COLOMBO, March 21 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s Education Ministry on Monday said examinations for senior school students would go ahead as planned despite an earlier decision to cancel it due to a paper shortage in the country.

The Education Ministry said term examinations for Grades 9, 10 and 11 in schools in Western Province including the capital Colombo would go ahead as scheduled from March 29 despite a shortage of printing papers and printing equipment in the local market, due to a foreign exchange crisis.

Sri Lanka has banned imports of several items due to a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a shortage of raw materials in the local market.

The South Asian nation of a 22 million population is also facing a power crisis and fuel shortage as a result of the foreign exchange shortage.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the nation last week that his government was in consultations with friendly nations and the International Monetary Fund to resolve the ongoing crisis.

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