We Are Going To Die, That Will Happen 100%: SL Man As PM Warns Of
Mumbai: Sri Lanka’s prime minister has warned of food shortages as the island nation grapples with a devastating economic crisis and has promised the government will buy enough fertilizer for the next planting season to boost productivity.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to ban all chemical fertilizers in April last year resulted in a sharp cut in yields and although the government has reversed the ban, there have been no major imports.
“While there may not be time to obtain fertiliser for this Yala (May-August) season, steps are being taken to ensure adequate stocks for the Maha (September-March) season,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a message on Twitter late on Thursday.
“I sincerely urge everyone to accept the gravity of the … situation.”
A long queue formed in front of a shop selling LPG cylinders nearby, whose prices have gone up.
“Only 200 cylinders were delivered, even though there were about 500 people,” said Mohammad Shazli, a part-time driver, who said he stood in line on the third day to be able to cook food for a family of five.
“Without gas, without kerosene, we cannot do anything,” he said. “What’s the last option? Without food, we’re going to die. It would be one hundred per cent.”
Sri Lanka is facing severe shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines, and economic activity has slowed.
The central bank governor said on Thursday that foreign exchange had been secured from World Bank loans and remittances to pay for fuel and cooking gas shipments, but supplies were still at a standstill.
The governor said inflation could rise to 40% over the next few months, but this was mainly driven by supply-side pressures and bank and government measures that were already curbing demand-side inflation.
Inflation hit 29.8% in April, with food prices rising 46.6% year on year.
As anger against the government spread, police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse hundreds of student protesters in Colombo on Thursday. The protesters are demanding the removal of the President and the Prime Minister.
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis comes from the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic with a tourism-dependent economy, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the government of President Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda, who resigned as prime minister last week. Had given. Diya was.
Wickremesinghe, appointed Prime Minister in his place, is accused of being a puppet of the brothers.
Other factors have included heavily subsidised domestic prices of fuel and a decision to ban the import of chemical fertilisers, which devastated the agriculture sector.
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