Food Emergency in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is struggling with a food crisis, the pandemic and a crashing economy.

 Food Emergency in Sri Lanka

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• The story: Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency over food shortages on August 31, 2021 after private banks in the country ran out of foreign exchange to finance imports.
• Details: The country is suffering from a big economic crisis, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered emergency regulations to counter the hoarding of sugar, rice and other such essential foods. He also named a top army officer as “Commissioner General of Essential Services to coordinate the supply of paddy, rice, sugar and other consumer goods”. Sharp price rise in sugar, rice, onions and potatoes has made life tough. Shortages of food come as Sri Lanka battles a fierce coronavirus wave, claiming more than 200 lives a day.
• Economy and Forex reserves: The economy of Sri Lanka contracted by 3.6 percent in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic. In March 2020, government also banned imports of vehicles and other items like edible oils and turmeric in order to save foreign exchange. Central Bank of Sri Lanka also increased interest rates in order to shore up the local currency. The forex reserves of Sri Lanka decreased to $2.8 billion as of July, 2021 from $7.5 billion in November 2019. As per data from bank, rupee has lost 20 percent of its value against the US dollar in the same period.
• Pandemic impact: The country successfully handled the first wave covid-19 pandemic. But it failed to handle second and third waves of the pandemic. As of August 2021, Sri Lanka has become the country with fourth-largest daily deaths worldwide by population.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment 

 

 

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