Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that there is a huge shortage of dollars to import goods to Sri Lanka.
He added that the reason for this was the depletion of dollar reserves due to mismanagement of foreign reserves during the previous regime.
He also points out that the situation has been exacerbated by the drying up of a source of foreign currency due to the corona epidemic.
He said Sri Lanka had no ability to print dollars and invited Sri Lankans living abroad to send as many dollars as possible to the country to escape the crisis.
The minister also said that if the Sri Lankan dollar reserves do not increase, the country will not be in a position to issue any letters of credit for importing goods from abroad.
In this situation, he said, the whole country would come to a standstill if it was not possible to import rice flour sugar and petroleum in the future.