Sri Lanka economic crisis: Govt keeps schools closed until Friday amid fuel shortage
Sri Lanka imports oil from Russia (representative image)
Because there isn't enough fuel for parents and teachers to transport children to classes, cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Sunday extended school closures for one week. The energy minister pleaded with the nation's expats to transfer money home through banks to finance additional oil purchases.
Due to a substantial foreign debt, none of the island's gasoline providers are ready to offer fuel on credit. According to officials, the existing inventories, which are only enough to last a few days, would be used to support vital services like food distribution, public transportation, and workers in the health and port industries.
"Finding money is difficult. It's an enormous problem, "Kanchana Wijesekera, the minister of power and energy, told reporters.
He claimed that the government has placed an order for fresh fuel supplies, and that the first ship carrying 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel is anticipated to arrive on Friday and the first ship carrying gasoline on July 22.
There are plenty of other fuel supplies on the way. He added that the government is having trouble coming up with $587 million to cover the cost of the fuel. According to Wijesekera, Sri Lanka owes seven fuel suppliers around $800 million.
Due to fuel shortages, schools were shuttered for a day last month across the country and had been closed for the previous two weeks in metropolitan areas. The last day of classes is Friday.
Because they are unable to deliver enough fuel to power producing plants, authorities have announced up to three-hour daily nationwide power outages starting on Monday. Massive power outages and acute shortages of necessities like cooking gas, medications, and food imports have been a drag on Sri Lanka's economy for months.
Wijesekera claimed that the lack of dollars is the primary issue and urged the 2 million Sri Lankans who are employed overseas to transmit their foreign exchange earnings through regular channels rather than illegal ones.
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