Janet's Journal

This beautiful island of Sri Lanka is in distress. Its welcoming, smiling people are struggling to survive and it is heartbreaking to see their suffering.  I feel I need to write a short piece about the troubles,  trying not be political but to tell the story as I understand it.

Due to many years of political mismanagement, now exacerbated by Covid 19 and the Ukrainian crisis the country is in dire straits.

A severe foreign exchange shortage, and subsequent devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee has meant there is no money to pay for imports of fuel, gas, food and medicines. The country has now defaulted on its foreign debt reducing its credit rating even lower.

Oil fired power plants have run out of diesel.  There have been scheduled power cuts island wide for more than two months now, sometimes for thirteen hours in a day.  Water levels in the reservoirs supplying the hydro electric plants are perilously low resulting in these generating stations being shut down. Now that the rainy season has started the reservoir levels should improve.

Petrol stations are often closed, if open they have very long queues of vehicles hoping for fuel.  Here, in Negombo as in other coastal areas, the fishing community is very hard hit with boats unable to go to sea due to lack of diesel meaning loss of income and shortage of fish for export as well as for the home market.  Even buses are finding it difficult to get fuel.

Most cooking is done on gas, also in very short supply.  Long queues quickly form each morning at gas depots, with people carrying their empty cylinders desperately trying to get a refill, sometimes queueing for several days in blazing sunshine, or torrential rain before a delivery vehicle comes.  Kerosene has also run out and many people are resorting to using wood fires to cook on.

Many foods are in short supply, prices for basic commodities like rice, bread, dhal have more than doubled and supermarkets are often having to limit the quantities people can buy.

Vital medicines are running out in hospitals and doctors are having to make difficult decisions as to who can have treatment.

Island wide protests are now ongoing as people are desperate to bring about change and relieve their misery. With a couple of exceptions last weekend, the protests are non violent, the police being in sympathy with the people are playing it as low key as they can. 

From the tourism point of view local people are anxious to reassure foreigners that they are safe here.  With the industry finally restarting after two years of the pandemic dismay is setting in as people can see their livelihoods being lost again.