‘Sri Lanka facing terrible time’
AN emotional Jagath Karunaratne says the people of his country of birth, Sri Lanka, are facing a terrible time with the price of food increasing every week as the nation faces its worst economic and political crisis in several decades.
The lawyer and leader of the Freedom Alliance party moved to Fiji more than 20 years ago and is now a Fijian citizen.
“People in Sri Lanka are rising
Media personnel cover an event in Suva on Tuesday, May 03, 2022. Media freedom and democracy are intertwined, says The People’s Alliance party leader Sitiveni Rabuka in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day last week. up from all corners to topple the government,” Mr Karunaratne said.
“I have siblings, relatives and close friends back in Sri Lanka and I’ve been in contact with them.
“People can tolerate anything, but when they don’t have food to eat, no fuel and no gas because the foreign reserves have gone down and they don’t have money to even buy fuel, that’s hitting people hard in the stomach.
“In general, everybody in Sri Lanka is suffering, but where I come from in the mountains where my sisters live and where tea comes from, those communities are not affected, just like Fiji we have fish in the sea and cassava in the garden to sustain us.
“My brother lives in the city. They rely on fuel, and gas and live in apartment buildings. They can’t use firewood. They are ones heavily affected.”
Mr Karunaratne said the price of goods and services had skyrocketed in Sri Lanka.
“Today can be $100, tomorrow $150 and then $200.
“Someone was telling me from Sri Lanka that a one-litre packet of milk costs 1000 Sri Lankan rupees ($6.30).
A couple of weeks ago, it went to 1400 rupees ($8.82) and a week later it’s now 2000 rupees ($12.60).
He said the economic crisis was the culmination of 27 years of civil war, billions of dollars injected into development and other crises followed by bad financial management.