Nagpur: Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, stated that the country has run out of petrol, and that the country urgently needs $75 million in foreign exchange in the next few days to pay for essential imports such as medicines.
“We have run out of petrol,” Wickremesinghe said. At the moment, we only have enough petrol for one day,” Wickremesinghe said in a speech to the nation on Monday, as the country is already suffering from fuel and medicine shortages. “We must prepare ourselves to make sacrifices and face challenges during this period,” he added.
He claimed that the government was unable to raise funds to pay for three oil shipments that were awaiting payment outside the Colombo harbour before discharging their cargoes.
The economic crisis sparked widespread protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksha and his family, culminating in his elder brother Mahinra’s resignation as Prime Minister last week.
