Economic Impact of COVID–19 on Sri Lanka

It is stated that the COVID-19 has taken the world by storm, challenging the normal lives of people where majority of the people are now being used to the new normal life to be in line with the health guidelines issued and to be safe amidst this pandemic. This pandemic situation paused almost all the economic activities in the country and this review is carried out to study on the historical pandemic situations and the impact of COVID-19 on some of the major industries of Sri Lanka. As per the study, the corona virus has adversely effected the employment, tourism, exchange rate, household income etc. in Sri Lanka.Although the lock down restrictions and policy was implemented to save the lives of the public, it affected the economy badly with a negative outlook. The country’s overall imports and exports dropped significantly and also created a negative impact on foreign trade and economy.COVID-19 also affected the Colombo Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka and in addition to macroeconomic factors, the microeconomic impacts of the virus include unemployment, poverty and household hindrances across the country.Due to the loss of jobs in many private sector Firms, the unemployment rate was increased during the recent past which resulted to an increase in the poverty line.All in all, the coronal virus is likely to hamper the economic development of the country and therefore suitable measures should be taken immediately to arrest the situation and to control the spread of the virus and to revive the economy of the country.