Sri Lanka likely to run out of fuel by second week of May, says former PM

Former Prime Minister and United National Parliamentarian Ranil Wickremesinghe warned that Sri Lanka could run out of fuel in the second week of May or later in the month, after the current Indian credit line is exhausted.

Wickremesinghe made this comment to CNBC Television on Monday while speaking about the worsening economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka.

He said that he does not expect any further bilateral assistance to Sri Lanka from India, as the latter has extended its highest ever financing support to a single country.

From the start of the year, India has extended Sri Lanka a combined financial assistance up to US $ 2.4 billion by way of a debt deferment, swap lines, a credit line and a term loan worth of US $ 1 billion.

Instead of relying on one single country for bailout, Wickremesinghe proposed to formulate a multi-country group consisting of India, China, Japan, South Korea and European partners to negotiate financial support to build dollar liquidity and finance essential imports to Sri Lanka.

If not, he warned that the entire private sector could come to a grinding halt from June onwards.