Shortages were compounded when the government imposed further restrictions on collective farmers.
The debate on Sri Lanka and the China debt trap has been going on simultaneously for a few years in academia, international politics and the media.
Prasad Welikumbura, a social and political activist in Sri Lanka, said it's the daily wage earners who've borne the brunt of the crisis.
Some of the shipments were met with bureaucratic hurdles.
Inflation According to Ashoka Ranwala, president of the Petroleum General Employees' Union, the situation in Sri Lanka is so dire that the government had to shut down its only fuel refinery because it ran out of crude oil stockpiles.
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