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![Vehicles wait in a queue to buy fuel in Colombo on July 4, 2022. - Sri Lanka has less than a day's worth of fuel left, the energy minister said on July 3, with public transport grinding to a halt as the country's economic crisis deepened. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/LEUU3X5O2NDGNGMYQKZARMFKMM.jpg?smart=true&auth=a73c89334f5603a101d37f8b74f21af23293afe96a7d96dd64964d0f8559e036&width=400&height=225)
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![A demonstrator helps another to rinse his face with water after police fired tear gas canisters to disperse Higher National Diploma (HND) students during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country's crippling economic crisis, in Colombo on May 21, 2022. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/I4AY7HBJGRH2XKFV6RMJ2CAO7E.jpg?smart=true&auth=ebfd4d02587969ffd820fae073d21459ca0cb7db2f1bcbcde91332f03394ad1c&width=400&height=225)
![Vehicles wait in a queue to buy fuel in Colombo on July 4, 2022. - Sri Lanka has less than a day's worth of fuel left, the energy minister said on July 3, with public transport grinding to a halt as the country's economic crisis deepened. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/LEUU3X5O2NDGNGMYQKZARMFKMM.jpg?smart=true&auth=a73c89334f5603a101d37f8b74f21af23293afe96a7d96dd64964d0f8559e036&width=400&height=225)
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Sri Lankans in UAE speak of keeping the lights on back home amid crisis
More than 150,000 have headed overseas, mainly to the GCC, this year alone after economic collapse that forced removal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president
![Ramola Talwar Badam](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Fthenational%2F5ef0cfa3-a931-4bee-a429-a6e926cfab98.png?smart=true&auth=8bd0c965d9bb14cf66195518e8cc461c939674357be28fde76d5e3597d39b95d&width=70&height=70)
Ramola Talwar Badam
July 16, 2023
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