Colombo: Crisis-hit Sri Lanka has run out of petrol as it is unable to find dollars to finance essential imports, the new prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an address to the nation.
“We’ve run out of petrol. . . At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day,” Wickremesinghe said, warning his bankrupt country could face more hardships in the coming months. The debt-ridden nation will also privatise its state-run national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, the PM said. The island nation’s revenues have dropped sharply and its banks are out of dollars, leaving the country short of funds for essential goods, Wickremesinghe added. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka was set to form a new cabinet as political rivals make common cause to tackle a worsening economic crisis after last week’s deadly violence, party leaders said.
Protesters remained camped outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence demanding that he resign, as troops continued to patrol the streets while ordinary Sri Lankans queued up for scarce supplies.
Wickremesinghe has struggled to form a “unity government” after the main opposition insisted that Gotabaya should follow his brother Mahinda who quit as premier last week. However, two stalwarts from the main Samagi Jana Balawegaya opposition party agreed to break ranks and join an “economic war cabinet”, party sources said. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said his party would not block in parliament any legitimate “solutions to the economic problems”.
Another opposition group, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, said they will also offer conditional support to Wickremesinghe, overturning their earlier decision not to.
PM backs protesters
In an unusual move, Wickremesinghe has extended public support to the protesters, who have demanding the resignation Gotabaya. The PM said he had appointed a committee to look after the interests of the ‘Gota Go Home’ village protesters demand.
Wickremesinghe said the young protesters in the village would be safeguarded and their views would be sought for the shaping of future policy. In an interview, Wickremesinghe said the ‘Gota Go Gama’ protest should be continued to bring a change in the political system in the country and let the country’s youth take the responsibility to lead. Over 200 people have been arrested in the country on various charges, including violation of curfew, attacking the public and causing damages to public and private properties, as the authorities try to bring order back to the Island nation.
Meanwhile, the new PM held discussions with the country’s representatives of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) amid the ongoing economic crisis. Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices and power cuts affecting a large number of the citizens, resulting in massive protests over the government’s handling of the situation.
The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies including the government’s last year’s move to ban chemical fertilizers in a bid to make Sri Lanka’s agriculture “100% organic”.
