Sri Lanka Crisis: Sri Lanka is negotiating with the IMF for a bailout.
New Delhi:
A new Sri Lankan Cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Monday as part of the government’s bid to tackle the raging public anger against the ongoing economic hardships.
Embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has invited the opposition to join a unity government as protests demanding his resignation spread across the island.
The South Asian nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials — along with record inflation and crippling power cuts — in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
President Rajapaksa declared a nationwide state of emergency late on Friday, in the face of growing public unrest. He said the decision was taken in the interests of public security, the protection of public order, and to ensure the maintenance of supplies and essential services.
Here are the LIVE updates on the Sri Lanka Crisis:
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People in Sri Lanka expressed uncertainty and demanded a new leader in the country amid the ongoing political instability and economic crisis in the country.
Charles, a shopkeeper in Colombo, demanded a new leader in the country. He said, “We need a proper leader in our country. We are not happy with the ruling government.”
He further said that the ruling government doesn’t care about them.
Undergoing a huge economic crisis and turmoil, Sri Lankan Opposition leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Sajith Premadasa on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help their nation to the maximum possible extent.
Speaking to ANI, the Opposition leader said, “Please try and help Sri Lanka to the maximum possible extent. This is our motherland and we need to save it.”
Claiming that the Cabinet Ministers’ resignation is a melodrama, Sri Lankan Opposition leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Sajith Premadasa said the drama is being enacted to fool the people of the country.
The Opposition leader said, “The melodrama is being enacted to fool the people of the country. There’s no genuine effort to bring sanity to our society and relief to the people. It’s an exercise to fool the people.”
Sri Lanka’s president appointed Ali Sabry as the country’s finance minister on Monday as a new team of ministers took office after protests flared in the wake of a worsening economic crisis, the president’s office said.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed his younger brother, Basil Rajapaksa, as finance minister in July 2021 and he was due to travel to Washington this month to start talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package.
Sri Lanka’s president on Monday invited all political parties represented in parliament to accept ministerial portfolios to help find a way out of the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, his office said in a statement.
“President Gotabaya Rajapaksa invited all political parties to come together to find solutions to the ongoing national crisis,” the statement said.
Sri Lankan central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on Monday he submitted his resignation in the context of all cabinet ministers resigning. Mr Cabraal announced his resignation in a Twitter post.
Trading was halted on Sri Lanka’s stock exchange seconds after it opened Monday when the blue chip index dropped 5.92 percent following a mass cabinet resignation in the face of an economic crisis.
The S&P index fell more than the five percent needed to trigger a circuit breaker that halts trading for half an hour, the Colombo Stock Exchange said.
The 36-hour long curfew that was imposed on Sri Lanka on Saturday evening has been lifted on Monday morning at 6 am but the country is still under the effect of a state of emergency.
The curfew was imposed on Saturday from 6 pm in accordance with the powers vested in the President under the provisions of the Public Security Ordinance following protests outside the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the country faces its worst economic crisis since independence.
Solidarity protests held in Australia
Solidarity protests were staged elsewhere in the world over the weekend, including in the Australian city of Melbourne, home to a large Sri Lankan diaspora.
A new Sri Lankan Cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Monday as part of the government’s bid to tackle the raging public anger against the ongoing economic hardships caused by the island nation’s worst economic crisis.
Sri Lanka continued to witness protests across the country with people breaking the government-imposed curfew across the country even amid a crackdown on protestors as the country faces its worst economic crisis since independence.
Protests staged by the public were reported from small streets, apartment complexes, and multiple areas around the country, the Colombo Gazette reported.
The opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) also staged a protest in Colombo today against the Government with slogans of “Go Gotabaya Go”, referring to the current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Curfew lifted in Sri Lanka
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa imposed a state of emergency on Friday, the day after a crowd attempted to storm his home in the capital Colombo, and a nationwide curfew was in effect until today morning.