After the pandemic shattered the country’s economy, Sri Lanka has been affected the hardest by the economic crisis. It is reported to be turning down its street lights to save electricity, according to an official, as the country’s worst economic crisis in decades brought further power outages and gloom to its main stock exchange, halting trading as prices plummeted.
Because the government is unable to make payments for fuel imports due to a lack of foreign cash, the island nation of 22 million people is experiencing rolling power outages lasting up to 13 hours per day.
Power Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told reporters, “We have already asked authorities to turn off street lights around the country to assist conserve power.”
Wanniarachchi said a diesel cargo from India under a $500 million credit line is anticipated to arrive on Saturday, but she warned that the situation was not likely to change any time soon.
“Once that arrives, we will be able to reduce load shedding hours,” Wanniarachchi told reporters, “but until we receive rains, which will most likely be some time in May, power cuts will have to continue.”
