Colombo, July 26 (TIWN) Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former Sri Lankan President who secretly fled the country on July 13 amid violent protests in the wake of the island nation's ongoing economic crisis, is set to return, a Minister said on Tuesday.

Depleted foreign exchange reserves have left the nation of 22 million unable to pay for imports of essential items from fuel to food and medicines.  "An advertisement was published today calling for expression of interest (EOI) for oil companies to import, distribute and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka," Kanchana Wijesekera, the power and energy minister, said on Twitter.