Last handful of fish: Crisis pushes more Sri Lankans into poverty

Gamage Rupawathi (R), 60, her husband W. A. Susantha (C), 45, and their son, Krishan Darshana (L), 25, pose at their home, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 2, 2022. "When I had a fruit business I was earning a significant income," Rupawathi said. "But with the drawn-out lockdowns during the pandemic and now this economic crisis I don't have money to restart my fruit stall." REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

In her outstretched palms, 49-year-old Nilanthi Gunasekera holds her family’s last remaining handful of dried fish – a reminder of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in decades.

She is just one of the millions of Sri Lankans battling a calamitous decline in living standards, as they find themselves forced to skip meals, ration out medicines and turn to firewood in place of cooking gas.