Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

Sri Lanka Crisis: US Announces $5 Million Additional Aid

The humanitarian aid of $5.75 million will provide cash assistance, short-term jobs and agriculture supplies directly to crisis-affected people.
June 22, 2022
USAID_Sri Lanka Crisis

The United States announced $5 million in additional funds for cash-starved Sri Lanka on June 21 to meet the immediate needs of those hardest hit by the island country’s economic crisis.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will also provide $6 million in development assistance to support small-scale agricultural productivity and microenterprises in marginalised and vulnerable communities that traditionally experience high poverty rates and are especially impacted by the economic crisis. Additionally, it will support economic reforms in Sri Lanka, public sector efficiency, and better resource management.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948. The US government on Tuesday announced the third phase of a new fund to meet the immediate needs of those most affected by the economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

The humanitarian aid, totalling $5.75 million, will provide cash assistance, short-term jobs, and agriculture supplies such as seeds directly to crisis-affected people to meet their basic needs, the US embassy in Sri Lanka said in a statement.

“The recent United Nations appeal to international donors warned of an ‘unfolding multi-dimensional food security crisis in Sri Lanka,” explained U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung.

“The new assistance that we’re announcing today will address some of those complex issues. We are working hard to ensure that these funds directly reach the Sri Lankans who have been most severely affected by this crisis.”