![]() Look no further than last week, when President Biden said skyrocketing gas prices were proof of an “ incredible transition.” But, according to a North American Electric Reliability Corporation report, “A growing dependence on less reliable clean energy sources is contributing to the grid’s problems.” Even one of Biden’s top economic advisers recently betrayed the self-inflicted conundrum, explicitly not ruling out blackouts but also highlighting the need for reliable sources like “diesel” to keep power plants running. Rather, it comes as President Joe Biden and radical Democrats ramp up their furious push to enact their disastrous Green New Deal agenda. This sweeping vulnerability that could leave millions without power is not typical. A recent report warns that two-thirds of the United States will be “at high or elevated risk of power outages” over the next few months. The crisis has already forced prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, to resign on May 9.Īn inflation rate spiralling towards 40 per cent, shortages of food, fuel and medicines and rolling power blackouts have led to nationwide protests and a plunging currency, with the government short of the foreign currency reserves it needed to pay for imports.This summer, when you flip on a light, plug in your phone, or turn on the air conditioning, savor it. The economic crisis has also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It is struggling with a shortage of almost all essentials, due to the lack of dollars to pay for the imports.Ī crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people. The island nation is grappling with an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948. Sri Lanka has been mulling different options to facilitate measures to prevent fuel pumps from going dry, as the country faces a severe foreign exchange crisis to pay for its imports. With the original ILC nearing its end the government said another USD 500 million loan is to be worked out with India. Sri Lanka's ongoing forex crisis has meant that no fuel stock piling is possible.ĭue to the dollar shortages, the island since January this year has been banking on an Indian Line of Credit (ILC) for fuel purchases. The police conducted around 429 raids to seize 27,000 litres of petrol and 22,000 litres of diesel, police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa said. Police said that over 130 people have been arrested for hoarding fuel. The hike came as the public continues to suffer in long queues at fuel stations hit by shortages. The decision to raise the Octane 92 petrol price by 24.3 per cent or 82 rupees and diesel by 38.4 per cent or 111 rupees per litre was taken by the state fuel entity, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). With the second fuel price hike since April 19, now the most-used Octane 92 petrol would cost 420 rupees (USD 1.17) and diesel 400 rupees (USD 1.11) a litre, an all-time high. The government has raised the petrol price by 24.3 per cent and diesel by 38.4 per cent, a record hike in fuel prices amidst the country's worst economic crisis due to the shortage of foreign exchange reserves. The government raised the fuel retail prices at 3 am on Monday and the station owners are accused of attempting to make an undue profit of rupees 4.6 million by selling fuel at the new rates when the station had bought stocks at the old prices. State fuel entity officials raided the station and ordered the entire stock of fuel to be released at the pre-increased prices. The police at a Colombo suburb said an attempt by one station to hoard 50,000 litre of fuel was thwarted. Shantha Silva of the fuel distributors' association said workers at pumping stations had come under threat. At least 40 retail stations in most populous districts remain shut due to intimidation by angry public.
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