Price of Sri Lanka's main meal doubles in a year

Rice and dhal — the mainstays of Sri Lankan cuisine — have more than doubled in price over the last year, according to statistics passed along from our program staff there.

In the last year, the price of rice on the island nation has increased 138 percent, while dhal has gone up 101 percent. That's not all: A one-pound loaf of bread has gone up 38 percent, and coconuts are twice as much as before. Coconut oil, the most commonly used oil for cooking, is up 112 percent and onions are up 78 percent. (The statistics come from Sri Lanka's census bureau.)

"People are obviously unhappy about the situation, and the poorest are struggling to make ends meet," reports Josh DeWald, Mercy Corps' country director in Sri Lanka.

Josh says Sri Lanka's middle class are coping by buying lower-quality foodstuffs, while lower-income Sri Lankans "are eating less by sacrificing a meal."

Rising commodity prices have forced the UN's World Food Programme to cut back on its distribution to displaced families affected by the country's internal conflict, Josh adds, and the government has introduced price ceilings on some goods.

Josh hopes to expand on Mercy Corps' current economic opportunities programming, most of which supports local agricultural production and processing.

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