Trading on the Sri Lankan stock exchange has been halted after the share market crashed amid an economic crisis in the country.
Authorities on Monday halted trading on Sri Lanka’s stock exchange after the share market plunged 5.9 per cent, according to a report by AFP.
This comes even as Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is all set to appoint a new cabinet Monday as security forces brace for possible violence with more protests expected against worsening shortages of food, fuel and medicines, the AFP report said.
The son of Sri Lanka’s prime minister resigned from the cabinet on Monday and several other members have offered to do so, a minister said, just days after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency following protests over an economic crisis, as per a Reuters report.
The debt-laden country is struggling to pay for imports of fuel and other essentials due to a severe shortage of foreign currency, leading to hours-long power cuts and widespread demonstrations that continued despite a weekend curfew
Traffic was back on the streets of the country’s main city Colombo on Monday, but there were reports of sporadic and peaceful protests from across the country.
Youth and Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, nephew of Gotabaya and the son of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, said on Twitter on Monday he had told the president’s secretary about his resignation with immediate effect.
The island nation of 22 million, is also grappling with soaring inflation after the government steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan programme.
The country’s expenditure has exceeded its income under successive governments while its production of tradable goods and services has been inadequate. The twin deficits were badly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic that crippled its economic mainstay, the tourism industry.