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Highlights
- Sri Lanka’s benchmark inflation fee accelerated to 14 per cent in December 2021
- Meals costs jumped 6.3 per cent whereas non-food costs rose 1.3 per cent in December
- The billion-dollar mortgage credit score facility is for use to avert a meals disaster
Sri Lanka’s benchmark inflation fee, measured by the Nationwide Shopper Worth Index, accelerated to 14 per cent in December 2021, up from 11.1 per cent, the federal government statistics workplace mentioned on Saturday, amidst a extreme a overseas alternate disaster.This was for the second consecutive month after inflation recorded double digit progress for the primary time in November because the index got here to be compiled from 2014.
Meals costs jumped 6.3 per cent whereas non-food costs rose 1.3 per cent in December, based on the Nationwide Shopper Worth Index.
“The meals sub-index was up 21.5 per cent in 12 months to December 2021, whereas non-foods additionally rose 7.6 per cent within the months,” the statistics workplace mentioned in an announcement.
As quickly because the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, the federal government imposed import restrictions to attempt to cease dwindling of overseas reserves. Sri Lanka presently banks on the Indian financial help with credit score traces being made accessible to finance gasoline and meals imports.
The island nation is presently dealing with a extreme overseas alternate disaster with falling reserves. The nation is grappling with a scarcity of just about all necessities as a result of lack of {dollars} to pay for the imports. Moreover, energy cuts are imposed at peak hours because the state energy entity is unable to acquire gasoline to run generators.
The state gasoline entity has stopped oil provides because the electrical energy board has giant unpaid payments. The one refinery was just lately shut because it was unable to pay {dollars} for crude imports. Early this month, the Indian authorities introduced a billion-dollar help bundle along with different steadiness of cost help to Sri Lanka.
The billion-dollar mortgage credit score facility is for use to avert a meals disaster whereas permitting for the import of things and medicines. Moreover, there shall be USD 500 million for importing gasoline from India.
The Sri Lankan authorities can be in talks with China to beat the present monetary disaster. Throughout the go to of Chinese language Foriegn Minister Wang Yi to Colombo earlier this month, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa requested Beijing’s help in mitigating his nation’s deepening foreign exchange disaster and spiralling exterior debt, saying it’ll assist Colombo to the most effective of its capability.
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