<p>
<strong>Sri Lanka&rsquo;s retail sector, accounting for 23 per cent of the country&rsquo;s GDP, has been one of the worst impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic.</strong></p>
<p>
Many have had to shut down their businesses. The sector represents 14 per cent of the labour market with more than 1,100,000 people being self employed. The fear is that this could lead to further job losses in the country.</p>
<p>
Not just that. The dent in the retail segment may even impact the tourism sector, which has just opened up.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;Tourists, especially foreigners, come to Sri Lanka and they typically love to shop. Clothes, bags, home stuff and handicraft have always been in big demand,&rdquo; a tour operator based in New Delhi said.</p>
<p>
<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/economy-news/sri-lanka-s-industrial-production-shows-some-sign-of-an-uptake-in-december-151017.html">Sri Lanka&#39;s industrial production shows some sign of an uptake in December</a></strong></p>
<p>
Sri Lanka based <a href="https://island.lk/local-retail-industry-the-hardest-hit-by-the-forex-crisis-calls-for-solutions/">Sunday Island</a> in a report said that the current foreign exchange crisis which hit imports of non essential goods have pushed many of these businesses to the brink of collapse. &ldquo;Consumer durables, clothing and related industries are a case in point where there had been product shortages regularly due to the inability to gather adequate foreign exchange through the banks to fund imports and fulfill local requirements,&rdquo; it said.</p>
<p>
The pandemic has dealt a blow to the Sri Lankan economy. The country&rsquo;s foreign exchange reserves have depleted to alarmingly low levels while inflation has increased. Sri Lanka&rsquo;s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to declare a state of economic emergency in September last year.</p>
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that enemies of the nation have to think…
In a display of solidarity, exiled Tibetans gathered in Dharamshala on Friday, demanding the release…
With the rise in mercury levels, load-sheddings in different cities of Sindh province of Pakistan…
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that the Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir…
The United Arab Emirates is emerging as a hardline critic of the Palestinian Authority at…
Tensions rode high during a United States House Committee meeting with lawmakers of the Republican…