Fuel-starved Sri Lanka orders govt employees to work from home

COLOMBO • Out of fuel and struggling to contain a deepening economic crisis, Sri Lanka has ordered government employees to work from home to reduce the pressure on public transport.

The government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has faced months of sustained protests over mismanagement of the economy, told employees of the state and education sectors not to show up at the workplace for two weeks, according to a statement from the Ministry of Public Administration on Friday.

Workers deemed essential were exempted.

Sri Lanka had already reduced working days by declaring Friday a holiday and by urging government employees "to engage in home gardening or cultivating short-term crops during these days on which the offices are closed" to help overcome the food shortage.

The work-from-home announcement described the new order as a response to "the situation, where it has become difficult to satisfy transport requirements".

A shortage of foreign cash reserves for essential imports has worsened Sri Lanka's crisis, which has been attributed to mismanagement by members of the powerful ruling Rajapaksa family.

Among their catastrophic policies were tax cuts that shrunk revenue already hit by a drop in tourism income because of the pandemic, and a ban on chemical fertiliser to promote organic farming, which devastated farmers.

Months of protests have forced many members of the ruling family, including older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was prime minister, out of the government.

But Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa has held firm as president, introducing a new prime minister and hoping to attract aid from friendly nations and negotiate with the International Monetary Fund to restructure the country's mounting debt.

The new prime minister, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, has told Sri Lanka's Parliament that the country would need US$5 billion (S$7 billion) to import essential items over the next six months "to ensure our daily lives are not disrupted", much of it going towards fuel purchases.

"The country spends US$500 million per month on fuel," Mr Wickremesinghe said.

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said last Thursday that the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp had not received tenders for fresh stocks of fuel because suppliers were deterred by outstanding payments.

Fuel queues eased slightly after some shipments arrived from India last month. But as the stocks dwindled again, the government has sought to contain demand - by ordering workers to stay home and by introducing new rationing in which a vehicle can receive fuel only once a week.

The cooking gas shortage has become so hopeless that people have stopped queueing. Instead, in many neighbourhoods they have left their gas cylinders in queue, chaining them together to prevent theft. At least 10 people have died in fuel queues since the beginning of the crisis, according to local news reports.

The United Nations has warned that the economic crisis is putting one-quarter of Sri Lanka's 21 million people at risk of food shortages. As food inflation exceeds 50 per cent and hospitals have exhausted stocks of essential medicine, the UN appealed for about US$50 million to provide four months of "lifesaving assistance" to nearly two million of the worst hit.

"If we don't act now, many families will be unable to meet their basic food needs," said Ms Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka.

NYTIMES, BLOOMBERG