Sri Lanka's tourism minister Prasanna Ranatunge on Friday said, "The main issue Sri Lanka is facing is a forex shortage and protests of this nature will hurt tourism and have economic consequences" these statements come after the ongoing protest in the country.
"Our stance is that people have the right to protest but it should be constructive. What happened yesterday was the opposite," the minister said.
For the unreserved Sri Lanka is presently facing a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a fuel, power, and gas shortage, and has sought the assistance of friendly countries for economic assistance. Sri Lanka is witnessing at least 10-hour daily power cuts. Sri Lanka's currency has been also devalued by almost SLR 90 against the US dollar since March 8. Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free fall since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the crash of the tourism sector.