Sri Lanka rushes to find fuel as shortages hit schools, workers

• Sri Lanka’s power and energy minister announced on Tuesday that the duopoly governing imports will end .
• The minister, Kanchana Wijesekera, was leaving for Qatar when the cabinet made its decision.
• Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksantha Wijesekera travelled to Qatar on Monday.

In quest of energy deals to ease a chronic fuel shortage that is crushing the island nation’s economy and forcing many schools to close, a Sri Lankan government minister visited Qatar on Tuesday, and another will visit Russia this weekend.

The 22 million-person South Asian nation is grappling with a financial crisis that has dangerously low currency reserves, making it more challenging to import necessities like food, medication, gasoline, and diesel.

As a result of recent violent protests and the resignation of important ministers, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are now battling to restore stability to the country.

The power and energy minister announced on Tuesday that the duopoly governing imports will end and firms from oil-producing countries would be permitted to enter the market in an effort to bring more fuel into Sri Lanka.

The minister, Kanchana Wijesekera, was leaving for Qatar when the cabinet made its decision, and a ministerial colleague was scheduled to land in Russia on Sunday.

The government has invited important partners India, China, and Japan to a donor conference in order to supplement the billions of dollars in aid already pledged. The government is also in discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a loan package.

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Data made public on Tuesday highlighted the harm the crisis has done to the country’s economy.

In comparison to the same period in 2021, Sri Lanka’s economy shrank by 1.6 percent in January to March. Analysts predicted that greater inflation and political unpredictability might cause the economy to shrink by up to 5 percent in the second quarter.

The COVID-19 outbreak that has decimated the nation’s valuable tourism business and remittances from foreign workers, Rajapaksa’s poorly timed tax cuts that depleted government funds, and rising oil prices have all contributed to the unrest.

Since supplies of fuel would only last a week or so based on normal demand, the government halted urban schools for around two weeks starting on Tuesday and only permitted fuel supply to services deemed vital including hospitals, railways, and buses. People have been urged to work from home, according to a government spokesman who made the claim on Monday.

More and more common people are looking for opportunities to emigrate from their own countries and start new lives elsewhere.

The navy reported that it had apprehended 47 people, including seven children, off the west coast late on Monday as they tried to enter Australia illegally due to the increased demand for passports.

In the past two weeks, more than 120 persons trying to flee the nation in small boats have been intercepted.

RUSSIAN LINKS

While Education Minister Susil Premajayanth is scheduled to arrive in Russia on July 3, Wijesekera took a late-night flight to Qatar on Monday.

According to a ministry source who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, Wijesekera aims to locate a long-term gasoline supplier in Qatar who is “prepared to deal with Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange and other issues.”

Rajapaksa reported on Twitter that he had a meeting with Yuri Materiy, the Russian ambassador, on Monday. Last month, Sri Lanka purchased 90,000 tonnes of Russian oil.

At this meeting, there was considerable discussion about preserving the strong bilateral relationships between our two nations while concentrating on expanding trade potential, according to Rajapaksa.

As schools were closed and the majority of public and private sector employees worked from home on Tuesday, there was little traffic on the streets of Colombo, the country’s capital.

However, there were still running buses, trains, and open stores selling groceries and other necessities.

In order to prevent a projected food scarcity in the upcoming months, the government of Sri Lanka announced that it will farm 250,000 hectares (617,763 acres) of idle land owned by religious institutions, including mosques, churches, and temples.

Due in part to a decrease in production as a result of a ban on chemical fertilisers last year, which has since been lifted, Sri Lanka may soon run short of essential foods, particularly rice.

This month, Wickremesinghe informed the legislature that Sri Lanka need almost $5 billion to cover imports of food, gasoline, and fertiliser.

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