What is the ‘food emergency’ in Sri Lanka?

Regulations allow govt. to provide essential foods at a ‘concessionary rate’

On August 30, 2021, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, using powers vested in the country’s Public Security Ordinance, declared Emergency regulations pertaining to the distribution of essential food items. The regulations sought to empower authorities to provide essential food items at a “concessionary rate” to the public by purchasing stocks of essential food items, including paddy, rice and sugar, at government-guaranteed prices, and prevent market irregularities and hoarding. President Rajapaksa has appointed Major General N.D.S.P. Niwunhella as the Commissioner General of Essential Services to coordinate and ensure that people have access to essential supplies, a statement from the Presidential Media Division said. On Monday, the Proclamation on the Emergency Regulations for the Supply of Essential Foods enacted by President Rajapaksa was passed in Parliament. In the week since the regulations were promulgated, several questions have risen on their legal ambit, and their likely impact on the country’s larger economic crisis persisting for two years now.