Crisis-hit Sri Lanka offers fuel quotas to firms which can pay in dollars

Bankrupt Sri Lanka is offering a guaranteed fuel quota to any company that can pay in dollars.

Potential purchasers must pay as much as a month in advance to open a consumer account at state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp., Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera tweeted on Sunday. Fuel will be issued on a daily or weekly basis from July 12, according to the minister.

Sri Lanka has closed public schools and offices through July 10 to conserve fuel as the nation doesn’t have the dollars to pay for imports. Roads across the island have been deserted, even as thousands of vehicles continue to queue for kilometers waiting for filling stations to be replenished.