Ranil Wickremesinghe

Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake waves as he leaves from the election commission office after winning Sri Lankan presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lanka is considering the possibility of allowing the use of the Indian rupee for local transactions, as the island nation struggles to build its depleted foreign reserves and to emerge from last year's unprecedented economic crisis.

Sri Lanka's inflation eased to 12 percent in June, official data showed on July 1, the lowest figures since the island nation careened into an unprecedented economic crisis last year.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 and the public endured months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

Military troops were moving Thursday to secure Sri Lanka's parliament building against a takeover by protesters infuriated by the country's economic collapse and the embattled president's failure to resign a day after fleeing the country.

A state of emergency was declared in Sri Lanka hours before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was expected to resign after months of protests that culminated in storming his residence and that of the prime minister over the weekend.

Sri Lanka is in a political vacuum for a second day Monday with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters, angry over the country's economic woes.

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that he will resign from his post in order to ensure the continuation of the government and the safety of all the citizens.

Sri Lanka's president and prime minister agreed to resign on July 10 after the country's most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials' homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation's severe economic crisis.

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign after party leaders in Parliament demanded both he and the embattled president step down on the day protesters stormed the president's residence and office.

The tug of war between China and Japan over their roles in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has prompted Tokyo to strengthen ties with Sri Lanka. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that Tokyo is ready to help the island nation become a regional hub of the Indian Ocean once again.