Sri Lanka struggles to secure a fresh fuel supply as 22crisis-stricken countriesYes, the government prime minister said on Sunday. Over the next few days, one million people have dropped to just 15,000 tonnes of gasoline and diesel to continue critical service.
"We are having a hard time finding a supplier. They are reluctant to accept letters of credit from banks. Supplier is prepaid because the delinquency is over $ 700 million. "I hope," Kanchana Wijesekera, Minister of Electricity and Energy, told reporters. ..
In the last two months, Sri Lanka has received most of its fuel through a $ 500 million Indian credit line that was exhausted in mid-June. According to Wijesekera, the gasoline shipment scheduled for last Thursday has not arrived and no new shipments are yet planned.
"We have about 9,000 metric tons of diesel and 6,000 metric tons of gasoline left. We are doing everything we can to get new inventory, but we don't know when."
However, Sri Lanka also raised fuel prices by 12% to 22% early on Sunday. The May price hike pushed inflation up to 45.3%, the highest since 2015. According to Wijesekera, public transport, power plants and medical services are in stock.
Armies already deployed at gas stations to relieve anxiety will issue tokens to waiting people, adding that they will sometimes fuel ports and airports for several days.
Separately, the government called on about one million civil servants to work from home on Sunday until further notice.
A delegation from the US Treasury and State Department arrived in Colombo on Sunday for a three-day visit to assess the situation. The International Monetary Fund team is already in Sri Lanka to discuss the possibility of a $ 3 billion bailout package.
