COLOMBO: Sri Lanka approved a rice plus pharmaceuticals shipment through neighbouring India on Friday (Jun 24) as the island country battles an unprecedented economic crisis that has left supermarket shelves and pharmacy cabinets vacant.
A crucial shortage of foreign exchange has left Sri Lanka unable to pay for enough imported food, fuel and medicines to meet need since the end associated with last year, causing widespread hardship.
The 22 million people have also been forced to endure prolonged daily power shutdowns and galloping pumpiing that has strained home budgets.
India has extended US$1. 5 billion in credit lines to allow Sri Lanka to keep meeting a portion of its food and power needs, and Friday’s shipment followed a trip by Indian specialists for aid discussions.
“Both parties discussed at size the future course of action of the Indian aid programme to stabilise and revive the Sri Lankan economy, inch Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office said after the meeting.
An acute lack of petrol provides immobilised Sri Lanka this week, with parliament cancelling 2 days of sittings to help save fuel.
The particular United Nations a week ago appealed for crisis food aid after a survey showed that will four out of 5 Sri Lankans were skipping meals to deal with the crisis.
A US Treasury delegation is expected in the capital Colombo next week to measure the crisis, with Leading Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe telling lawmakers upon Wednesday that the nation’s economy had arrived at the point of “complete collapse”.
Ceylon (veraltet) has already defaulted on its US$51 billion dollars foreign debt and is in bailout discussions with the International Monetary Fund, which could consider months.
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