Home ›› 05 Mar 2022 ›› Asia Biz
Indika Prasanna Kumara ventures out every afternoon to try to find 200 litres of diesel for the Broadway Kids apparel factory in Sri Lanka so it can run its generators during power cuts and keep working.
"We have to scout for different fuel stations because of the shortages, then wait in line for eight hours or longer," Kumara said as he and two colleagues from the fuel-finding team poured their latest haul into a generator at the factory, which employs 275 workers in the commercial capital of Colombo.
"Once we get the fuel we have to guard the cans because they might be stolen. That is how desperate people are for fuel."
Sri Lanka is facing its worst financial crisis in a decade with foreign exchange reserves shrinking 70 per cent to $2.36 billion in January.
The dollar shortage has left the island struggling to pay for imports including food, medicine and fuel.
A serious shortage of diesel has shut multiple thermal power plants causing rolling power cuts, sometimes lasting more than seven hours a day.
Hit by the regular power outages, Broadway Kids, which produces clothes for British brands including Next, Matalan, Frugi and John Lewis & Partners, is among dozens of apparel factories struggling to meet production targets.
"We operate on very thin margins," said Broadway Kids' owner Chula Dharmadasa. "I'm already getting warnings from clients that if we miss delivery targets we have to air freight goods, which we cannot afford to do."
