Crisis-Hit Sri Lanka To Get 2 Shipments Of Fuel In July, 1 In August

Sri Lanka will receive two ships containing petrol and diesel this month and another in August, the Chairman of Lanka IOC, the subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, said on Saturday as it will give relief to the people facing fuel shortages.

One ship is expected to arrive between July 13 and 15 and another ship is scheduled to reach between July 29 and 31. The last one will reach the island nation between August 10 and 15, Daily Mirror Online reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sri Lanka's Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Sagala Ratnayake stated that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has confirmed a petrol shipment that is likely to arrive in the country on July 22.

Sagala Ratnayake also mentioned that several discussions and attempts to secure a fuel shipment before the expected date are being carried out, the News Wire reported.

The Prime Minister's chief of staff added that a shipment of diesel of 38,000 MT is also expected to arrive in the country between the 11 and 15 of July.

Mr Ratnayake further claimed that while one petrol shipment from India is expected to arrive by July 22, the CPC has been carrying out efforts to secure a petrol shipment by July 10.

A total of 11,000 MT of diesel, 5,000 MT of petrol, 30,000 MT of furnace oil, and 800 MT of jet fuel are currently available in the country, the News Wire reported citing Ratnayake.

The current diesel stocks in the country will only be used for essential services until the arrival of a new shipment.

33,000 MT of gas will arrive in the country in July, and a total of 100,000 MT of gas will be procured for the next four months, the local media reported.

Shipments are due on 6th, 10th, 16th, 19th, 21st, and 31st July, it added.

Notably, Sri Lanka has been facing the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, leading to an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel across the island nation.

The nearly-bankrupt country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. 

The economic crisis has particularly impacted food security, agriculture, livelihoods, and access to health services. Food production in the last harvest season was 40 - 50 percent lower than last year, and the current agricultural season is at risk, with seeds, fertilizers, fuel and credit shortages.

Sri Lanka is one of the few nations named by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which is expected to go without food due to the global food shortage expected this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)