The Sri Lankan government has announced that citizens should not wait in line for petrol as the crisis-hit Sri Lanka defaults on debt and runs out of fuel.
The crisis-stricken country has no money to buy fuel. Following violent public protests that began in early April in Colombo and swiftly spread across the country due to skyrocketing costs amid food and other basic resource shortages such as medicine, the Sri Lankan government announced Wednesday that citizens should "not wait in line" for petrol.
In a television address on Tuesday, Sri Lanka's new prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, claimed that the country was on its "last day of petrol" amid the worst crisis in over seven decades. He estimated that the country would require an immediate bailout of at least $75 million in foreign currency only to fund necessary imports for the next few days.
Hundreds of petrol stations have seen miles of vehicles backed up, desperate for gas.
He also hinted that the central ban...