Protesters took to the streets again across Sri Lanka today as the country faces rising fuel prices and shortages of petrol and diesel.
Mass mobilizations are underway in several cities; public transport, including trains, has been blocked and travel to schools and businesses is being disrupted, a senior police official said.
Yesterday, Monday, the largest increases in fuel prices so far began to apply: that of diesel rose by 64%, that of gasoline by 33% per liter.
Citizens gathered to protest outside the office of President Mahinda Rajapakha for the eleventh day in a row. Protesters are demanding the resignation of the head of state and his prime minister, Mahinda Rajapakha’s older brother.
The deep economic crisis in Sri Lanka has caused a shortage of foreign exchange, especially dollars, which has a huge impact on imports. Last week, the government in Colombo declared a moratorium on all of its foreign debt until further notice.
A government official under new Finance Minister Ali Sambri has met with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington to request urgent lending, and the international financial institution may consider it, although it initially appeared to him.
The team has formally applied for the country to borrow from the so-called Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to alleviate problems in the country’s supply of basic items. Initially, the IMF was of the opinion that its criteria were not met, but India supported the idea of using the RFI, summed up Samir Zawahir, an associate of the Minister of Finance, via Twitter.
The Rajapakha government plans to borrow $ 3 billion from various creditors – the IMF, the World Bank and the federal government of India, among others – to overcome the crisis, Mr Sambry told Reuters.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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