Sri Lanka’s newly installed prime minister; Ranil Wickremesinghe, has warned the citizens that the next few months “will be the most difficult of our lives.”
During a nationally televised address on Monday, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the small South Asian nation needed $75 million within the next few days to buy essential supplies of fuel and medicine.
“In November 2019, our foreign exchange reserves were at $7.5bn. However, today, it is a challenge for the Treasury to find $1m,” he said.
He also said the country had just a single day of fuel left, and that daily electricity cuts could increase as much as 15 hours a day.
The South Asian island nation is struggling under the weight of heavy debt and declining foreign reserves that have created critical shortages of medicine, food, and fuel that have led to several hours of power blackouts a day and led to rising fuel and transportation costs. The COVID-19 pandemic has also ground Sri Lanka’s vital tourism industry to a halt, dealing an additional blow to its economy.
Wickremesinghe said he would seek to privatize Sri Lankan Airlines and ask for foreign assistance to pay for critical fuel shipments that are anchored within its maritime zone.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa named Wickremesinghe as prime minister last week to succeed his brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down from the post on May 9 as the political and economic crisis took a violent turn when supporters of the Rajapaksa brothers attacked demonstrators who had gathered peacefully in the capital, Colombo, demanding their resignation.
Nine people were killed and more than 200 injured after several days of fighting between protesters and the government.
While there are ships carrying fuel in the harbour of the capital city, Colombo, the prime minister admitted that the government could not currently afford to pay for them, even as people queued in desperation for hours outside petrol stations.
“We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period,” said Wickremesinghe.