Report
Sri Lanka: shortages, which hit the poorest, worsen further
Audio 01:30
Tuk tuk drivers queue for petrol in Colombo, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Shortages are hitting all sectors of the Indian Ocean island's economy.
© Jelena Tomic / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Sri Lanka is hit by an unprecedented economic crisis.
Over-indebted and very dependent on the outside - the Prime Minister has just taken over the portfolio of Minister of Finance - the country is starting to lack everything.
Shortages of gas, medicine, food and fuel, the list of deprivations grows longer every day, as do the queues in front of gas stations.
In Colombo, the poorest are struggling to make ends meet, but solidarity is being organized.
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With our special correspondent in Colombo
,
Yelena Tomitch
In front of each service station it's the same scenario.
Endless queues.
Dozens of tuk tuk drivers patiently push their vehicles as the line advances.
Fuel is rationed.
The tuks tuks are entitled to a maximum of 6L of gasoline for around 2500 Rp, or more than 6 euros.
It's a fortune for Nuhan.
"
It's very difficult, sometimes I manage to earn 3000 Rupees, other days 1000 Rupees or nothing at all
", says this driver who has been waiting to fill up since 5am.
“
I work, then I spend everything on rice and fuel.
1 kg of local rice costs 250 rupees.
Vegetables or lentils, we eat them sometimes, but there are days when we have nothing to eat
”.
12h to refuel
In this central district of the capital, some residents are trying to alleviate the plight of the poorest in the face of the crisis.
“
Poor people, they have sometimes waited more than 12 hours and even up to 24 hours to fill up.
In general, the tuk tuk is their only means of subsistence and no one cares about their fate
”, describes Mohamed, who collects funds to provide meals to the poorest.
“We distributed meals in front of a gas station for everyone who was in the queue.
We have friends abroad who participated in a fundraiser, it allowed us to buy rice, biscuits, water, meals.
We want to help these people, we don't want to see them suffer.
»
Shortages have led to looting in recent days.
Service station managers have been attacked by angry drivers.
Soldiers now stand guard in front of certain critical stations in the capital.
► To read also: Sri Lanka: the inhabitants of the island increasingly exhausted by the crisis
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe takes over the finance portfolio
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was entrusted with the crucial finance ministry on Wednesday May 25: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office announced that Mr. Wickremesinghe had been sworn in as finance minister, two weeks after being asked to form a "unity government" following the resignation of his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Wednesday's appointment ends two weeks of contention among coalition partners over the key post in Sri Lanka's talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a possible bailout, political sources say. AFP.
"The president's party wanted the finance portfolio, but the prime minister (Mr. Wickremesinghe) insisted on keeping it if he wanted to lead the country out of economic chaos," said a politician involved in the process.
For lack of foreign currency, the island state in default of payment on its external debt of 51 billion dollars can no longer finance its imports.
(AFP)
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Sri Lanka
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Economic crisis