COLOMBO, Mar 14 (NNN-XINHUA) – The fuel crisis, caused by the shortage of foreign exchange, has severely impacted the Sri Lankan society, worsening the country’s economy.
The recent increase in crude oil prices in the world market, has made many wonder whether fuel shortages would be a part of daily life. Sri Lankan Minister of Energy, Gamini Lokuge, yesterday told journalists that, at least seven months will be needed to end the current fuel and gas queues in the country.
Long queues of vehicles lining up outside gas stations is a common sight around the country. While Sri Lanka managed to procure adequate supplies of petrol, used by most private motor cars, the country still suffers from diesel shortages.
Diesel is used by buses, trains, power plants and many industries, and due to the shortages in diesel, many industries are operating at a suboptimal level.
In the first week of Mar, between 80 percent and 90 percent of private buses were not operating, due to inadequate diesel.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has a number of diesel-run power plants that the country depends on, to provide an uninterrupted supply of power, during the dry season, between Jan and May.
The Ceylon Electricity Board has been forced to shut down 350 megawatts of diesel power plants, from late Feb, due to lack of fuel supply, which has brought about frequent power cuts in the past few weeks.
Sri Lankan medical unions had been urging the government to exempt hospitals from the island-wide power cuts.
The fuel shortages have also affected the country’s agriculture, with farmers unable to operate machinery or transport their produce to the market.
Data shows that, from 2010 to 2020, Sri Lanka’s average import expenditure on fuel was 3.725 billion U.S. dollars per year.
By the beginning of Dec, 2021, Sri Lanka’s forex reserves were sufficient for just a month of imports, and the Ministry of Finance, faced with a severe dollar shortage, was not willing to release significant amounts of foreign exchange, to purchase fuel.– NNN-XINHUA
