COLOMBO: In an effort to assist women and girls who couldn’t otherwise afford them due to the nation’s economic difficulties, Sri Lanka‘s government on Sunday reduced taxes on feminine hygiene products.Many schoolgirls and women in Sri Lanka, like in other developing nations, would stay at home during their periods because they couldn’t afford sanitary items even before the slump last year.
According to a research conducted this year by the policy advocacy organisation Advocata, over 50% of Sri Lanka’s 5.3 million women of reproductive age live in “period poverty,” meaning they cannot afford sanitary goods.
Campaigners contend that the situation has gotten worse as a result of chronic shortages of basic necessities and high inflation rates in Sri Lanka.The office of President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Sunday that imports of raw materials used to create feminine hygiene products were exempted immediately from customs tariffs, airport levies, and other municipal taxes.
