Fifteen-hour-long power outages to starvation: What awaits Sri Lanka as it runs out of petrol?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warned Lankans that the ‘next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives'. The country, facing its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years, was down to its last day of petrol on Monday
The Sri Lanka economic crisis has reached a tipping point after newly-elected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Monday, announced that the island-country was down to its last day of petrol.

In a televised address to the country, which has seen violent protests and the subsequent reluctant resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe said, “At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day. The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives. We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.”

What does it mean to run out of petrol? What happens to a country in such a situation? How will Sri Lanka fight this crisis? We take a look at the situation and try to answer some of these questions.

Sri Lanka’s crisis

On Monday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the country had run out of petrol and that the residents could face more hardships in the coming months.