Swathes of Sri Lanka faced prolonged power cuts on Wednesday as a deepening economic crisis roiled markets and buffeted businesses, with the government unable to pay for fuel shipments because of a foreign exchange shortage, an official said.
The country of 22 million people is seeking assistance from the International Monetary Funds , having slid into its worst economic crisis in decades as a result of badly-timed tax cuts, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and historically weak government finances.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comForeign exchange reserves have fallen by 70% in the past two years and were down to a paltry $2.
Some water at hydro-power reservoirs is being held back for irrigation ahead of the new cropping reason and domestic use, the ministry said. If Sri lanka secures an IMF programme it would be its 17th financial rescue package from the global lender.Harpo Gooneratne, a restaurateur in Sri Lanka's main city of Colombo, said the diesel shortage made it difficult to operate his 10 restaurants during power cuts despite some of them having their own generators.
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