The government cabinet has already approved a proposal that around one million civil servants should be given furloughs every Friday for the next three months. Among other things, because the lack of fuel makes commuting more difficult – but also to prevent a food crisis and to encourage them to farm.
“It seems appropriate to give government officials a day off from work so that they can engage in farming activities in their backyards or elsewhere to address the anticipated food shortages,” the Department of Government Information wrote on its website on Tuesday. Salary should not be reduced during this time.
The shorter week will also benefit workers who have been hit by the power outages and traffic disruptions caused by food and gas shortages, the government hopes. Employees in hospitals and ports as well as in energy and water supply who work in the area of ”essential services” are exempt from the four-day week.
Severe economic crisis follows hunger crisis
Above all, the drastic lack of foreign currency poses a challenge to Sri Lanka’s supply. Essential imports of fuel, food and medicine can no longer be paid for. The devaluation of the currency, rising commodity prices worldwide and the ban on chemical fertilizers, which has since been lifted, caused food inflation to rise to 57 percent in April.
Sri Lanka had previously been on a good development path for ten years and did not need UN humanitarian aid. According to the United Nations, the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka since independence in 1948 is now exacerbating the looming hunger crisis. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has already published an urgent international appeal and asked for donations totaling 47 million dollars (around 44 million euros).
After the import ban on chemical fertilizers last year, only half as much might be harvested as before, said a representative of the UN Agricultural Organization (FAO), who was connected via video from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. According to the UN, the high world market prices for grain, which have risen sharply as a result of the Russian war of aggression once morest Ukraine, are also exacerbating the situation.
Too little own land and fertilizers
According to CNN reports, critics of the government doubt that the introduction of a four-day week can actually change anything regarding the catastrophic situation, since most civil servants live far from Colombo and commute by public transport. In addition, very few people own land on which they can grow food.
Although the fertilizer import ban has since been revised, a group of farming experts also believe most fertilizers will arrive too late for the next crop cycle. It is feared that the nutrient requirements of the main crops rice, tea and maize will not be covered in the next season. As early as last month, the government appealed to Sri Lankan farmers to plant more rice, as there were already signs of a decline in production.
International aid in negotiation
As a further package of measures, the Sri Lankan government wants to encourage public sector workers to work abroad and send money home. In return, they are granted unpaid leave of up to five years. A rescue package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is currently being negotiated, and a delegation is to be sent to Colombo next week, the BBC reports.
The US has also announced its support. “In these difficult economic and political times, the US stands ready to work with Sri Lanka, in close coordination with the International Monetary Fund and the international community,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted following a phone call with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
5.7 million people need help
According to UN estimates, around 5.7 million people in Sri Lanka are in urgent need of support – that’s a good quarter of the population. 17 percent of children under the age of five are too small for their age, said a representative of the World Food Program (WFP). The UN children’s fund UNICEF reported that 70 percent of households had already reduced their food.
Out of desperation, families are sending children they can no longer feed to orphanages, but living conditions there are also poor, a UNICEF official in Colombo said. More than 10,000 children are already living in such homes. The government says it needs at least $5 billion over the next six months to maintain a basic standard of living.
“It is not enough just to create economic stability, we have to restructure the entire economy,” announced Wickremesinghe – the prime minister is also responsible for finances – recently in parliament. In mid-April, Sri Lanka declared itself insolvent. Experts mainly blame the wrong decisions of previous governments for the crisis. Despite vehement calls for his resignation, Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa confirmed last week that he intends to complete the remaining two years of his term of office.
