Published 24th October, 2022 by Jess Mills

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka will put a family-sized glass bottle back on the market to encourage reusable packaging and aid consumers in the currency crisis.

The Big Buddy Pack branded 750ml glass bottle is priced at 180 rupees, compared to 150 rupees for a 400ml PET bottle and 380 rupees for a 1.5 litre pack at supermarkets.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing the worst currency crises in the history of its intermediate regime central bank.

Sri Lanka’s rupee collapsed from 200 to 360 to the US dollar in 2022, triggering monetary instability.

Whenever Sri Lanka’s central bank prints money to keep interest rates down operating a policy rate, it collapses the currency and triggers high inflation destroying people’s real income.

Annual inflation is now running at around 70%. Food prices, which respond faster to money printing, are up to over 90% over the last year.

Panjak Sinha, Managing Director of Coca-Cola (Sri Lanka and Maldives), said: “There is shrinkage in consumer spending and people are making choices.

“It [the product] is affordable in these trying times and is differentiated with a unique refillable glass bottle, paper labels and aluminium cap.”

Despite the latest bout of monetary instability, the firm has no plans to leave the country.

The firm said it had invested $99 million in the country in the last decade and has built distribution network with 80,000 plus outlets.

Jess is the Deputy Editor of Glass International magazine. She has been training in creative and professional writing since 2017, earning her degree in 2020. Prior to joining Quartz Business Media, Jess worked as a freelance writer for a variety of companies and publications.