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Sri Lanka Economic Erisis: Sri Lanka, which is struggling with economic crisis, announced on Friday a plan to reduce the current number of its army to half by 2030. Let us tell you that in the budget of 2023, more allocation was made for military expenditure than the amount allocated for health care and education, for which the government was facing criticism.
A defense allocation of Rs 539 billion was announced in the 2023 budget as Sri Lanka faces its worst economic crisis since 1948. While an allocation of over Rs 300 billion each has been made for health and education in the 2023 budget.
What did the Ministry of Defense say,
In a statement issued by the Defense Ministry, it has been said that by the year 2030, the army’s current strength of 200,783 will be reduced to 100,000. The ministry said that by next year this number would be limited to 135,000.
“The overall objective of the strategic blueprint is to prepare a technically and tactically strong and fully balanced defense force by the year 2030 to meet the upcoming security challenges,” said a statement issued quoting state Defense Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon.
Due to a shortage of foreign exchange, Sri Lanka was unable to afford major imports, including fuel, fertilizers and medicines, which led to long queues.
Military strength was halved even before
However, since the end of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, the military strength of about 400,000 has been halved. Despite this, the current strength of more than 200,000 soldiers has also been termed as excessive.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said last year that military strategy needed to be reformed to prepare Sri Lanka’s military to face new challenges.
Tamil minority and rights groups have been calling for military cuts in conflict zones in the northern and eastern provinces.
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