HNewsWire-According to a governing party member, Sri Lanka’s cabinet has resigned amid growing public dissatisfaction with the government’s economic policies, which have resulted in increased living expenses and a currency crisis.
In an interview with reporters in Colombo late Sunday, Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said, “We have submitted our resignations to the Prime Minister stating that we are prepared to depart at any moment.”
A decision on what to do next will be made after consulting with the President.
Sri Lanka, a small island country, is suffering from a currency crisis as well as food, gasoline, and pharmaceutical shortages that are becoming worse. Mass anti-government demonstrations over rising living expenses prompted a 36-hour curfew this past weekend.
In response to demonstrations in the capital and outside the president’s residence over rising prices and widespread rolling blackouts lasting up to 13 hours a day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to Bloomberg, declared a state of emergency on Friday. As a means of restoring public order, an emergency order grants authorities broad authority to imprison and suppress protesters.
Recently, the Washington, DC-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) intervened and began negotiations with the Sri Lankan government on a rescue loan. Rajapaksa is scheduled to go to Washington, D.C., for further meetings with IMF officials. Rajapaksa
Due to the decline in tourism and badly timed tax cuts, South Asian island nation’s foreign currency reserves have been reduced by more than 70 percent since viral epidemic started.
The island nation’s 22 million inhabitants are in the midst of a socioeconomic catastrophe, as reported by Bloomberg.
As the island government runs out of currency to pay for imports, there is a major food and fuel scarcity. People have taken to the streets to demand that Rajapaksa and his family step down from their positions of power as a result of the country’s inflation rising to over 19 percent, the highest rate in Asia.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is prime minister, Basil is finance minister, Chamal is agricultural minister, and Namal is sports minister for the Rajapaksa family. Namal, a member of the tribe, publicly denounced the recent restrictions on social media.
In parliament, the Rajapaksas retain a two-thirds majority. The earliest possible date for national elections is 2023.
With an eye on preserving electricity and foreign currency, Rajapaksa’s government has depreciated the rupee, hiked interest rates, restricted non-essential imports, and cut stock trading hours in recent weeks. A bailout from the International Monetary Fund has also been withdrawn, and he is now in discussions for bilateral assistance with countries like India and China, among others. -Bloomberg
Families in Sri Lanka are unable to buy basic necessities like food and electricity because of the country’s spiraling inflation. Some poor emerging market economies are ripe for ‘Arab Spring 2.0’-style instability, as we have previously highlighted
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Sources: HNewsWire HNewsWire HNewsWire HNewsWire
