As dollar reserves tumble Sri Lanka could be forced to endure 15-hour power cuts.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe noted that Sri Lanka could be forced to endure power cuts of up to 15 hours.

“A quarter of electricity is generated through oil. Therefore, there is a possibility that the daily power outages will increase to 15 hours a day,” he told in his 13 minute recorded television speech.

The island nation’s dollar shortage has heavily hit the energy sector as it is solely dependent on imports for fuel, gas, and coal.

“We must also immediately obtain 20 million US dollars to provide (cooking) gas to consumers. The situation of kerosene and furnace oil is even more urgent.” Ranil added.

“At present, the Central Bank, local state and private banks, and foreign banks functioning in Sri Lanka are all facing a dollar shortage,” he said. Before he became the prime minister, he had warned of a possible collapse in the country’s banking sector in the near future.

“To ease the queues, we must obtain approximately 75 million US dollars within the next couple of days. At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day. Due to the diesel shipment that arrived yesterday, the diesel lack of diesel will be resolved to some extent,”  Wickremesinghe said.

Under the Indian credit line, two more diesel shipments are due to arrive on the 18th May and 1st June. In addition, two petrol shipments are expected on 18th and 29th May.”

Sri Lanka has been unable to pay for fuel and gas shipments after the government was unable to pay the dues for the imports. The prime minister said three ships have been anchored within Sri Lanka waters for the last 40 days while admitting the country had a very lower amount of reserves.

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