Ranil Wickremesinghe, the new prime minister, said in a televised address on Monday that the island nation had to face "unpleasant and terrifying facts".

"At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day. The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives," he said as quoted by Reuters.

Foreign reserves had come close to zero, down from $7.5 billion in November 2019, he added, with the country requiring $75 million in the next few days to keep the economy running. Essential medicines had run out.

Power cuts could extend to as much as 15 hours a day because of the lack of fuel, which is mostly imported.

Wickremesinghe said he planned to ask for foreign assistance, privatize SriLankan Airlines and seek parliamentary approval to increase treasury bill issuance to 4 trillion rupees (US$11.27 billion) from 3 trillion.

"For a short period, our future will be even more difficult than the tough times that we have passed," he said.

More than a month of predominantly peaceful protests against the government's handling of the economy turned deadly last week when supporters of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stormed an anti-government protest site in the commercial capital, Colombo.

Days of subsequent clashes between protesters, government supporters and police left 9 dead and over 300 injured.

Rajapaksa then resigned, leaving his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa to rule on as president.

Sri Lanka's economic crisis, unparalleled since its independence in 1948, has come from the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the Rajapaksas.

The chronic foreign exchange shortage has led to rampant inflation and shortages of medicine, fuel and other essentials, bringing thousands out on the streets in protest in the Indian Ocean nation, where China and India are battling for influence.

Wickremesinghe's four cabinet appointments to date have all been from the Rajapaksas' Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, to the dismay of protesters, who want to exile the family from the nation's politics.

He has yet to announce key roles, including the crucial post of finance minister, who will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for financial help.

Former Finance Minister Ali Sabry had held preliminary talks with the multilateral lender, but he quit along with Mahinda Rajapaksa last week.

Political support

On Monday, Wickremesinghe won crucial support from two main opposition parties, easing the pressure on the ruling Rajapaksa clan in the face of the island's worsening economic crisis.

The main opposition SJB party appeared to drop its demands that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should step down before backing a coalition to manage the crumbling economy.

The SJB, or Samagi Jana Balawegaya, declined to join a unity government led by Wickremesinghe but said it would "unconditionally support the positive efforts to revive the economy".

"It is important to save the country from the grave economic crisis," it said in a brief statement.

And the second-largest opposition party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), said it would join the cabinet.

Even so, thousands of protestors remained camped outside the seafront office of 73-year-old President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose brother Mahinda quit as premier last week after political violence killed at least nine people.

Shortages of food, fuel and medicines, along with record inflation and lengthy blackouts, have brought severe hardships to Sri Lankans, in the worst financial crisis since independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.

Wickremesinghe's appointment last week – his sixth turn as prime minister – has so far failed to quell public anger at the government for bringing Sri Lanka to the brink of economic collapse.

Troops patrolled the streets as customers lined up for scarce supplies and the government announced that a six-hour night curfew would be reimposed from Monday after a 24-hour break for a religious holiday.

Dollar shortage

Wickremesinghe said on Monday that Sri Lanka had no United States dollars to finance essential imports with three oil tankers waiting off Colombo to be paid before they would unload.

He added that the country had run out of 14 essential drugs, including anti-rabies vaccines. The state's health ministry has not paid its suppliers of medicines for four months and has now been blacklisted, he added.

He also warned that fuel and electricity tariffs would be raised substantially and his government would also sell off its loss-making national airline.

However, he urged people to "patiently bear the next couple of months" and vowed he could overcome the crisis.

Wickremesinghe has struggled to form a "unity government" and a cabinet swearing-in scheduled for Monday afternoon was pushed back as talks continued on sharing roles.

Four ministers were sworn in on Saturday, all from Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) party.

But there is no finance minister yet, and it is widely expected that Wickremesinghe will retain the crucial position to lead ongoing negotiations with the IMF for an urgent bailout.

The new prime minister held talks on Sunday with World Bank and Asian Development Bank representatives in Colombo on medicine, food, fuel and fertilizer supplies, his office said in a statement.

Long lines stretched outside the few fuel stations that were still open on Monday as motorists waited for rationed gasoline.

Heavily armed troops were patrolling the streets with a state of emergency still in effect after at least nine people were killed in violence last week.

Police said over 350 people had been arrested in connection with last week's mob violence.

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