Sri Lankan Refugees Reaching India Amid Unprecedented Economic Crisis

New Delhi: Amid the unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka, at least 16 nationals of the country have reached Tamil Nadu in two batches.

Of 16, six people, including a family of a man, wife, and their 4 month-old son and a woman and her six and twelve-year-old children arrived on Tuesday afternoon, while the rest arrived late at night.

Notably, if the situation remains the same, it wouldn't take much time to take the form of mass exodus.

The economic crisis in the country has gone up to such an extent that the prices of essential commodities, including milk, skyrocketing, petrol and diesel not available and power stations have been shut.

As per several media reports, it has come to the fore that schools in Sri Lanka are unable to hold examinations due to a lack of paper for printing questions paper.

Sri Lanka is also facing heat from foreign exchange reserves as it fell by 70 percent to $2.36 billion in January. The country has to repay a domestic and foreign debt of $ 7.3 billion (about Rs 54,000 crore) in the next 12 months. In this, about 68% of the total debt which is 5 billion belongs to China.

Reportedly, it can also be declared bankrupt as the country has totally drowned in debt.

Following the inflation in the country, people are starving. The prices of everyday food items are skyrocketing as the cost of one kg of sugar is Rs 290, while rice is Rs 500 per kg.

Meanwhile, India has extended a helping hand to Sri Lanka by announcing a loan of more than $900 million to its neighboring country which will help the country to increase foreign exchange reserves and import food.

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