Apr 11
Why Sri Lanka Needs Your Help
Sri Lanka is currently facing one of its worst-ever economic crises. My country is no stranger to tribulations, we have consistently kept our heads held high during times of civil war, tsunamis, Easter bombings, etc. However, we as people have decided that we cannot just stand around and watch our own country’s demise.
Foreign Debt
Sri Lanka has been facing daily power cuts, shortages of fuel and gas as well as pharmaceuticals, but how did it get this bad? The island has over $12.55 billion in foreign debt which the country just simply cannot payback. However, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry (one of its highest-earning industries) took a major hit during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst tourism managed to pick back up slightly in the recent past, it may take a huge hit again due to the current crisis. In addition, many other sectors that contribute significantly to the country’s GDP have also faced reductions in their output due to constant power cuts and the inability to run generators to the lack of fuel.
Multitude of shortages
The government’s choice to print large over 1.2 trillion rupees in 2021 was one of the major reasons for the current inflation rate rising to 18.7%, resulting in staggering price hikes rendering people unable to afford even the bare essentials. Moreover, people have waited in queues for hours and even days to get their hands on fuel and gas, sometimes to no avail, this has led to people collapsing and ultimately succumbing to their death. Furthermore, there have been shortages of essential pharmaceuticals which is, unfortunately, leading to the deaths of people, something for which they could have easily been cured of a few weeks ago.
This crisis has affected nearly every single Sri Lankan and we are tired of having our livelihoods completely snatched from us. We are not asking for a lot, we simply want to have the essentials at least. As a result, there have been numerous daily protests for the past weeks in the country, with people demanding that the current President step down from his position. This has nothing to do with politics and which party, people have voted for in the past, however, this has everything to do with human rights, and as citizens of the country, it is our right to express our dissatisfaction with those in power. We as people would like to return to a time when whenever we googled “Sri Lanka” we didn’t see heaps of articles on hardship and suffering but us being a persevering nation and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.
How you can help
Sharing this knowledge with others so that we may bring this issue to the attention of others is vital. In addition, there is a GoFundMe link below to help support the current crisis, please donate if possible.
