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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka is struggling to prevent a repeat of its economic collapse four years ago, as the prolonged Middle East war compounds the fallout from a deadly cyclone<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has rationed fuel, raised its price<\/a> by a third and increased electricity costs<\/a> by up to 40 percent since the war began disrupting global energy supplies.<\/p>\n Panic buying fuel in Sri Lanka has brought back memories of 2022, when the economy tanked, with inflation hitting 70 per cent after Colombo defaulted on its US$46 billion external debt.<\/p>\n The accompanying protests toppled the once-powerful president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was accused of mismanagement and corruption.<\/p>\n But the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) that led the “Aragalaya”, or struggle, that ousted Rajapaksa has warned that Dissanayake’s administration may be facing an implosion.<\/p>\n “We believe that a response to this economic crisis will come politically,” FSP politburo member Duminda Nagamuwa told AFP.<\/p>\n “Because of the strength of the (government’s) mandate, this economic shock is still being absorbed by the people without exploding politically,” he said.<\/p>\n Dissanayake’s leftist JVP, or the People’s Liberation Front, won a two-thirds majority at the November 2024 parliamentary elections after his own victory two months earlier in the presidential poll.<\/p>\n A vendor at Colombo’s Pettah night market, Wasantha Jayalath, 55, said he voted for Dissanayake in 2024 hoping for better times, but felt the situation was getting worse.<\/p>\n “We voted … thinking that a good, self-sufficient era would dawn for our country,” Jayalath told AFP. “There is no such situation; instead, what we realise is that the country is going further into an abyss.”<\/p>\n A trader at the capital’s main wholesale market, Priyantha Sudharshana Silva, 53, is not blaming the administration for the crisis.<\/p>\n “Protesting won’t help because the country is already in a difficult position,” Silva told AFP. “We believe that moving forward, even with these difficulties, is a significant achievement.”<\/p>\n Human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka said protests have been subdued because people are preoccupied with the day-to-day challenge of securing supplies.<\/p>\n Fuel rationing has shortened queues, but on Thursday, the government began limiting water supply hours to conserve reserves and save pumping costs.<\/p>\n “Compared to what we had in 2022… you’re not seeing that level of protest,” Fonseka told AFP. “Sri Lanka was just coming out of another disaster – Cyclone Ditwah – and the government imposed a state of emergency to deal with that.”<\/p>\n Fonseka said the wide powers that emergency laws give the authorities to arrest and detain suspects could be used to stifle any popular protests, raising serious concerns for rights activists.<\/p>\n “We are in a situation where … laws that are in place, and the way they are being used, raise the question of whether rights could be further eroded in the coming weeks and months,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cyclone Ditwah, the worst disaster since the 2004 Asian tsunami, killed 641 people and affected almost the entire country late last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The cyclone, which triggered floods and mudslides, caused an estimated US$4.1 billion in damage, according to the World Bank.<\/p>\n The government announced plans in December for 500 billion rupees (US$1.6 billion) in extra spending to fund the country’s recovery.<\/p>\n The money will be used to rebuild devastated homes, roads, bridges and railways, as well as for cash handouts to help people regain lost livelihoods.<\/p>\n Colombo also secured US$206 million in emergency financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December to deal with the aftermath of the disaster.<\/p>\n An IMF delegation is currently in Sri Lanka to review its four-year US$2.9 billion bailout loan before releasing a US$700 million instalment.<\/p>\n Sri Lankan authorities have said they may ask the IMF to modify the loan’s austerity conditions, given the country’s worsening economic circumstances due to external factors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n“INTO AN ABYSS”<\/h2>\n
STATE OF EMERGENCY<\/h2>\n
DEADLY CYCLONE<\/h2>\n