COLOMBO (REUTERS) - Sri Lanka has received US$160 million (S$222 million) in bridge financing from the World Bank in order to pay for essential imports, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday (May 18).

"We are working to see if these funds can be used for fuel imports," he told the country's parliament.

On Monday, Mr Wickremesinghe said the crisis-hit nation was down to its last day of petrol.

The country’s Power Minister had told citizens not to join lengthy fuel queues that have galvanised weeks of anti-government protests.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who was appointed prime minister last Thursday, had said in an address to the nation on Monday that the country urgently needed US$75 million (S$104 million) in foreign exchange to pay for essential imports.