<p>Sri Lanka cancelled exams for millions of school students as the country ran out of printing paper with Colombo short on dollars to finance imports, officials said Saturday.</p>.<p>Education authorities said the term tests, scheduled a week from Monday, were postponed indefinitely due to an acute paper shortage as Sri Lanka contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948.</p>.<p>"School principals cannot hold the tests as printers are unable to secure foreign exchange to import necessary paper and ink," the department of Education of the Western Province said.</p>.<p>Official sources said the move could effectively hold up tests for around two thirds of the country's 4.5 million students.</p>.<p>Term tests are part of a continuous assessment process to decide if students are promoted to the next grade at the end of the year.</p>.<p>A debilitating economic crisis brought on by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance essential imports, has seen the country run low on food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.</p>.<p>The cash-strapped South Asian nation of 22 million announced this week that it will seek an IMF bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up external reserves.</p>.<p>The International Monetary Fund on Friday confirmed it was considering President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's surprise Wednesday request to discuss a bailout.</p>.<p>Around $6.9 billion of Colombo's debt needs to be serviced this year but its foreign currency reserves stood at about $2.3 billion at the end of February.</p>.<p>Long queues have formed across the country for groceries and oil with the government instituting rolling electricity blackouts and rationing of milk powder, sugar, lentils and rice.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka earlier this year asked China, one of its main creditors, to help put off debt payments but there has been no official response yet from Beijing.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>Sri Lanka cancelled exams for millions of school students as the country ran out of printing paper with Colombo short on dollars to finance imports, officials said Saturday.</p>.<p>Education authorities said the term tests, scheduled a week from Monday, were postponed indefinitely due to an acute paper shortage as Sri Lanka contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948.</p>.<p>"School principals cannot hold the tests as printers are unable to secure foreign exchange to import necessary paper and ink," the department of Education of the Western Province said.</p>.<p>Official sources said the move could effectively hold up tests for around two thirds of the country's 4.5 million students.</p>.<p>Term tests are part of a continuous assessment process to decide if students are promoted to the next grade at the end of the year.</p>.<p>A debilitating economic crisis brought on by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance essential imports, has seen the country run low on food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.</p>.<p>The cash-strapped South Asian nation of 22 million announced this week that it will seek an IMF bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up external reserves.</p>.<p>The International Monetary Fund on Friday confirmed it was considering President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's surprise Wednesday request to discuss a bailout.</p>.<p>Around $6.9 billion of Colombo's debt needs to be serviced this year but its foreign currency reserves stood at about $2.3 billion at the end of February.</p>.<p>Long queues have formed across the country for groceries and oil with the government instituting rolling electricity blackouts and rationing of milk powder, sugar, lentils and rice.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka earlier this year asked China, one of its main creditors, to help put off debt payments but there has been no official response yet from Beijing.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>