Sri Lanka: No medicines, 10-hour power cuts as economic crisis worsens

Ceylon Petroleum requested the public not to queue for diesel on Wednesday and Thursday after the state-run refiner failed to unload a shipment of 37,500 metric tonnes of the fuel

Sri Lanka’s government extended the duration of daily electricity outages to 10 hours, refiners advised citizens not to queue at fuel stations as diesel runs out, and state-run hospitals don’t have enough life-saving medicines as the nation’s foreign-currency shortage spirals into a worsening humanitarian crisis.

“This is a sad day,” Morning newspaper cited Janaka Ratnayake, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, as telling reporters in Colombo Tuesday after increasing the power cuts from seven hours a day. 

Ceylon Petroleum requested the public not to queue for diesel on Wednesday and Thursday after the state-run refiner failed to unload a