India Narrative

Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. The South Asian Island nation is in the grips of acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines. The 13-hour power-cuts have become the norm and the country was forced to cancel school exams as it could not pay for the imports of paper. And now, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned, and fled to a naval base in Trincomalee. Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have declined to an alarming $ 1.6 billion in March 2022. However, it has upwards of $ 7 billion debt obligations slated for this year. Amidst the deepening economic crisis, Sri Lanka has defaulted on the $ 51-billion foreign debts. The decision to default was expected and yet it will make it difficult for Sri Lanka to borrow.  To manage the crisis, the government has sought assistance from India, China, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the regime led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is on a sticky wicket. He has brought in a new

  Sri Lanka on Wednesday faced a severe crisis after it had to shut down the Kelanitissa Power Plant during the night due to the lack of diesel. The power plant generates 300 megawatts of electricity on a daily basis. With a severe foreign exchange shortage that the country has been facing for the past many months, Sri Lanka has not been able to import oil. The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) could not supply diesel to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), due to which the entire country is facing a power cut of 1.5 hours, reports the Daily Mirror. While the Kelanitissa Power Plant was shut down today, one of the generators of the Sapugaskanda Power Plant was shut down on Tuesday due to the lack of heavy furnace oil. Currently, only half of the plant is functioning after it received 900 metric tonnes of emergency furnace oil. Media reports indicate that more turbines are likely to be shut down by Wednesday afternoon due to the fuel shortage. The power shortage can go up to 2.5 hours.