Colombo: Due to the ongoing economic crisis in the country, Sri Lanka has decided to halve the size of its army, the country is facing a shortage of petroleum products and food.
A foreign news agency According to the report Sri Lanka’s Defense Minister Premitha Bandara Thankun has said in a statement that the military expenditure is primarily a state expenditure that must be met, so in view of the current economic situation in the country, it has been decided to halve the size of the army. So that costs can be significantly reduced.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe raised taxes and cut spending after the country went bankrupt to negotiate a deal with the IMF.
According to sources, his next step was to reduce the size of the army and therefore the Ministry of Defense has said that 65 thousand personnel will be retired this year out of the 200,000 army and by the end of this decade the number of Sri Lankan army will be reduced. One lakh will be made.
Despite big tax hikes at the start of this year, the government has warned it has little money left over for civil servants’ salaries and pensions.