.

There will be no issue with domestic gas supply by next month, as Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. will procure 100,000 MT of gas stock for the next four months. Another 33,000 MT of gas shipments will arrive in the country on July 6, 10, 16, 19, 21 and 31.

He said that Domestic gas will be distributed on a priority basis and the first three days after receiving the shipment on July 6 will be for the delivery of LP gas to Colombo. Thereafter necessary distribution mechanisms have been put in place to deliver domestic gas around the country in an uninterrupted manner

The ‘One Day Service’ for issuing of passports will commence in three more districts from next Monday (June 04), according to Minister Dhammika Perera.

Accordingly, the One Day Service will also be carried out at the Immigration and Emigration Department’s regional offices at Kandy, Matara and Vavuniya from Monday, he said.

Hitherto passports were issued through the one-day service for urgent needs clients only at the Head Office of the Department of Immigration and Emigration at “Suhurupaya” in Battaramulla.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the crisis in Sri Lanka at the G-7 summit in Germany.

Modi was quoted as saying that India is helping Sri Lanka to ensure food security.

“We have dispatched about 35,000 tonnes of wheat as humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in the last few months. And even after the heavy earthquake there, India was the first country to deliver relief materials. We are also helping our neighbour Sri Lanka to ensure food security,” the Indian Prime Minister pointed out, according to the Press Trust of India.

Underlining that rising prices of energy and food grains are affecting all countries amid global tension, Prime Minister Modi suggested that for ensuring food security the focus should be on fertilisers’ availability, structured system for use of Indian agricultural talent, nutritious alternatives like millets and natural farming.

In an apparent reference to the Ukraine crisis, Modi noted that the G-7 and those invited at its summit were meeting amid an atmosphere of global tension and asserted that India has always been in favour of peace.

“Even in the present situation, we have constantly urged for the path of dialogue and diplomacy. The impact of this geopolitical tension is not just limited to Europe. The rising prices of energy and food grains are affecting all the countries,” he said in his remarks at the session on Stronger Together: Addressing Food Security and Advancing Gender Equality’ at the G-7 Summit.

Putting forward his suggestions on the subject of global food security, Modi said the focus should be on the availability of fertilizers, and keeping the value chains of fertilizers smooth at a global scale.

Source: Colombo Gazette