Cash-strapped Sri Lanka appeals to expats to send money

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka has celebrated its Independence Day with an appeal by the president to the country’s expatriates to send money home as it struggles with the worst economic crisis in decades mainly due to depleted foreign reserves. Sri Lankans are facing shortages of milk powder, cooking gas, kerosene and other essentials. Cash shortages have hindered imports of raw materials for manufacturing and worsened inflation. President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said Sri Lankans abroad who sent foreign currency back home are a major resource. Data shows that overseas remittances have fallen by nearly 60% to $812 million in December from a year earlier after the government ordered the mandatory conversion of foreign currency and exchange rate controls. Sri Lanka has borrowed heavily to weather the crisis.