Crisis-hit Sri Lanka bans fuel sales for two weeks 

Colombo: In a bid to deal the severe feul shortage, the Sri Lankan authorities has decided to impose a two-week ban on petroleum sales for private vehicles, starting Tuesday (today). 

According to details, Sri Lanka is facing its worst-ever economic crisis since its independence. Hence, for the next fourteen days, only passenger busses, trains and medical vehicles will be able to get fuel. 

The officials also decided to shut all the urban schools and offices, urging employees to work from home till July 10. 

It is pertinent to mention here that the fuel storage in the country remains at around 9,000 tons of diesel and 6,000 tons of petrol, with no new shipments soon. 

The nation, reportedly, consumes about 5,000 tonnes of diesel and 3,000 tonnes of petrol a day just to meet its transport requirements.

It has been estimated that stock will end in less than a week if petrol is used on regular basis. 

The power and energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera stated: “We are doing everything we can to get new stocks but we don't know when that will be”.

"We are hoping to keep power cuts at three to four hours for the next two months," said the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka. 

In the meantime, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is visiting Sri Lanka for talks on a $3 billion bailout package. 

The country is hoping to reach a staff-level agreement before the visit ends on Thursday. 

Sri Lanka has received about $4 billion in financial assistance from India, while the United States (US) also agreed to provide technical assistance for its fiscal management.