Sri Lanka announces weekly fuel quotas

• Sri Lanka has been experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades.
• The government has been unable to import basic essentials such as food, gasoline, and medication.
• The UN has issued a $47 million appeal to purchase basic food for 1.7 million Sri Lankans over the next four months.

Crisis-hit On Sunday, Sri Lanka set weekly fuel limits for vehicles as a severe shortage worsened and lengthier lines formed outside the few remaining pumping stations.

Kanchana Wijesekera, the energy minister, said the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was struggling to fund oil imports, while consumption had increased owing to electricity and liquefied petroleum gas shortages.

“Until we can strengthen our financial situation, we have no choice but to register consumers at filling stations and provide them a guaranteed weekly limit,” the minister stated.

“By the first week of July, I want to have this system in place.”

He did not specify how much gasoline motorists will be able to purchase under the new scheme.

Due to a lack of foreign exchange reserves, Sri Lanka has been experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades, with the government unable to import basic essentials such as food, gasoline, and medication.

The government ordered all gas stations to pump no more than four litres of gasoline for a motorcycle, five litres for a three-wheeler, and 19.5 litres of gasoline or diesel for automobiles and SUVs in mid-April.

Many motorists would fill up, drain fuel into cans to establish a buffer stock, and then return to the line for more under that method.

Sri Lanka received a consignment of Russian crude oil to refine on the island two weeks ago, but the completed product from the Sapugaskanda refinery was less than a tenth of the country’s daily demand.

Last month, a supply of 90,000 tonnes of Siberian light crude was shipped to Sri Lanka’s lone refinery after being purchased on credit via Dubai-based intermediary Coral Energy.

According to Energy Minister Wijesekera, the Sri Lankan government has also sought Moscow’s embassy in Colombo to assist in securing direct Russian oil shipments.

Sri Lanka went into default on its $51 billion foreign debt in mid-April and has since begun rescue talks with the International Monetary Fund.

The UN has issued a $47 million appeal to purchase basic food for 1.7 million Sri Lankans over the next four months.

The country’s biggest economic crisis since independence in 1948 has generated widespread calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.

Instead, he persuaded his brother Mahinda to resign as Prime Minister on May 9.

President Rajapaksa then named opposition politician Ranil Wickremesinghe to follow Mahinda and help the country emerge from its historic economic crisis.