Inter provincial public transport to be halted in Sri Lanka due to fuel shortages
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Click here to see other videos from our team. Bandula Gunawardena said that inter provincial public transport would likely come to a halt, as the island nation s cabinet of ministers has decided to limit distribution of fuel to essential services until July 10, and that inter-provincial transport would be halted. The port, health services, food transport and petrol and diesel services will be provided, while all other sectors are asked to stay at home and provide services online in this difficult time, Gunawardena said. Our country is facing an unprecedented foreign exchange crisis because of the state of finance and finance crisis. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told lawmakers last week that the economy had collapsed, saying the island nation is unable to purchase fuel due to shortages of essentials and electricity. His government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund and other bilateral creditors such as India and China for fresh funds to pay for imports after he defaulted on its dollar bonds earlier this year and saw foreign reserves dwindle.
The government had already closed schools and asked civil servants to work from home to curtail transport, leaving many roads deserted over the past days, even as thousands of vehicles lined up in queues waiting for filling stations to be replenished. The energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said on Sunday that Sri Lanka plans to allow foreign companies to distribute fuel in a bid to ease the crippling shortages that have plagued most economic activity. The president's office said late Monday that the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has agreed to pay outstanding dues to companies for fuel supplies with a plan. President Rajapaksa also instructed officials to take immediate action to import fuel using existing funds, even though it said they didn't elaborate. The government is sending envoys to Qatar and Russia this week to secure fresh supplies, and is hoping for approval from India of a $500 million credit line for fuel imports.
The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to New Delhi, Milinda Moragoda, met with India s Minister of Petroleum Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the possibility of securing petrol and diesel supplies that are required by the island nation on an urgent basis. According to a Facebook post from the high commission, Moragoda briefed Puri about the acute challenges that Sri Lanka is currently facing with regard to the supply and distribution of petroleum products.