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Sri Lanka Emergency - Operation Update #1, DREF n° MDRLK014

Countries
Sri Lanka
Sources
IFRC
Publication date
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A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the crisis

Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, which has deeply impacted the well-being of its population. Persistent fiscal deficits, a significant 2019 tax cut package, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have made Sri Lanka’s public debt burden unsustainable, while the collapse of tourism and reduction in migrant worker remittances have caused the foreign exchange receipts to plummet. To save its foreign currency reserves, the government limited the import of essential items. This resulted in shortages and sharp price increases for basic commodities like food, cooking gas, fertilizer, fuel and medicines. In March 2022, the Government of Sri Lanka had to declare daily electricity cuts due to the unavailability of imported fuel. The local food production has decreased due to fuel deficit and because the local agriculture has not adopted the chemical fertilizer ban, introduced by the government a year ago. Moreover, the currency has depreciated by 80 per cent, since March 2022, while foreign reserves continued to fall, further damaging the economy. Many households have lost their income or have it considerably reduced.

The profound disruption of the economic system has led to a multidimensional humanitarian crisis compounded by food insecurity, disruption of essential public services (medical, transportation, education), threatened livelihoods, as well as the risk of mass protest resumption. The instability in the country has also driven an increase in international migration through both regular and irregular channels, as well as associated protection concerns including human trafficking. If the crisis persists, the spiralling inflation and persisting shortages of imported vital supplies will lead to further deterioration of humanitarian conditions: mass suffering from malnutrition, increasing number of deaths due to inaccessibility of vital medicines, further loss of livelihoods and wider spread of negative coping mechanisms. Vulnerable groups of the population are particularly pregnant and lactating mothers, children, persons with disabilities, elderly people, and those with chronic illnesses.

Millions of families are facing shortages of food, fuel, cooking gas, essential supplies, and medicines as the humanitarian impacts of the economic crisis continue to multiply. Around 6.7 million people are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and 2.4 million people are already living below the poverty line in despair. With no income, people are barely able to cope with the worsening situation and are now selling their assets, getting into debt, and being forced to cut down on food while many children are not able to go to school. According to World Food Programme (WFP), 86 per cent of households have begun to limit portion sizes or skip meals. Furthermore, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report indicates around one-third of households in rural and urban areas are applying emergency livelihood coping strategies.

Besides that, labour migration to countries in the Gulf and the Middle East is increasing as people seek employment opportunities abroad. According to the Department of Immigration and Emigration, over 300,000 Sri Lankan passports were issued in the first six months of 2022, compared to a total of 382,000 passports issued in the whole of 2021. According to media reports, since May, the Sri Lankan navy has intercepted at least 10 boats at sea, carrying 353 men, women and children leaving Sri Lanka through irregular channels.

The health sector is also being impacted at scale. Around 145,000 women are currently pregnant in Sri Lanka and approximately 60,000 of them will require a Caesarean section. There have been reports that transport challenges due to fuel shortages have prevented pregnant women from reaching a hospital, clinic, or midwife for antenatal services, deliveries, and postnatal care. In addition, about 80 per cent of medical supplies are imported and medicines are in critically low stock. According to OCHA, there are 2,724 vital and essential surgical consumables out of stock. Medical procedures, including emergency surgery, are having to be cancelled. Malnutrition is also worsening and has been exacerbated by the suspension of the free meal programmes since 2021, as well as the change in diets due to the economic crisis, lack of food and cost of living. Since March 2022, SLRCS has recorded over 20 deaths due to protest violence and while waiting in long queues for essential commodities like fuel. During the last 100 days, only at the protest sites in Colombo, SLRCS has treated over 20,000 injuries and provided ambulance transportation to hospitals for about 1,000 people.

Furthermore, protection agencies have monitored an alarming increase of high-risk child protection incidents including cases of sexual assault, physical abuse, and child negligence in Nuwara Eliya, Batticaloa, Moneragala, and Mullaitivu districts. District officials have reported a rise in domestic violence, while acknowledging that these incidents are often underreported, given the limited means to monitor. There has been a 30 per cent increase in women joining the sex industry in Colombo since January, according to the Stand-Up Movement Lanka (SUML), the country’s leading advocacy group for sex workers and many say this is the only way to provide their families with three meals a day.