Sri Lanka

Colombo, May 9 (PTI) Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday, hours after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters outside embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office, leaving at least 78 people injured and prompting authorities to impose a nationwide curfew and deploy army troops in the capital.

At least two Cabinet ministers have also announced their resignations.

Prime Minister Mahinda, 76, sent his resignation letter to the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after violent scenes were witnessed in Colombo.

COLOMBO, May 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka’s leading liquefied petroleum gas supplier, Litro Gas Lanka Limited, today said that, they are unable to supply gas to domestic consumers, until new stocks arrive.

Litro Gas chairman, Vijitha Herath said, only industrial gas stocks are available at the moment, and the company asked people not to wait in queues.

Herath said that, they expect to pay seven million U.S. dollars today, to import liquefied petroleum gas on Friday and Saturday.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned Monday following weeks of protests demanding that he and his brother, the president, step down over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Rajapaksa said on Twitter that he submitted his resignation to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. There was no immediate comment from the president’s office.

COLOMBO, Apr 29 (NNN-XINHUA) – Domestic debt in the form of government securities and development bonds will not be restructured, as restructuring external debt is a top priority for Sri Lanka, said the central bank governor yesterday.

Addressing a meeting of the Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, central bank governor, Nandalal Weerasinghe, also provided an update on the progress made during the recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sherry Fonseka joined millions in 2019 in electing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a military strategist whose brutal campaign helped end Sri Lanka’s 30-year civil war 10 years earlier.

Now he is one of thousands who, for weeks, have protested outside the president’s office, calling on Rajapaksa and his brother, Mahinda, who is prime minister, to resign for leading the country into its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948.

COLOMBO, Apr 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka will appoint advisers to help with its debt restructuring in the next 20 days, Finance Minister, Ali Sabry said.

The minister told local media yesterday from Washington, via video link that, restructuring the country’s unsustainable external debt is a major condition, to obtain financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Sabry said, the discussions he started with IMF officials in Washington would end today, and that there are a lot more discussions to be held ahead.

Colombo, Apr 22 (PTI) Debt-ridden Sri Lanka's inflation soared to 21.5 per cent, according to official data released on Friday, even as finance minister Ali Sabry met IMF officials in Washington to negotiate a bailout package for the country.

Sri Lanka's nation-wide inflation for March 2022 under the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) surged to 21.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent reported in February 2022, the Department of Census and Statistics reported.

Consequently, the food inflation also increased from 24.7 per cent last month to 29.5 per cent for March.

Rameswaram (TN), Apr 22 (PTI) Eighteen more Sri Lankan nationals who fled the crisis-hit island republic arrived in India on Friday, with the hapless families who landed at Dhanushkodi in the wee hours being accommodated at the Mandapam refugees camp.

They rued the severe crisis that has crippled the country's economy and said even milk powder could not be afforded by them and alleged government apathy towards citizens.

The 18 people, among whom there were children, came in two batches in as many boats and were dropped off at Arichalmunai.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Thousands of people across Sri Lanka took to the streets on Wednesday, a day after police opened fire at demonstrators, killing one person and injuring 13 others, reigniting widespread protests amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Protesters used vehicles to block key roads in many parts of the country as they demonstrated against the shooting as well as rising fuel prices and the government’s failure to resolve the deepening economic problems. The shooting was the first by Sri Lankan security forces during weeks of protests.

COLOMBO, Apr 19 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), has increased its fuel prices from midnight last night, to a record high.

With the latest price hike, the price of Octane 92 petrol rose by 33.1 percent to a record 338 Sri Lankan rupees (1.04 U.S. dollars) a litre, and the price of auto diesel increased by 64.2 percent to 289 rupees.

This is on a par with the prices of Lanka IOC, a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, which hiked its fuel prices from midnight Sunday.