麻豆约拍

Sri Lanka is experiencing the nation's worst economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948. The new prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is appealing for foreign help to bail out the government as protests continue because of rising food prices and acute shortages of fuel. Sri Lanka's government has said it needs $6bn to maintain citizens' basic standard of living.

Sajid Nazmi, an IT worker in the capital Colombo, discusses the impact of the country's financial crisis on his return home following a long wait for fuel. He says that the queue was so long that he actually started working there, on his laptop, and ended up waiting for eight hours before he could obtain his quota of petrol. He says this kind of wait is normal now, and that the prices, already high, are likely to rise even further, and four-hour power cuts are also a daily challenge.

Photo: Motorists queue at a petrol station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 2022 Credit: Getty Images