AGL 40.13 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.33%)
AIRLINK 131.00 Increased By ▲ 1.47 (1.13%)
BOP 6.86 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.69%)
CNERGY 4.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.38%)
DCL 8.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.57%)
DFML 41.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-0.46%)
DGKC 83.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.32%)
FCCL 32.80 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.09%)
FFBL 76.24 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (1.02%)
FFL 11.84 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (3.23%)
HUBC 109.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.56 (-0.51%)
HUMNL 14.26 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-2.06%)
KEL 5.43 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.74%)
KOSM 8.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-2.98%)
MLCF 38.91 Decreased By ▼ -0.88 (-2.21%)
NBP 64.00 Increased By ▲ 3.71 (6.15%)
OGDC 196.99 Decreased By ▼ -2.67 (-1.34%)
PAEL 25.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-2.85%)
PIBTL 7.64 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.26%)
PPL 156.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.92 (-1.22%)
PRL 26.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.71 (-2.66%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-5.2%)
SEARL 81.35 Decreased By ▼ -1.09 (-1.32%)
TELE 8.07 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-2.89%)
TOMCL 33.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-1.91%)
TPLP 8.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-3.97%)
TREET 16.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.67 (-3.84%)
TRG 57.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.82 (-6.23%)
UNITY 27.70 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (0.98%)
WTL 1.46 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (5.8%)
BR100 10,604 Increased By 196.9 (1.89%)
BR30 31,670 Decreased By -43 (-0.14%)
KSE100 98,679 Increased By 1350.9 (1.39%)
KSE30 30,737 Increased By 544.2 (1.8%)

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has paid $35.3 million for a 40,000 tonne diesel shipment, an energy ministry official said on Wednesday, seeking to stave off rolling power cuts amid a foreign exchange crisis that has hampered purchases of diesel for power plants.

"The government has made the payment and the ship will start offloading fuel soon," said the official, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to speak to media.

Sri Lanka is battling its worst financial crisis in years with foreign exchanges reserves hitting $2.36 billion at the end of January.

The country has to repay about $4 billion in debt repayments this year.

The reserves crunch has impeded the island nation's ability to purchase essential imports, including fuel.

Sri Lanka out of cash to buy oil: minister

The country of 22 million people requires about 4,000 tonne of diesel everyday to run multiple thermal power plants, and the power regulator announced hours-long load shedding this week to conserve fuel stock.

"Priority will be given to meet requirements of the vehicle fleet and about 10,000 tonnes will be released for thermal power generation," the energy ministry official said.

Comments

Comments are closed.