Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced nationwide seven-and-a-half hour daily power cuts, the longest in more than a quarter of a century, as its foreign exchange crisis leaves it unable to import oil.
The Public Utilities Commission said it was a “black day” for the island nation as it approved the electricity rationing starting Wednesday with power stations running out of fuel.
“What we are facing is not an issue of electricity capacity, but a foreign exchange crisis,” the regulatory commission said adding that the country was unable to find dollars to finance oil imports.
The cuts are the longest imposed since 1996, when the country relied on hydropower for as much as 80 per cent of its electricity and a prolonged drought saw reservoirs run dry.
