Sri Lanka gives public workers extra day off to grow food

• Sri Lanka’s Cabinet approves a four-day work week for public sector employees.
• The move is partly to help them cope with fuel shortages and encourage them to farm.
• The island nation is suffering from its worst financial crisis in decades. Food inflation reached 57 percent in April.

The government of Sri Lanka approved a four-day work week for public sector employees on Tuesday to assist them cope with a persistent fuel scarcity and encourage them to grow food as the country grapples with its worst financial crisis in decades.

The island nation, which employs about one million people in the public sector, is suffering from a serious foreign exchange shortage, making it difficult to pay for essential imports such as fuel, food, and medicine.

Many of the country’s 22 million residents have to queue for hours at gas stations and have been without power for months.

Late Monday, Sri Lanka’s Cabinet agreed a proposal that public sector workers be given Friday off for the next three months, partially because of the fuel crisis and partly to encourage them to farm.

“Granting government officials one working day off… to engage in agricultural activities in their backyards or elsewhere as a response to the predicted food shortfall,” the government media office stated in a statement.

The United Nations last week warned of a looming humanitarian crisis and it plans to provide $47 million to help more than a million vulnerable people.

Food inflation reached 57 percent in April due to currency devaluation, increased global commodity prices, and a now-reversed legislation banning artificial fertilisers.

The government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package, and a delegation is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on June 20.

The United States is also ready to help, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a phone call with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe late on Monday.

“The United States is ready to engage with Sri Lanka during these economically and politically hard times, in close coordination with the International Monetary Fund and the international community,” Blinken stated on Twitter.

Sri Lanka, according to Wickremesinghe, needs at least $5 billion this month to cover vital imports for the remainder of the year.