Sri Lanka is collapsing; inflation is running away. People are in poverty. Many women in the textile industry are moving into prostitution to make ends meet. Makeshift brothels are growing in numbers, sometimes posing as Ayurvedic spas
A major contributor to the shift towards sex trade is the extremely high inflation rate that has hit the wages in the textile industry hard. This, combined with the acute shortage of fuel, food and medicine, has pushed these women to resort to prostitution.
Reports also suggest that owing to acute scarcity of essential commodities, women are forced to exchange food, medicines for sex with the local shopkeepers.