Sri Lanka will require $5 billion in essentials for next 6 months: PM Ranil Wickremesinghe

The cash-strapped government of Sri Lanka will require at least $5 billion in the next six months to maintain basic living standards, including $3.3 billion for fuel imports, the country’s prime minister told parliament on Tuesday.
“Only establishing economic stability not enough, we have to restructure the entire economy,” said Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is working to prepare an interim budget to balance Sri Lanka’s battered public finances.

The island nation of 22 million people is experiencing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with a lack of foreign currency impeding essential imports.