• Another US $ 550 million credit line from India   
• Minister reaches out to UAE, Qatar for help  
• UAE companies reluctant to deal with SL over bitter experience regarding Emirates, Etisalat 

By Kelum Bandara   

With the exhaustion of the two Indian credit lines- US $ 500 million and US $ 200 million - Sri Lanka has now turned to fresh avenues to secure fuel supplies in the midst of a worsening foreign exchange crisis, a minister said yesterday.  

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera who briefed the media about the ongoing fuel crisis said India had unofficially communicated the approval of another US $ 550 million credit line.  

He said Sri Lanka needs as much as US $ 550 million to import fuel for a month, and the Central Bank cited the inability to release such an amount. The Minister said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is in arrears of US $ 735 million for its long-term fuel suppliers, making it impossible to do fresh purchases from them.   
Asserting that fuel imports continue to remain challenging, he said the Cabinet appointed committee had identified six suppliers- four for crude oil and two for petrol- to make supplies according to new terms based on Sri Lanka’s financial hardships.   The Minister said the government is in touch with Russia for fuel imports. Besides, he said he held talks with the envoy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week and sought help.   

“The UAE envoy informed us that there were no fully state-owned companies engaged in fuel trading in his country. All are controlled by the private sector there. However, the UAE companies have second thoughts when doing business with Sri Lanka given the bitter experience of some of their companies such as Emirates and Etisalat. That is what the UAE ambassador told us,” he said.   

However, the ambassador informed that he would explore the possibility of assisting Sri Lanka from Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. In addition, the Minister said the government would seek assistance from Qatar for oil purchases.    Commenting on the fuel distribution, he said it would be rationalised further. The current stocks are sufficient for distribution under a rationalised methodology till June 21. The Minister said he could look beyond this period with the unloading of a shipment yesterday under the Indian line of credit.   

“We used the last remainder of the Indian credit and another US $ 25 million from the general treasury to pay for this shipment,” he said.   

He said only 6,600 litres of fuel would be distributed to a filling station, and it would suffice for only 220 motor vehicles on average.   

“There is no use of motorists waiting in queues running for miles,” he said.