Mahinda Rajapaksa

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.

Sri Lanka must not allow entrenched corruption to undermine a bailout for its bankrupt economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday after signing off on a $3 billion loan for the crisis-hit nation.

The IMF approved its long-delayed rescue program on March 20 after China, the South Asian nation's biggest bilateral lender, offered debt relief assurances.

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'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.

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned Monday, his spokesman said, shortly after violent clashes between his supporters and anti-government protesters left 78 people wounded.

The 76-year-old sent his letter of resignation to his younger brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa clearing the way for a "new unity government", spokesman Rohan Weliwita said.

protests,

Sri Lanka's president offered to share power with the opposition yesterday as protests escalated across the country demanding his resignation over worsening shortages of food, fuel, and medicines.