Sri Lanka’s prime minister says the United Nations has arranged a worldwide public appeal to help the island nation’s food, agriculture and heath sectors face serious shortages amid its worst economic crises in recent memory, Aljazeera reported.
In his speech to parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the UN plans to provide $48m in assistance over a four-month period. But the projected funds barely scratch the surface of the $6bn the island nation needs to stay afloat over the next six months.
Wickremesinghe said that for the next three weeks, it will be tough to obtain some essentials and urged people to be “united and patient”, to use the scarce supplies as carefully as possible and to avoid nonessential travel.
“Therefore, I urge all citizens to refrain from thinking about hoarding fuel and gas during this period. After those difficult three weeks, we will try to provide fuel and food without further disruptions. Negotiations are under way with various parties to ensure this happens,” Wickremesinghe said.
The Indian Ocean nation of 22 million is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repayment of its foreign loans. Its foreign reserves are almost spent, which has limited imports and caused serious shortages of essentials including food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, according to Aljazeera.
This year, the island is due to repay $7bn of the $25bn in foreign loans it is scheduled to pay by 2026. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt is $51bn.
To tide over the current turmoil, Sri Lanka will need about $3.3bn for fuel imports, $900m for food, $250m for cooking gas and $600m more for fertiliser this year, Wickremesinghe told parliament.
The central bank has estimated the economy will contract by 3.5 percent in 2022, Wickremesinghe said, but added that he was confident growth could return with a strong reform package, debt restructuring and international support.
“Only establishing economic stability is not enough, we have to restructure the entire economy,” said Wickremesinghe, who is working on an interim budget to balance battered public finances, Aljazeera reported.
“We need to achieve economic stability by the end of 2023.”
