Photo: Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFPSource: AFPSri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 as its economy went into a tailspin unprecedented in its history as an independent nation. Photo: ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFPSource: AFPBut the steep cuts to government spending and welfare programmes have exacerbated hardship across the country. An additional four million Sri Lankans had fallen below the poverty line since the crisis began, said Dhananath Fernando, chief executive of the Colombo-based Advocata Institute think-tank. Of those, nearly four million Sri Lankans did not have the means to adequately feed themselves, the United Nations said in June. Photo: Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFPSource: AFPFernando said the figures showed a sharp deterioration in living standards across the country in the past year with no prospect of a quick recovery.

Source: Daily Nation July 06, 2023 03:42 UTC