New Delhi: The Sri Lankan parliament convened on Wednesday amid the massive political and economic crisis in the country has warned that the country may be hit with starvation if measures are not taken to contain the ongoing debacle. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana told legislators that more hardships were to come and crippling economic crisis risks starvation across the island nation of 22 million while acute shortages and blackouts will get worse.
The speaker warned that the current problems were the beginning of a major crisis. "If we fail to resolve the issue, it will be considered a failure of parliament," he said. He noted that the debate was taking place at the beginning of the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka's history, and economists had warned that it would escalate further.
The speaker warned that there would be more severe food shortages in the future than the current fuel and electricity shortages, adding that he hoped all parties would work together this week to prevent or partially curb such effects. Speaker Yapa called on all political parties to find a solution within this week by consensus. Sri Lanka has appointed a three-member advisory group to assist government officials engaging with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the president said on Wednesday, according to reports. The responsibilities of the group “of economic and fiscal experts” include providing guidance that will address the present debt crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in a statement quoted by reports.
As for India helping the country, it has delivered two fuel consignments to Sri Lanka in the last 24 hours, India's high commission on the crisis-hit island nation said on Wednesday. India supplied 36,000 tonnes of petrol and 40,000 tonnes of diesel, the high commission said, taking total Indian fuel supplies to Sri Lanka to 270,000 tonnes.
"India’s multi-pronged support to Sri Lanka in 2022 has been to the tune of around USD 2.5 billion. This includes 2 credit lines – USD 1 billion for food, medicine and essential supplies; and USD 500 million for fuel. The first consignment of rice to Sri Lanka under the USD 1 billion credit line is expected to arrive soon. Four consignments of diesel, petrol and aviation fuel have already been delivered under the credit line for fuel. Our endeavour is to create a positive impact on the daily lives of the people of Sri Lanka. Other forms of support were a USD 400 million currency swap and currency support to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka," the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka told ETV Bharat on Tuesday.
