The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka said that the whole country only had 1 day of gasoline left to use

Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed prime minister since May 12. In his speech yesterday, he said that Sri Lanka is in need of 75 million USD in foreign exchange to import essential goods.

“At this point, we only have enough gasoline in reserve for one day. The next few months will be extremely difficult for our lives. We need to be prepared to make sacrifices and face challenges during this period,” he said.

Two petrol and two diesel trains using Indian loans will come to the rescue in a few days, but Sri Lanka is also short of 14 basic medicines.

This country has a budget deficit of up to 6.8 billion USD, equivalent to 13% of GDP.

The economic crisis sparked widespread protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family, leading to the resignation of his brother Prime Minister Mahinda last week amid deadly clashes between forces pro-government and protesters.

In response to the crisis, new Prime Minister Wickremesignhe said the country would print more money and privatize Sri Lanka’s main airline to sustain the economy, although he acknowledged that inflation was will become more severe in the short term.

In a speech on May 16, Mr. Wickremesignhe promised to “build a country without long lines of people to buy fuel, a country rich in resources”.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa replaced Mr. Wickremesinghe in his brother’s place to appease the protesters. However, many said they would continue to protest as long as Gotabaya Rajapaksa remained president. Protesters say Mr Wickremesinghe is just a “puppet” and criticize the way he chooses people to fill ministerial positions in the cabinet.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said he took the position for the good of the country.

In Colombo, long lines of people were still waiting in front of stores to buy fuel.

“I waited in line for more than six hours. We have to queue for 6-7 hours a day to buy petrol,” driver Mohammad Ali told CNN.

After the great impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sharp increase in oil prices and the populist tax cuts implemented by the Rajapaksas government, the island nation located in the Indian Ocean is in the midst of a crisis not seen since. upon independence in 1948.

According to Binh Giang