A cyberattack has disrupted hospitals and health care in several states

A cyberattack has disrupted hospitals and health care in several states

How Gulf jobs helped Sri Lankans keep families afloat at height of economic crisis

COLOMBO: Nihal Gamage was working in Riyadh when his country, Sri Lanka, plunged into an unprecedented economic crisis last year.

As millions of Sri Lankans faced skyrocketing inflation and shortages of essential goods, Gamage’s bread and butter as a businessman in the Kingdom became a lifeline for his family back in Sri Lanka’s coastal town of Balapitiya.

“We were really blessed to be in Saudi Arabia, where our salaries were uninterrupted during the time of crisis,” Gamage, who has worked in the Saudi capital for more than three decades, told Arab News.

“Those working in the Gulf were fortunate ones. We increased our remittances to Sri Lanka so that our dependents would not have any difficulties in buying their consumer items.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• Around 850,000 Sri Lankan expats live, work in Gulf countries.

• Many were supported by their Gulf employers during difficult period back home.

In 2022, Sri Lankans struggled through the country’s worst financial crisis in history. Many queued for days in snaking fuel lines and endured lengthy power cuts at the peak of the crisis, which ultimately saw the island nation defaulting on its foreign debt, the ouster of the