To make matters worse, Sri Lanka is also running low on 14 essential medicines and is facing food crisis due to shortage of fertilizers during the May-August planting season. President Gotabaya’s drastic measure to ban the use of chemical fertilizers has exacerbated the problem.
“I really urge everyone to accept the gravity of the current situation,” said the prime minister who took office in mid-May.
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Analysts said the worsening situation is the result of long-standing state mismanagement, made worse in recent years by the Covid-19 pandemic that hit its tourism industry hard. (un)