Economy: As demand grows, Sri Lanka is to import 1 mn eggs daily from India
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A year after it faced its worst-ever economic crisis and declared a default, Sri Lanka has decided to import one million eggs every day from five chicken farms in India as the island country slowly limps back to normalcy, thanks to New Delhi’s timely assistance and a recent IMF bailout package.
The Covid-19 pandemic, followed by an unprecedented economic crisis, which snowballed into political upheaval in 2022, had left tourism-dependent Sri Lanka grappling with a huge number of lost jobs that eroded purchasing power for months.
The latest move to import one million eggs daily aims to address the growing market demand in the crisis-hit island nation, the media reported on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka State Trading Corporation (STC) Chairman Asiri Walisundara said that 20 million eggs had already been imported from India, of which 10 million have been released to the market.
Earlier, the eggs were being imported from two chicken farms. Recently, after officials’ visit to poultry farms in India, the Animal Production Department approved the purchase of eggs from three other farms, he said.
The imported eggs would be released to bakeries, biscuit manufacturers, catering services, and restaurants at a price of SLR 35 (INR 9.75) each.
Sri Lanka’s high inflation eroded purchasing power as the livelihoods of many people were affected, and past development gains have been reversed.
The island nation is struggling to normalize its crisis-hit economy after it declared its first-ever debt default in April last year.
