However, at present, despite having a reliable salary, he can barely support his family. Food prices have tripled in recent weeks, forcing the family to seek government rations of rice and donations from nearby Buddhist temples and mosques. Madushanka's savings have run out. "Right now, it's barely enough to survive, and if we don't get extra help for a few months, we're going to have a hard time," he said. PM: Economy has 'completely collapsed' Experts point out that even past crises, such as Sri Lanka's nearly 30-year civil war that ended in 2009 or the devastating tsunami in 2004, have not brought this level of pain and suffering to people outside the region concerned.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on old picture restoration June 22 that the economy had "completely collapsed". Until recently, experts estimated that Sri Lanka's middle class, who made up 15 to 20 percent of the urban population, generally enjoyed economic security and comfort. Bhavani Fonseka, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Options in Colombo, Sri Lanka, said: "The crisis has really shocked the middle class - it has forced them into situations they have never faced before, such as access to basic goods, despite spending Waiting in line for hours and not knowing if they can get fuel. They really haven’t had a shock like this in the last 30 years.”
Since the 1970s, the Sri Lankan middle class has flourished. At that time, the country's economy was open to foreign trade and investment. Since then, the middle class has grown steadily and GDP per capita has surged, surpassing many of its neighbors. Economist Chayu Damsinghe pointed out: "At the time, the ideal was to have a house and a car, to send the children to a good school, to go to a restaurant every few weeks, and to go on vacation. But now, the middle-class The dream seems to have been shattered."