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How did shortages of food fuel and medicine affect the 2022 protests in Sri Lanka?

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Francisco Goya, Saturn — Generation Z protests In Greek and Roman myth the old god consumes his children to preserve his power. In many countries today the young face a version of the same fate: priced out of housing, burdened by debt, and taxed to sustain the pensions and property wealth of older generations.

In 2022, Sri Lanka faced a severe economic crisis characterized by an acute foreign exchange shortage that left the nation unable to pay for essential imports, including food, fuel, and medicine.1

These shortages were a primary catalyst for the widespread protests that began in March 2022. The situation was exacerbated by years of fiscal mismanagement, heavy external borrowing, the collapse of the tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising global commodity prices. Specifically, the surge in fuel prices following the invasion of Ukraine led the government to implement daily power outages, which, alongside rapid inflation and food scarcity, fueled public anger.2314

The resulting protests, led in part by Generation Z, escalated throughout the spring and summer, ultimately forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the flight of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the country.24