Higher oil prices push Sri Lanka into deeper economic crisis

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s already dire economic crisis has deepened as oil prices hover near $110 a barrel. Vehicles are stranded with empty tanks, power cuts are depriving students of study time for exams and shopping mall air conditioners are being switched off to conserve energy.

The South Asian island nation already was so short of hard currency that authorities had restricted imports of cars and fertilizer. It's now having to scrape into dwindling reserves to pay for ever more costly oil needed to keep the economy running.

Authorities have announced countrywide power cuts extending up to 7 1/2 hours a day because they can’t supply enough fuel to power stations. Hydro power, the other energy mainstay, often runs short during the dry season. It will only end with monsoonal rains that usually begin in May.

“We can't find diesel, naphtha and furnace oil, all three kinds and therefore we have been compelled to go for such an extended power cut,” Sri Lanka's Public Utilities Commission Chairman Janaka Ratnayake told reporters.

Bus services vital for many workers are also in trouble, unable to find diesel and sometimes stranding passengers mid-route.

Ravindra Mendis, owner of seven passenger buses, said four are idled for now due to the fuel crisis.

“This diesel shortage is a severe hardship,” Mendis said as he waited patiently to buy fuel at a station in Gampaha town, 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of the capital, Colombo.

”We are losing revenue and time, since we have to spend hours waiting in long lines to buy diesel,” he said.

The higher oil prices are just an extra burden in what really is a foreign exchange crunch, said Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila. He said stations also are rationing fuel to stop people from stockpiling diesel at home for their...