Colombo : As Sri Lanka is suffering from a severe economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday called upon the international community to help Sri Lanka meet the essential requirements of medicines, food supplies, and fuel to overcome the issue. We are presently undergoing a severe economic crisis that has profoundly impacted the lives of all Sri Lankans, resulting in social unrest. We urgently require the assistance of our friends in the international community and I appeal to the other friends of Sri Lanka to also explore the possibility of extending support and solidarity to my country at this very difficult time, said Rajapaksa while addressing the 27th International Conference on Future of Asia (Nikkei) held in Tokyo, Japan via video call, reported the Daily Mirror.Sri Lanka recently defaulted on the entirety of its foreign debt amounting to about USD 51 billion, due to an acute shortage of foreign exchange caused by a fall in tourism during the Covid pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, which have resulted in the country being unable to buy enough fuel, and people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, heating fuel, and gas.
The virtual shutting down of the tourism industry and the sharp decline in inward remittances from expatriate workers due to Covid in the past two years and increasing inflation due to other events combined with Sri Lanka’s high outstanding debt obligations to cause a severe financial crisis, the President said.