COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government will intervene to help print media, an official said on Saturday, after publishers in the country suspended printing due to a paper shortage brought on by a worsening economic crisis.
The island nation of 22 million people is contending with its worst economic meltdown since independence from Britain in 1948, triggered by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves that has impacted financing on imports. For months Sri Lankans have dealt with shortages of essential goods, including fuel and pharmaceuticals, which has now extended to paper and ink.
Two major Sri Lanka newspapers announced suspension of their print editions on Friday, with other main national dailies also reducing pages after costs soared in recent months due to difficulties securing supplies from abroad.
Amid the paper shortage, which last week led to officials indefinitely postponing national exams for millions of students, Ministry of Information and Mass Media Secretary Anusha Palpita said on Saturday that the government would help print media.
“We know there is a crisis. We have no dollars to import, but we are planning to have a meeting with stakeholders soon,” Palpita told Arab News. “We will intervene to help print media.”
The paper shortage is also affecting other publishers, with local publishing company K-books saying the crisis has disrupted its plans to publish 25 titles in 2022.
“We have decided to temporarily suspend printing for a couple of months,” Heshan Peiris, who owns K-books, said.
Peiris said the cost of a ream of paper in October 2021 was about $13, but has almost tripled to nearly $38.
Rasika Jayakody, an author who planned to publish a series of four books with K-books this year said the problem is not only procuring paper, as price hikes would be too much for readers to bear.
“A book that used to cost 450 rupees ($1.55) will now cost 1,000 rupees. It is just not feasible to go ahead with it at this point,” Jayakody said.
The dollar shortage has sparked energy shortages affecting all sectors across the country, and led to skyrocketing prices, with inflation at a record 17.5 percent in February.
People have been forced to stand in lengthy queues — sometimes for days on end — to purchase gas and fuel. At least four deaths have been reported as a result of clashes at queues or as senior citizens collapse from exhaustion.
Sri Lanka needs nearly $7 billion to service its external debt this year, while the country’s foreign reserves have hit $2.3 billion, down from $7.5 billion when the incumbent administration came to power in November 2019.
The government allowed the rupee to depreciate earlier this month, and announced it will seek an International Monetary Fund bailout to restructure its foreign debt. Officials are also seeking more loans, including from China and India, to overcome its currency crisis.
In the streets of Sri Lanka, faith in the government is at an all-time low.
Shamindra Ferdinando, news editor at the privately owned English-language daily The Island, one of the major titles suspending its print edition, described the current situation as “complete chaos,” adding: “The government wants to blame the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but that is not the reason for this.
“Waste, corruption, and mismanagement over a period of time have denied the country of finances it needs at this moment.”
