Sri Lanka is facing a nationwide power outage owing to a system malfunction. Disruptions to the internet were also reported from several places in the island country.
According to news agency Reuters, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the country’s power monopoly, is attempting to restore electricity.
Even in 2022, Sri Lankans faced 10-hour power outages as the country’s economic crisis worsened and roiled markets. The power regulator then ordered over a million government employees to work from home to save gasoline since Sri Lanka was unable to pay for fuel supplies due to a currency shortage.
“We requested the government to allow the public sector, which is about 1.3 million employees, to work from home for the next two days so we can manage the fuel and power shortages better,” Janaka Ratnayake, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, had then said.
The country’s power outages were also extended to 13 hours as it faced its worst economic crisis in decades, with foreign exchange reserves falling by 70%. Sri Lanka had previously struggled to import necessities such as food and gasoline.
