MELBOURNE, 3 April 2023: About 300,000 Sri Lankan have left the country for jobs overseas in 2022, says The Economist. Nearly 875,000 passports were issued in the country facing one of its deepest economic crisis. 300,000 is a big number in a country of 22 million people. Most of them who left overseas were low and semi-skilled workers. But now, The Economist says. there is evidence that middle-class professionals have joined the exodus.
Recently, Sri Lanka secured a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with strict restructuring conditions, being opposed by people across the country. The cost of living and prices of essentials has been rising in Sri Lanka and common people finding it hard to make ends meet.
“Beijing’s lending to Sri Lanka stands at around $7bn (£5.71bn) while India is owed around $1bn (£820m),” reports the BBC. Added to the economic woes, the Sri Lankan Government has been accused of stifling dissent and using draconian laws to curb protests.
Amnesty International South Asia says, “In the last two years, the Sri Lankan government has intensified the crackdown on dissent, severely curtailing civil society freedom. People from all walks of life, especially minority communities, have been threatened, intimidated, harassed, and jailed, simply for expressing their views. Journalists, poets, teachers, and lawyers have been targeted for doing their jobs in ways that displease the authorities. Further, the state has targeted student activists and trade unionists in reprisal of their work. The government and government-affiliated groups have used smear campaigns, abduction-style arrest, raids of media outlets, travel bans, transfers and arbitrary arrests, and torture and other ill-treatment of protesters while in custody to limit and discourage freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
