SCHOOLS shut across Sri Lanka today and public-sector workers were told to work from home amid a severe fuel shortage as the country faces a deepening economic crisis. 

Fuel reserves are stretched and Sri Lanka has faced power cuts, with strikes across the energy sector in protest at the removal of restrictions on competitive bidding for renewable power projects.

The country’s 22 million population has struggled to pay for the import of food, medicine and fuel with foreign exchange reserves at a record low. 

Mass demonstrations have swept the country demanding the resignation of the government which mobilised the armed forces and ordered them to shoot any protesters deemed violent. 

Veteran Sri Lankan political leader Ranil Wickremesingh was appointed prime minister last month after the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s brother Mahinda who relinquished the post in the face of the mass protests.  

A delegation from the US Treasury and the State Department has arrived for talks to “explore the most effective ways for the US to support Sri Lankans in need.”

A team from the International Monetary Fund is also visiting Sri Lanka to discuss a $3 billion (£2.4bn) bailout package as the government seeks to resolve the crisis.