COLOMBO — The UN Tuesday warned of a worsening food crisis
in bankrupt
Sri Lanka and said the number of people needing urgent humanitarian
help had doubled to 3.4 million.
اضافة اعلان
UN agencies had estimated in June that 1.7 million
out of the 22 million population in Sri Lanka required help.
The UN agencies in Colombo in a joint statement said
they had raised $79 million to feed those in need, but the increasing number of
poor people meant they needed an additional $70 million.
“Food insecurity in Sri Lanka has increased
dramatically due to two consecutive seasons of poor harvests, foreign exchange
shortages, and reduced household purchasing power,” the statement said.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since
independence from Britain in 1948 and has been enduring runaway inflation, power
black-outs, and fuel rationing since last year.
The country defaulted on its $51 billion external
debt in mid-April and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a
$2.9 billion bailout.
Months of protests against high prices and shortages
of food and medicines led to the toppling of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in
July.
The UN said its revised plan aims at feeding 2.1
million people, including pregnant mothers and school children and providing
livelihood support to 1.5 million farmers and fishermen.
It also said that the
poverty rate in the South Asian nation has doubled to 25.6 percent this year,
up from 13.1 percent last year.
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