President Gotabaya Rajapaksa returned home from Singapore ahead of schedule while his younger brother, Finance minister Basil, left for the US on a previously unannounced visit, official sources said.
The president was earlier expected to spend about five days in Singapore undergoing medical checks at Mount Elizabeth hospital, but it was not immediately clear why he returned in just two days. Rajapaksa had undergone heart bypass surgery at Mount Elizabeth in May 2019.
His sudden return coincided with the departure of Basil in the middle of what of the most serious currency crises since the 1970s, when the country was under severe trade and exchange controls.
Forex shortages come from money injected by a soft-pegged central bank into the domestic banking system either to finance the budget at below market rates (monetization of debt) or to offset dollars sales (sterilized interventions) to maintain a fixed policy rate out of line with domestic credit.
Hours before travelling to Singapore on Monday, the president had prorogued parliament till January 18, a move that effectively dismissed parliamentary committees, including the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).
The president has also resisted pressure from within the cabinet and his parliamentary group to sack his top aide, Punchi Banda Jayasundara, who some insiders expect to stay in the job despite mounting pressure.
There have also been calls from some members of the ruling coalition to consider an IMF bailout.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet is divided on whether to seek an IMF bailout for the current balance of payments crisis.