The worst economic crisis in 74 years, the people of Sri Lanka struggled to cope with the storm

Join the line of people queuing in front of a gas station in Minuwangoda city, Sri LankaThusitha Hadaragama hoped to be able to buy a full tank of gas, although gas prices rise is placing a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Mr. Hadaragama said: “I have to work far away, but now gas prices are too high. The price keeps increasing, after 3 months it has doubled“.

Situations like Mr. Hadaragama’s are not unique in Sri Lanka, which is experiencing many difficulties because of Economic Crisis prices of essential goods soar and cause shortages of everything from food to fuel. For the past several weeks, people have had to queue at gas stations for hours, and power cuts have occurred in series.

As the breadwinner of a family of five, Mr. Hadaragama is struggling to make ends meet every day while earning only about Rs 50,000 a month (about VND 4 million). In the past 3 months, the price of essential food items has doubled.

The financial crisis in Sri Lanka has hampered the import of fuel and other necessities from abroad, including milk powder, gas and petrol. (Photo: AP)

The shortage of goods has prompted the Sri Lankan government to deploy troops at petrol stations, after people were killed in a fight to buy gasoline. The lack of USD has made it impossible for the country to buy fuel, affecting most sectors and causing inflation to spike sharply to 17.5% in February. The COVID-19 pandemic raged the world in The past two years have also crippled the tourism sector, making the economic situation in Sri Lanka even more difficult.

After the education industry had to indefinitely postpone tests due to paper shortages, it was the print industry’s turn to be similarly affected. Some Sri Lankan newspapers will temporarily not publish in print, but only have an online version. Other newspapers, if maintained, must reduce the number of pages due to increased printing costs.

Paper shortages are just one of many problems facing Sri Lanka during its worst economic crisis in 74 years. The people of Sri Lanka are currently struggling to cope with an inflationary storm, when the prices of essential goods have increased.

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