Sri Lanka Declares Friday As Public Holiday To Save Fuel As Depots Run Dry

With economic activity coming to near halt in Sri Lanka, the government on Friday declared a holiday to stop vehicular movement in a bid to save fuel, news agency Bloomberg said in a report.

The decision from the Ranil Wickremesinghe-led government came after government fuel deposits ran out of stock with chances of fresh supplies unlikely.

Following the announcement, streets around the capital city of Colombo were deserted. Queues of thousands of vehicles stretching for dozens of miles were seen outside petrol stations as they waited for them to be refilled.

Sri Lankan news agency the Daily Mirror reported that a letter of credit (LC) for $42.6 million was opened by People’s Bank to purchase a shipment of 300,000 barrels of Octane 92 Petrol.

The Friday holiday for Sri Lankans was brought forth by the government decision to implement a four-day work week in view of the current fuel crisis and people were also asked to plant vegetables in their backyard to address any future food shortages that may emerge.

The Sri Lankan minister for power and energy Kanchana Wijesekera on Thursday said Ceylon Petroleum Corp did not receive tenders for fresh fuel stocks as outstanding payments deterred suppliers.

Sri Lanka reached out to several nations and oil companies for supplies. It also reached out to Russia and hopes India will approve a  $500 million credit line for fuel imports, the energy minister said.

Meanwhile, protests demanding the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa at Colombo’s Galle Face continue. People of Sri Lanka have put the onus on the shoulders of the Rajapaksa family for the current economic crisis they face.

Inflation at nearly 40%, daily power outage of more than 13 hours, a debt default, severe shortages of fuel and medicine have angered citizens and put the Rajapaksas in the eye of the storm.

Sri Lanka will require  $6 billion in aid from the International Monetary Fund and countries including India and China, to help mitigate the crisis for the next six months. Authorities are also discussing fast-track bailout talks with the IMF to procure other fresh sources of funding.

The Sri Lankan economy contracted in Q1 following public protests, political instability, high commodity prices and supply-chain snarls. A report by news agency Bloomberg says a recession this year will be unavoidable.

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