Sri Lanka’s newspaper and printing industries have been hit by severe shortage of printing material, forcing publication cuts and school examination postponements.
This was due to a lack of dollars for imports.
A spokesperson for Upali Newspapers, one of the leading newspaper groups on Friday, announced the suspension of the edition of two newspapers due to a shortage of newsprint.
Instead, there will only be an online edition that day while other newspapers had reduced their page counts.
He said the decision to suspend the publication was regrettable but they could not avoid it, as they were running short of newsprint.
Some weekly newspapers had opted to become monthly publications.
The country could not import enough newsprint due to a lack of dollars for imports.
The government was forced to postpone school examinations due to a lack of paper to print question papers.
The government had reduced printing official documents as well.
Sri Lanka had restricted import of several items which had been declared “non-essential,” while the country struggled to import fuel and gas.
That had led to cuts in electricity generation, with only four hours of power a day and long queues outside fuel and gas stations.
Sri Lanka had obtained a $2 billion credit line from neighboring India for the import of fuel and essential food.
It is seeking a $2.5 billion from China.
