COLOMBO, Sept 19 (Askume) – Sri Lankan housewife Lankika Dilrukshi said she was tired of the daily struggle to raise her children. On Saturday, she will vote in a presidential election she believes is crucial to ensuring a better future for her and her country.
In 2022, the island nation’s economy was mired in its worst financial crisis in decades, and 31-year-old Dilrukshi was one of millions struggling to make ends meet.
He said, “Life has become very difficult and we need change. We need a leader who works for the poor.”
Economic reforms are at the centre of a three-way electoral battle between President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake .
All three candidates are frontrunners and have promised new strategies to save the economy, reduce taxes and support businesses.
Umesh Moramudali, professor of economics at the University of Colombo, said Sri Lanka’s poor and middle class want equitable economic reforms to support their aspirations.
“Poor people are really struggling. High prices, especially high food prices, hurt them the most,” he said.
Although inflation slowed to 0.5% last month and gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow 3% in 2024, the recovery for the first time in three years is slow and its impact has yet to be felt.
The economic crisis in 2022 has caused heavy losses for Sri Lankans and a severe shortage of foreign currency, compounding the problems caused by the pandemic.
Inflation rose to 70%, the rupee devalued by 45%, and the economy shrank by 7.3%, forcing the government to seek bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund.
The latest government figures show that by 2023, 7 million people – almost a third of the population – will be considered poor.
Data from 10,000 households collected by Colombo-based think tank LIRNEasia shows that nearly half of households will limit their food intake by mid-2023.
As food insecurity rises, so does child undernutrition, with the number of children suffering from stunting rising from 12% in 2021 to over 17% in 2023.
Burdened by new taxes and low-paying jobs, migration has accelerated. According to government data, more than 600,000 people have left the country for work in the past two years, while the number was 122,264 in 2021.
Nancy Hemalatha, a 61-year-old fruit seller who borrowed 150,000 rupees ($495) for her business, said she was left with only 2,000 rupees per day after repaying the loan.
“My two youngest sons want to migrate. That is their focus now,” Hemalatha said.
For Dilrukshi, a housewife whose husband, a labourer, earns about 2,500 rupees ($8) a day, frugality is the only way to survive.
She doesn’t eat chicken or fish and borrows small amounts of money from neighbours to raise money for her 13-year-old daughter’s school fees.
She said, “I want everyone to have a better future…so that my daughter can become a doctor.”
(1 USD = 303.2500 Sri Lankan Rupee)
