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Sri Lanka

WFP Sri Lanka: Situation Report 29 July 2022

Attachments

In Numbers

6.3 million people are food-insecure. This is likely to deteriorate as the crisis unfolds.

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.

Highlights

• WFP is currently partnering with UNFPA to complete its value vouchers programme, targeting a total of 2,375 pregnant women in Colombo.

• As the situation continues to deteriorate, WFP is rolling out its Market Functionality Index to detect changes in market functionality and provide real-time market information that is crucial in designing humanitarian interventions.

Situation Update

• Sri Lanka remains under the grip of an economic collapse that has left millions of people unable to buy sufficient food, fuel, medicines, and other essentials.

• The Government 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.

• Schools re-opened on Monday 25 July, after a month-long closure. However, public sector offices remain closed, and employees were instructed to work from home for another month.

• The State of Emergency has been extended for another month from 27 July, following the first announcement on 17 July.

• 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.