News

FRC forecasts higher ratio of Lankans requiring humanitarian assistance

Published

3 years ago

2022/12/30

An estimated 5.7 million people (26 per cent of the population) or more are now in need of humanitarian assistance, with at least 4.9 million (22 per cent) being food insecure, a situation report by International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said.

The report issued on December 28 said the current crisis in Sri Lanka is affecting all sectors of society and has created the conditions for increased vulnerability, poverty and destitution among a significant proportion of the population.

“In 2021, approximately 2.4 million people (11 per cent of the total population) fell below the international poverty line for lower-middle-income countries. Significantly more poor households than non-poor households have lost more than half of their income since the crisis. People are now selling their assets, becoming indebted and cutting down on food, and their children are less likely to attend school,” the report said.

IFRC said that population groups with existing vulnerabilities are most sensitive to the impacts of the crisis. These include children, pregnant and lactating women, people with disabilities (PWD), female-headed households, migrants, refugees and marginalised ethnic and religious groups. Support for PWD, the elderly, and others with special needs has decreased, making these populations even more vulnerable, the report said.

“Further groups have become vulnerable due to ongoing food insecurity. These include informal daily wage earners, minimum wage earners (employed in certain industries – tourism, construction and other services), single female-headed households with dependent children, families with multiple children below five years old, low-income households including the elderly, households with members with chronic illnesses

or disabilities, and disadvantaged farmers who have halted basic agricultural activities. Outbound migration is increasing, impacting the retention of skilled labour from the country and putting children of absent parents at risk of neglect,” IFRC said.

Given below are excerpts of the report: “Inflation rates have risen sharply thereafter, and the government became unable to import essential commodities, including fuel, which further increased shortages, adding to the surge in inflation. In January 2022, 10,000 LKR was equivalent to 50 USD but by September it was only 27 USD. For consumers, typically this means higher prices for imported goods, fresh pressure on energy costs, and higher loan repayments. Encouragingly, there are signs that the inflation rate is slowly dropping (year-on-year inflation for November was 61 per cent, down from 66 per cent in October and a high of 69.8 per cent in September. This is also reflected in the slight decrease in food inflation (85.6 per cent compared with a peak of 94.9 per cent in September).

“The emerging crisis led to country-wide civil unrest. Following mass protests, which started in March 2022, a new government was installed in May, and the country’s president was replaced in July. To help ensure support from the International Monetary Fund, the new government raised taxes to offset the external debt, adding to the economic burden, including that faced by the most vulnerable.

“What had started as a fiscal macro-economic crisis is now creating profound impacts at the micro-level, with an unfolding humanitarian emergency, in which millions of people are experiencing widespread, acute and increasingly chronic shortages of food, fuel, cooking gas and health services including medicines. Unprecedented food inflation has led to a spike in food insecurity, with rising concerns about malnutrition, especially among children under five years of age, pregnant women, and lactating mothers’ services and continued access to treatment of non-communicable diseases.

The latest humanitarian assessments confirm that the poverty rate has accelerated since the start of the current crisis. Food inflation reached a record high in September at 94.9 per cent. In its latest assessment in November, the World Bank ranked Sri Lanka as having the world’s sixth-highest food inflation.”

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News

Implementation of water supply projects in small town and rural areas.

Published

6 hours ago

2026/06/3

Priyan

Access to safe drinking water for populations residing in small towns and rural areas of Sri Lanka has not yet been fully ensured, and this continues to pose a major challenge to the country’s social and economic development.

With a view to overcome this situation, a programme has been planned to provide clean drinking water to approximately 600,000 families living in semi-urban and rural areas through the implementation of 300 projects covering 50 small towns and rural areas.

The projects are aimed at establishing safe, reliable and sustainable drinking water supply systems, with water to be treated through modern purification technologies, including chlorination and filtration systems, in conformity with national and international drinking water standards.

Accordingly, having considered the resolution furnished by the Minister of Housing, Construction and Water Supply, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the implementation of the proposed programme by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the National Community Water Supply Department during the period 2027–2029, subject to the conduct of a feasibility study on the proposed programme and inclusion in the Public Investment Programme based on its outcome.

News

Cabinet nod to submit Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 04 of 2026 to Parliament for its concurrence

Published

7 hours ago

2026/06/3

Priyan

Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which are chemical compounds widely used in refrigerators and air conditioning units, are being globally phased out under the Montreal Protocol due to their high potential for ozone layer depletion and global warming.

Sri Lanka has likewise committed to phasing out these chemical substances by the year 2030 in a stepwise manner. Accordingly,
regulations under the Import and Export (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969, namely the Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 04 of 2026, published in Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2487/29 dated 2026-05-07, have been issued, prohibiting, with effect from 2026-06-06, the importation of equipment and appliances that operate solely on hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and prohibiting, with effect from 2028-01-01, the importation of compressors used as components in refrigeration systems of equipment and appliances that operate solely on hydrochlorofluorocarbons.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as
the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to submit the aforementioned Regulations to Parliament for its concurrence.

News

Declaration of Elephant Migratory Corridors to minimize HEC in Monaragala and Hambantota districts

Published

7 hours ago

2026/06/3

Priyan

Wild elephants inhabit approximately two-thirds of the land area of Sri Lanka, and it has been identified that the rapid obstruction of elephant habitats and migratory corridors due to various development projects and human activities has directly contributed to the escalation of human–elephant conflict.

It has been recognised that, in order to mitigate such conflict to a certain extent, the protection of wild elephant habitats and migratory corridors must be undertaken as a matter of urgency.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation is currently engaged in identifying wild elephant migratory corridors in collaboration with relevant Divisional Secretaries, stakeholder agencies, and organisations.

Under the Wild Elephant Migratory Corridor Identification Programme in Monaragala District, the Wild Elephant Migratory Corridor from Handapanagala to Demodara
across Menik Ganga (River Menik) up to Yala National Park has been identified, and approval has been granted by the Monaragala District Coordinating Committee for that.

The Elephant Migratory Corridor from Yala National Park’s Zone VI -Lunugamvehera National Park to Udawalawe National Park has already been declared as the Wetahira Kanda Nature Reserve in 2002.

Within this area, five (05) licensed land plots have been identified, and these lands have not yet been developed.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Environment to take the following measures:

To declare, under the provisions of the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, the elephant migratory corridor from Handapanagala in Monaragala District to Demodara across Menik Ganga up to Yala National Park as a sanctuary.

To provide alternative land outside the wildlife reserve area in lieu of the five (05) licensed land plots located within the Wetahira Kanda Nature Reserve area, and to re-declare the Wetahira Kanda Nature Reserve as an elephant migratory corridor.

To acquire, upon payment of compensation, land parcels containing buildings constructed in a manner that obstruct the Koholankala elephant corridor in the Hambantota District, and to declare the relevant area of the Hambantota Wild Elephant Management Reserve as a sanctuary.