蜜芽传媒

Sri Lanka's new prime minister says the country is down to its last day of petrol as it faces its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years.聽

In a televised address, Ranil Wickremesinghe said the nation urgently needs $75m of foreign currency in the next few days to pay for essential imports.聽

The island nation's economy has been hit hard by the pandemic, rising energy prices and populist tax cuts. Ahilan Kadirgamar, a political Economist at the University of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka says, "This is affecting almost the entire population... The price hikes in particular are affecting the working people. Those in the informal sector, farmers, fisherfolk, those who depend in day rate labour."

(Photo: Drivers waiting to buy petrol at a petrol station due to the fuel shortage in Colombo. Credit: Getty Images)