(EXCLUSIVE) The poor in Sri Lanka are crushed by inflation - Prof. Steve Hanke

COLOMBO (News 1st); Prof. Steve Hanke, who is the Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University warned that the poor people are crushed by inflation.

"The official inflation rate is 21.5% per year. and the accurate inflation is the one I'm measuring that's a 132%. So the real inflation rate is 6 times higher than the official inflation rate," he told exclusively to News 1st on Wednesday (18).

'When you have inflation that high it is a complete catastrophe. And not only you have an economic catastrophe associated with the high inflation but you have a real problem because the inflation hits the poor people more than it hits the rich people," he added.

Noting such a situation ultimately creates a political problem, Professor Steve Hanke warned "Sri Lanka it looks to me like everything is going to come to a stop."