Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Sri Lanka's Deposed Leader Heads to US


Mon 26 Dec 2022 | 06:29 PM
Israa Farhan

A journalist for the Daily Mirror newspaper in Sri Lanka revealed, via a tweet on Twitter, that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa went to the United States with his family today, Monday.

Rajapaksa was forced to resign earlier this year, after the economic crisis in his country.

Sri Lanka is currently facing an economic crisis as it waits for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to formally approve a US$2.9 billion bailout package. The International Monetary Fund and Sri Lanka have reached a staff-level agreement to support the country's economic policies on a 48-month arrangement.

Earlier this year, insufficient foreign reserves in Sri Lanka's central bank and loss of access to international capital markets led the country to default on debt payments, marking a first. 

Restrictions on the import of chemical fertilizers, the sudden floating of the Sri Lankan rupee, and the Covid pandemic have led to an economic crisis in a country that relies heavily on its tourism sector.