News
Remaining petrol reserves insufficient to meet needs
31 Jul, 2022
The remaining petrol reserves in Sri Lanka will likely be insufficient to meet normal needs, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.
The Government has announced restrictions on fuel imports for the next 12 months as it faces a severe supply shortage.
“Remaining petrol reserves will likely be insufficient to meet normal needs. The situation has impacted almost all aspects of daily life, thwarting people?s ability to find and go to work and interrupting schools and government services,” WFP said.
In its latest update on Sri Lanka, the WFP said that 6.3 million people are food-insecure and this is likely to deteriorate as the crisis unfolds.
According to the WFP,?6.7 million?people are not consuming acceptable diets.
“3.4 million people are planned to be targeted by WFP to receive emergency food, nutrition, and school meals,” the WFP said.
As the prices of food items and consumer goods become increasingly burdensome, people have resorted to buying smaller quantities and undertaking more frequent market visits, according to WFP?s market monitoring interviews in June.
Food imports are down to US$50 million per month, from US$130 million previously, and nutritious food such as vegetables now cost two to five times its pre-crisis price.
To detect and monitor changes in market functionality amid the crisis, WFP is launching its Market Functionality Index (MFI) in Sri Lanka.
The MFI is a tool that helps to better understand and assess the changes in market conditions to inform the design of humanitarian interventions. (Colombo Gazette)
Recommended For You
