Lanka to restrict fuel imports for next 12 months

Sri Lanka will restrict fuel imports for the next 12 months because of a severe shortage of foreign exchange, its energy minister said yesterday, as the island nation's new government seeks to find a way out of a crippling economic crisis.

The country of 22 million has been grappling with a lack of essentials, including fuel and medicines, for months, after its foreign exchange reserves ran dry because of economic mismanagement and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Due to Forex issues, Fuel imports has to be restricted in the next 12 months," Sri Lanka's Minister for Power and Energy, Kanchana Wijesekera, said in a tweet, explaining the rationale behind a fuel rationing system that will be implemented this week.

The rationing system is among the first steps that Sri Lanka's new President Ranil Wickremesinghe will take to ease the impact of the crisis after taking office last week following a victory in a parliament vote.