SL lucky to withstand global food crisis: Govt.

 Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Plantation Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana

• Optimistic foreign exchange market will return to normalcy within 3-4 months with favourable inflows from tourism, remittances, exports
• Govt. not keen to interfere too much into price hikes 
• Says powers vested with Essential Services Commissioner not curtailed

By Charumini de Silva

Acknowledging the hardships people are faced with the skyrocketing food prices in the country, the Government yesterday said the country was ‘fortunate’ enough to withstand the global food crisis amidst the COVID pandemic.

“The food crisis is a global scenario, and we should consider ourselves lucky to have managed the situation at least in this manner,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Plantation Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said yesterday at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing.

He said the COVID pandemic disrupted the entire supply chain where production was impacted with a significant price increase globally. With the gradual revival of tourism and continued growth in export earnings of the country, Dr. Pathirana was optimistic that the current situation will be normalised within the next three to four months.

 “In an open economy, the supply and demand determine the prices. The price hike that we witnessed was unprecedented and it was due to the pandemic. The Government took many steps to revive the tourism industry, foreign remittances and exports. We are hopeful that the situation will soon be reverted to normalcy,” he said.

The Minister also said that the Government was not keen on controlling the market prices, although it is closely watching the movements.  

When asked if the Essential Services Commissioner’s position was still active, Dr. Pathirana said that powers vested with him were not curtailed.

Previously, Consumer Protection State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna said the Essential Services Commissioner’s position was inactive as the State of Emergency had lapsed.