Sri Lanka new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country is running out of petrol.
Gatekeepers News reports that Wickremesinghe stated the country desperately needs to secure $75m in foreign exchange in the next few days to pay for essential imports, including medicine.
During an address to the nation, as the country suffers from fuel and medicine shortages, the Prime Minister said, “We have run out of petrol … At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day.”
According to Wickremesinghe, the government was also unable to raise dollars to pay for three shipments of oil, with the ships awaiting outside the Colombo harbour for payments before discharging their cargoes.
With all these, the country will undoubtedly experience the hardest it has ever gone through in the coming months as this will affect other factors.
Wickremesinghe assumed office on Thursday after his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced out after weeks of protests over the government’s handling of the economic crisis turned deadly.
The citizens have continued to point accusing fingers at the past government for their economic crisis. This led to several protests and displacement of the past leaders.
Despite acknowledging the harsh time ahead, the new leader, Wickremesinghe urged people to “patiently bear the next couple of months” and vowed he could overcome the crisis.
The Prime Minister further noted that the government had also run out of cash to pay the May salaries of 1.4 million civil servants, adding that he will turn to money printing as a last resort.
“Against my own wishes, I am compelled to permit printing money in order to pay state-sector employees and to pay for essential goods and services,” Wickremesinghe said.
He also warned that fuel and electricity tariffs will be raised substantially and his government will also sell off its revenue-losing national carrier to reduce losses.
Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe is yet to announce key ministers including the crucial post of finance minister, who will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for badly needed financial help for the country.
Former Finance Minister Ali Sabry who initially held preliminary talks with the multilateral lender, quit along with Mahinda Rajapaksa last week.
