Sri Lanka imposes price controls to tackle food shortages
Sri Lanka imposed price controls on key foods on Friday (Sep 3) as the government stepped up the use of emergency powers to counter shortages.Queues formed outside state-run supermarkets even before they opened to sell sugar seized from private dealers at new prices less than half of what was being charged on the open market on Thursday.
"There is no sugar available elsewhere," moaned K Perumal, 62, at the Sathosa store in Colombo's Maligawatte area where he waited for his 2kg quota. "There are small children in my family, we need about six kilos of sugar a month," he told AFP. "I have not been able to find milk at all."
Another shopper, N Wijeratne said 2kg was not enough but added: "Rationing is good because it will let others also a chance to get some supplies." The government, which declared a state of emergency this week, imposed a maximum price of 125 rupees (62 US cents) for 1kg of sugar and 95 rupees for 1kg of white rice.
There have also been sharp price rises for rice, onions and potatoes. Long queues have also formed because of shortages of milk powder, kerosene oil and cooking gas. Only government stores have been opening because of a nationwide corona virus lockdown. Most other shops have only been engaged in online sales. Experts have blamed the food crisis on a shortage of foreign exchange to import and maintain stocks.
The government has insisted the shortages were artificially created by traders profiting from the pandemic restrictions. "Some fraudulent traders were hoarding essential food items such as paddy, rice and sugar in large quantities with the intention of selling them at higher prices," the government said in a statement. A military officer put in charge of efforts to bolster food stocks said more than 32,000 tones of sugar were found in raids on private warehouses. carried out on Wednesday and Thursday.
