Sri Lanka govt still holds majority: FM
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s government still has a majority in parliament and there is no consensus on who can replace the president and the prime minister despite protests against an economic crisis, the foreign ministry said on Thursday detailing a briefing of overseas diplomats.
“The foreign minister pointed out that the current government still held a majority in parliament and that despite the agitation, there was no consensus on who can replace the current president, prime minister and the parliament,” Minister of Foreign Affairs G L Peiris was quoted as saying by his ministry in a statement. Meanwhile, the new central bank governor will hold a monetary policy meet on Friday, a day after he takes office, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as the government struggles with an economic crisis.
With inflation racing to the highest in a decade, hefty interest rate hikes may be looming, adding to pressure on the reeling economy and fanning further unrest. The crisis touched off political chaos this week when the entire cabinet of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa quit, followed by the resignation of the central bank chief, Ajith Nivard Cabraal. President Rajapaksa’s call for a unity government has been rejected by the opposition and even some of his alliance partners, and he is yet to find a new finance minister ahead of scheduled talks this month with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans.
Protests against shortages of food, fuel, power and medicine have gone unabated.
Nandalal Weerasinghe, a former senior deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka who has worked with the IMF, replaced Cabraal on Thursday.
Sri Lanka slaps travel ban on ex-central bank chief
A Sri Lankan court on Thursday placed a travel ban on the country’s recently resigned central bank chief following allegations he is responsible for the island’s crippling economic crisis.
The magistrate in Colombo ordered Ajith Cabraal, who quit on Monday, to appear in court on April 18 to answer a complaint against him.