Prices fell for the first time in thirty-nine years in Sri Lanka, hit two years ago by the worst economic and financial crisis in its history, recording a decline of 0.5% in September, according to published data. Monday. The prices of food and non-food goods fell, announced the Sri Lankan Department of Census and Statistics, after an increase of 0.5% in August. Over the last twelve months, inflation was 2.4% in September, down slightly compared to August (2.5%) according to the same source.
The last month “negative inflation” in Sri Lanka dates back to October 1985, when prices fell by 2.1% according to statistics. Inflation had reached a record high of 69.8% at the height of the 2022 financial crisis. Combined with shortages of food, fuel and medicine, the inflation caused protests that precipitated the fall in July 2022 from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Over the next two years, his successor Ranil Wickremesinghe implemented a brutal and unpopular austerity policy in exchange for aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amounting to $2.9 billion (€2.6 billion). ).
Ranil Wickremesinghe failed to obtain a new mandate as head of the country, defeated on September 21 by the left-wing coalition candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake. This trained Marxist who has since converted to the market economy has promised not to “rip” the agreement signed in 2023 with the IMF but committed to renegotiating certain clauses, in particular to reduce taxes on basic products.
