Sri Lanka is rationing fuel due to economic collapse.

 

Soldiers check fuel tokens at a gas station. CNBC/Reuters. 

Sri Lanka is rationing fuel due to an ongoing economic collapse. CNBC/Reuters. Sri Lanka is dealing with an economic crisis and foreign reserves at a record low. Fuel will now be reserved for essentials including food transport, health service and public transportation. Even with restrictions Sri Lanka is likely to run out of fuel in a week to ten days. Schools will be closed and everyone will be advised to work from home. The country is falling apart and it is feared there will be more clashes between pro and anti government forces. Sri Lanka is trying to get a bailout from India to resolve its economic situation. 

My Comment:

I haven't been paying close attention to Sri Lanka but it is crazy that they are in such a poor financial situation that they will be running out of fuel. Fuel rationing like this is almost unimaginable even in the third world but it is happening. 

Sri Lanka's economy is a basket case for many reasons that should sound familiar to Americans. They have huge budget deficits and are dealing with major inflation. The government also has done some incredibly dumb things, like moving to only organic farming, which had predictable results. Doing so caused them to be no longer self-sufficient in their rice production and ruined their tea exports. 

Some of this is due to the utter destruction of the Sri Lankan tourism industry. The massive ISIS attack in 2019 did not help things at all but that's not the only problem. Many people don't want to go to an economically stable country. Things were made worse due to the war in Ukraine as both Russia and Ukraine are a major source of tourism for the country and that has obviously been shut down. 

I don't really know enough about the situation to know if Sri Lanka can pull themselves out of this misery. It doesn't look like it. If they are at the point where they are even rationing fuel I don't things will be getting much better anytime soon. 

I do think that this problem won't be limited to Sri Lanka. Fuel prices are out of control and Sri Lanka is far from the only country that is dealing with inflation and huge amounts of debt. Sure, they have other problems but I just don't see how things get better until fuel prices drop. And given the war in Ukraine and the reluctance of oil producing countries to pump more oil I think that things will get worse before they get better... if they get better.