Power outage over 10 hours Actual situation of Sri Lanka economic crisis April 18, 16:24

The electric fan does not work even on tropical nights close to 30 degrees.

In a pitch-black workplace, the only light is the light of the smartphone.

I can't buy gasoline even if I line up for 5 days.

This is the reality that is happening in Sri Lanka, a country that is in a state of energy crisis and economic turmoil.

What I saw in the local interview was the life of the citizens who were cornered to the extent that they called the country they live in a "sunken ship."

(Keita Kage, Directorate General of Asia)

A country that buys oil with tea

It was already witnessed at the airport.

In early March, she arrived at an airport in Sri Lanka and bought a local SIM card for her cell phone.

She was asked to pay the fee in dollars, but the change was a Sri Lankan rupee banknote.

"I don't have any dollars on hand," said a male salesperson, who realized the major problems facing the country's economy.

There is a sharp shortage of foreign currency.

Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia known for its tea and tourism.

It was December last year that I felt that the economy was in an unusual state.

"We have agreed to give away the specialty tea to pay for the purchase of oil."

An unusual announcement to allow de facto bartering with Iran.

I understand that the whole country is suffering from a shortage of foreign currency.

According to a survey, the balance of foreign currency reserves at the end of last year was about $ 2.7 billion, a decrease of 46% in one year, almost halving.

It is estimated that there is only enough foreign currency left to be used for one month's imports.

Although the economic scale is different, the balance of foreign currency reserves in Japan at the end of last year is about 1.4 trillion dollars, so it is only about 1/500 of that.

While Sri Lanka has long imported much of energy and food, there are few pillars of exports, and the current account balance, which indicates international economic transactions, has been in the red.

The situation was to rely on foreign tourists as a means of earning foreign currency, but Corona was hit directly there.

Foreign tourists for the last year fell to less than one-tenth of the peak, and foreign currencies fell sharply.

There is no oil!

There is no gas!

Energy has had a major impact.

We are importing oil from overseas for power generation and fuel, but due to a shortage of foreign currency, payments cannot be made as usual.

The first time I saw an interview in Colombo, the largest city, was a long line of cars and people lined up at gas stations.

Dozens of cars are lining up all over the city.

Many people are sitting in the plastic tanks they bring for refueling, waiting for gasoline or light oil, which may arrive at any time.

A school bus driver lined up in a row at a gas station in the suburbs lamented:

"I've been waiting for five days, but I can't refuel yet."

Gas imports have also stagnated.

Bread stores in Colombo have been forced to close due to lack of gas to run the oven.

According to the owner, the price of cooking gas has more than tripled.

It was reported locally that more than 1,000 bakeries were closed in Japan due to lack of gas.

Even in this store, the shelves where bread should be lined up are empty, and there is no hope of resuming business.

Bread shop owner

"No one can control the price of gas, and to be honest, I'm very angry. The business collapsed and I lost everything."

The workplace is pitch black

Power generation, which is indispensable for daily life, is also seriously affected.

Due to lack of fuel, the government decided to implement rolling blackouts from late February.

Initially, the maximum power outage was seven and a half hours a day, but it has worsened since late March, reaching more than 10 hours a day.

The time when the electricity was turned off was announced by region the evening before, but it rarely started exactly, which was annoying to the residents.

In early March, when I interviewed him locally, the electricity stopped at around 7:30 pm in the suburbs of Colombo.

Not only the lights of the store but also the lights of the traffic lights go out.

A male general store clerk started cleaning up the store, relying on the light of his smartphone.

At a company that produces videos and advertisements, a power outage started while working with a personal computer.

The lights in the room went out, and the office room, which doubles as a studio and had no windows, went black.

Only the screen of one computer with a power supply to protect the data is shining.

If you save the data in a hurry and turn off the computer, the darkness will cover the entire room.

Although the company has just been established, he says he cannot undertake new work because there is a risk that the delivery date may not be met due to a power outage.

An employee of a production company

"I have to work for at least 6 hours in a row, but I can't do that because of a power outage. I'm messed up not only in my work but also in my life, and I have no hope for the future anymore."

50% currency depreciation in a month

The economic turmoil has spread to the depreciation of the currency, and the currency Sri Lankan rupee has plummeted.

It was around 200 rupees per dollar in early March, but it became 300 rupees per dollar in early April, and it is facing a 50% drop in price in a month.

At a souvenir shop in Colombo, he was told, "If you pay in dollars, you will get a special price."

The driver of the three-wheeled taxi was in a situation where he said, "You can pay in Japanese yen."

It is said that the value of a currency is made up of credit, but currencies whose credit from the people is also swaying continue to be sold at a tremendous speed.

Inflation accelerated due to a shortage of foreign currency, a shortage of goods, and a depreciation of the currency, and the rate of increase in consumer prices reached 17.5% in February.

It is expected to rise further after March.

I can't keep riding the "sinking ship"

The victims of the economic turmoil are the citizens who live there.

A man who runs a specialty tea plantation has revealed that he is going to work in the Middle East to support his household.

In the current economic situation, he says that the only way to live is to get out of his home country.

This is because the deficit is swelling enough to make tea leaves due to rapid inflation.

The biggest impact is the rise in the price of fertilizer, which is indispensable for cultivation, and the price of imported fertilizer is said to have risen about five times compared to a year ago.

Men have given up growing tea leaves on their newly purchased farmland and left them alone.

All that remained was the loan and the saplings that were supposed to be planted.

The saplings are placed in the garden and begin to die, conveying the magnitude of despair that men face.

The man likened the state of the country to a ship.

"I can't keep on the sinking ship, so I have to get out."

The Immigration Bureau in the capital now has a long line of people seeking passports to go abroad to work.

Seeing people line up outside the premises shows that economic turmoil is robbing many citizens of even the bare minimum of living.

It's no wonder that more and more people think that if power outages suddenly start, the value of assets continues to decline due to rapid inflation, and every day when even daily necessities are not available, there is no choice but to get out of the spot.

Also for issues in the international community

There is concern that the situation will be exacerbated by rising global inflationary pressures against the backdrop of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.

On April 12, the government announced that it had stopped repayment of some of its public debt and called on the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to formulate plans and provide financial support for economic recovery.

China is strengthening its involvement in Sri Lanka through loans for infrastructure construction, and is also consulting to review debt repayment conditions this time.

There is also a deep-rooted concern that China will take this opportunity to become even more influential and the situation known as a "debt trap" will deepen.

In the future, where and how to support Sri Lanka has become an issue for the international community.

Directorate-general of Asia

Keita Kage Joined

in 2005 In charge of financial and financial coverage at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Directorate-general of Asia from summer