Northland-based Sri Lankans worried about situation back home

Dirk Dewasurendra knew the Sri Lankan economy was in trouble but didn't expect the situation to get this bad. Photo / Imran Ali

Dammika Dissanayaka has mixed feelings flying over to Sri Lanka to see her parents who are insisting she put off her travel plans until their country returns to normality.

The Whangārei mother of two is among dozens of Northland-based Sri Lankan families worried about the political and economic situation back home - the worst to engulf the South Asian country in 70 years.

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister has declared the nation is officially "bankrupt" as the Government has run out of foreign currency to import critical items, with dire shortages of essentials and devastating power cuts fast becoming the norm. Schools are closed and employees are being ordered to work from home.

Petrol reserves have dwindled to just 4000 tonnes, less than a day's supply, forcing the Government to enact a two-week pause on all fuel sales except for essential services, in order to preserve the limited supplies that remain.

According to the United Nations, about 80 per cent of the nation's 22 million people are now forced to regularly miss meals.

Dissanayaka hails from Kandy in central Sri Lanka and will visit her parents who farm in Anuradhapura, northwest of Kandy, in two weeks.

"My dad is saying for us not to come at this time but I can't change my travel plans. The biggest issue there is food and fuel. Everyone is worried but we can't do anything."

She's travelling with her husband and their two children and plan to stay in Sri Lanka for a month.

"Since I haven't been there for four years, I want to spend time with my parents only. The fuel crisis doesn't affect them too much because they've got other modes of transportation like cycles," she said.

Dirk Dewasurendra, another Whangārei-based Sri Lankan, said his brother's CCTV and phone business in Kandana, about 30 minutes from the capital Colombo, has been severely affected.

"The problem Sri Lanka is facing has been coming for a long time but I didn't expect the situation to get this bad. Even people who voted for the ruling party are suffering," Dewasurendra said.

"Sri Lanka has got a lot of young people who know how to run the country but they're not given a chance. Where's the future for their next generation? Not everyone can move overseas."

He last went home in 2018 to attend his father's funeral and Dewasurendra said the situation back then was much better.

Before he moved to New Zealand around 2008, he said he never had to stand in line to buy gas in Sri Lanka.

Dewasurendra has urged Kiwis to visit Sri Lanka and help the country financially once normality resumed.

Protesters are taking to the streets to demand the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid accusations of financial mismanagement.

Sri Lanka plans to present the IMF with a debt restructuring plan by the end of next month in the hope of being approved for a four-year funding programme.

However, the IMF recently said Sri Lanka needed to do more to rein in inflation and repair its finances before a funding deal could be reached.