Protestors gathered inside the compound of Sri Lanka’s Presidential Palace in Colombo on Saturday as the country is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging it into the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

Prices of daily items have increased three times in recent months. The result is a country hurtling towards bankruptcy, with hardly any money to import gasoline, milk, cooking gas and toilet paper.

The US State Department called on the Sri Lankan Congress to be committed to improving its situation. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have advised their citizens to avoid going to Sri Lanka amid its serious political crisis.