The Sri Lankan government forced a nationwide 10-hour daily power cut due to a fuel shortage. Sri Lanka is facing an unusual economic and energy crisis caused due to shortage of foreign exchange. A sudden rise in prices of essential items and fuel shortage forced thousands of people to queue for hours outside petrol filling stations. People are also facing long hours of power cuts daily.

Energy Minister Gamini Lokuge said the government would urgently purchase 6,000 metric tonnes of diesel from LIOC, the Lanka subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation. It will be used for emergency services and power generation State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has asked people not to queue outside fuel stations to buy diesel as it could not pay for a shipment that had arrived.

India had recently announced a $1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis after it had provided a $500 billion line of credit in February to help it purchase petroleum products. During his visit to Colombo, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had ensured India’s support to Sri Lanka in its economic recovery process.