HONG KONG: Sri Lanka’s rupee has plunged to a record low to become the world’s worst-performing currency, as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa struggles to contain a worsening economic and political crisis, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The Sri Lankan rupee was hovering near SLRs300 per US dollar on Wednesday, down 32 per cent year to date and lagging even behind Russia’s rouble, after Rajapaksa ended emergency rule just days after it was imposed.
Sri Lanka is facing a foreign exchange crisis as its government grapples with looming debt payments, widespread protests and an economic emergency. The backpedal on the emergency decree from Rajapaksa’s government came after his new finance minister, Ali Sabry, quit less than 24 hours into the job. Sabry’s resignation was the latest in a rush of departures. The country’s entire cabinet quit over the weekend following nationwide protests over severe food and power shortages as well as runaway inflation. Central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who was scheduled to oversee a policy meeting on Thursday, also resigned on Monday.
The hollowing out of Rajapaksa’s administration has stoked concerns over the country’s ability to secure help from the IMF to avoid defaulting on looming international bond payments. Previous finance minister and the president’s brother Basil Rajapaksa had been preparing to fly to Washington to discuss terms with the IMF prior to his resignation over the weekend.
