The Sri Lankan government has ordered troops to be deployed at petrol stations today, amid sporadic outbursts of huge waiting queues waiting to be refueled with petrol, diesel or kerosene, now in short supply.
According to authorities, the soldiers deployed after the blockade, for several hours yesterday Monday, of a busy street in the capital Colombo by a crowd outraged by the shortage of gasoline and kerosene.
“The spirits are getting hotter and hotter as the queues get longer,” a senior defense ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“The decision was made last night to call on the soldiers to reinforce the police, in order to discourage any disturbance of public order,” he added.
Crowds of women blocked a bus carrying tourists to protest the lack of kerosene needed for their kitchens, recorded videos that were uploaded to social networking sites and became widespread yesterday.
Army officials said the troops were deployed at the Ceylon Petroleum Corp. gas station, which owns two-thirds of the fuel retail network.
The development of the army also followed the murder of a motorcyclist, who was stabbed by a driver after they quarreled over the queues at a gas station at the exit of the capital.
Cargoes of oil and liquefied petroleum gas are blocked in the main port of Colombo, as importers are unable to raise enough foreign currency to pay for them.
The office of President Gotabaya Rajapakha also announced that it would convene a council of political leaders tomorrow to discuss the economic crisis, but opposition parties have made it clear that they intend to abstain.
The island of 22 million people is experiencing the worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.
The jihadist attacks on Easter 2019 and then the new coronavirus pandemic about a year later had devastating consequences, as they deprived the country of the tourist manna, the main source of foreign exchange needed to finance imports.
Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves, which reached $ 7.5 billion when President Gotha Baya Rajapaxa took office in November 2019, fell to $ 2.3 billion at the end of February; goods for about a month.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed on Friday that it would study President Rajapakha’s unexpected request for talks on a new support program.
The island government is seeking to renegotiate part of its $ 51 billion foreign debt. It will need nearly $ 7 billion to service its debt this year alone.
The IMF says Sri Lanka’s urgent need to implement a “credible and coherent strategy to restore macroeconomic stability and make debt manageable”.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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