Long queues formed around gas stations in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital and its outskirts on Monday, even as the island nation’s government scrambled to deliver fuel supplies and stave off any unrest as it crippled a devastating economic crisis. was struggling with.
Long queues formed around gas stations in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital and its outskirts on Monday, even as the island nation’s government scrambled to deliver fuel supplies and stave off any unrest as it crippled a devastating economic crisis. was struggling with.
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said a supply of 95-octane gasoline, which is mostly used in cars, had been received and was being distributed to 22 million people across the country who had been short of fuel for months. were struggling with.
“With the landing of two cargo ships, petrol stock will be comfortably available for the next 6 weeks,” Vijesera said in a tweet.
Another 40,000 metric tonnes of petrol supplied by India had also reached Sri Lanka on Monday, the Indian High Commission (embassy) said, two days after New Delhi delivered 40,000 tonnes of diesel to its southern neighbour.
Sri Lanka is grappling with its worst economic crisis since independence, as a severe foreign exchange crunch halted imports and left the country reeling under fuel, pharmaceutical shortages and power cuts.
The financial crisis stemmed from the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic with a tourism-dependent economy, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda, who resigned as prime minister this month .
M. Sudeera, an auto-rickshaw driver, waited in a two-kilometre (1.5-mile) long queue on the outskirts of Colombo, a popular form of public transport in the city, to fill up his vehicle. Suburb.
“Last time, I spent two days in line for 3,000 rupees ($8.46) worth of fuel. Along with that I had rented some, but that’s barely enough to cover the cost,” Sudira told Auto- Standing near parallel rows of rickshaws, cars and said. Motorcycle.
“Usually we run during the day and spend the night in line for fuel,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over as prime minister earlier this month, has warned of worsening hardship, including food shortages, in the coming months.
Protests against the government’s handling of the crisis continued for weeks, and violence erupted earlier this month in which nine people were killed and more than 300 were injured. But since then the protests have been peaceful, though anger against the government is rampant.
Inflation in the island nation rose to 33.8% in April, compared to 21.5% in March, according to government data released on Monday.
Wickremesinghe’s cabinet was expanded on Monday, with eight new ministers taking oath for portfolios including agriculture, fisheries, industry, transport and highways, water supply and irrigation.
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