COLOMBO/NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka is trying to arrange a payment of $35 million for a shipment of 40,000 tonnes of diesel with just a few days of stocks left, the energy minister said on Monday, warning of a looming fuel shortage as foreign exchange runs short.

Reserves in the Indian Ocean nation, which typically spends about $450 million each month on fuel imports, dwindled to $2.36 billion by the end of January.

The shipment reached the port of Colombo on Sunday, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila told Reuters, adding that his ministry was in talks with the finance ministry and the central bank to release the funds.

“Even with this fuel, we will only have diesel for six days,” he said. “We are heading for a serious fuel shortage because we do not have adequate foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.”

State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has begun to ration distribution in an effort to prepare for the crisis, by issuing just about half of what is typically released to pumping stations, the minister added.