Sri Lankan opposition party to launch "street battles" demanding govt change

Colombo [Sri Lanka], June 28 (ANI): Sri Lankan opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya has announced to hit the streets this week demanding a change of government as the nation continues to battle its worst economic crisis.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) national organiser Tissa Attanayake on Monday said that the party will launch "street battles" this week for a change of government and called for a joint opposition struggle against the present administration.
"The Rajapaksa - Wickremessinghe government will not remain in power for long," The Daily Mirror reported quoting Attanayake.
Attanayake stated that the government has not been able to control the economic crisis in the country and the cost of living has seen a spike of 150 per cent.
"People have been pushed to an even more difficult situation with the fifth fuel price hike for the year," he added.
Ananda Palitha, the spokesperson of Samgi Trade Union Alliance, said that there was a move to allow private sector companies to import and distribute fuel and to sell more than 1000 filling stations that are held by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
SJB Organizer for Colombo North C. Y. P Ram said, "Many industries have been affected by the power crisis."
Sri Lanka has been facing the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, leading to an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel across the island nation.
The nearly-bankrupt country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. Sri Lanka's total foreign debt.
The economic crisis has particularly impacted food security, agriculture, livelihoods, and access to health services. Food production in the last harvest season was 40 - 50 per cent lower than last year, and the current agricultural season is at risk, with seeds, fertilizers, fuel and credit shortages.
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) gas on Sunday decided to increase the fuel prices with effect from 2 am.
The prices of a litre of petrol 92 octane have been increased by Rs 50 while a lite of petrol 95 octane has been increased by Rs 100, Daily Mirror reported.
Sri Lanka is one of the few nations named by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which is expected to go without food due to the global food shortage expected this year. (ANI)