Shirani Senanayake is trying to send money to the US for her only daughter's education, who is studying for a masters degree in economics at New York. Her daughter needs the money immediately for the current academic session, but Senanayake has not been able to send the US $3,000 from her bank in Colombo. The bank has put her on a waitlist as there is a long queue. The exasperated mother says she is now left with no other option, except to try informal routes to send the money so that her daughter's studies are not disrupted in a faraway land.
Almost every bank in Sri Lanka is facing an acute shortage of foreign currencies while the government has put a ceiling on money that can be sent abroad. Every day, hundreds visit banks in hopes that they will get some US dollars for emergency needs.
The third wave of Covid-19 and the back-to-back lockdowns have put the island nation in a precarious situation. Its foreign reserves are depleting at an alarming rate and the inflow is a trickle compared to the outflow of cash.
The Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led government has introduced food emergency to contain spiralling inflation. The government has put severe restrictions on import of non-essential commodities such as motor vehicles, expensive tyres, flooring tiles, furniture, gadgets, some construction material among others. This has hit already-crumbling businesses hard.
Sri Lanka has a dubious distinction. According to World Bank, it is the only upper middle income group country in the entire South Asia. It has a 100 per cent literacy rate and tops human development indices in other areas. The future was looking bright for Sri Lankans in January 2020. Covid-19 hit the world a month later and life for the country's population turned upside down overnight.
Though the country managed the first wave of Covid-19 well, the second and third waves took a massive toll on the country's economy and social life. The delta variant has ravaged the country, with the latest victim being former foreign and finance minister Mangala Samaraweera.
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