Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa left for the United States with his family on Monday, a reporter for Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror wrote on Twitter. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced out of office earlier this year following the country’s economic crisis and unprecedented protests.
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Sri Lanka is currently facing an economic crisis while it waits for International Monetary Fund (IMF) to formally approve USD 2.9 billion bailout package. IMF and Sri Lanka reached a staff-level agreement to support the economic policies of the country with a 48-month arrangement.
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Earlier this year, insufficient foreign reserves at Sri Lanka’s Central Bank and loss of access to international capital markets led to the country defaulting on debt, marking a first. Restriction on the import of chemical fertilizer, abrupt floating of the Sri Lankan rupee and the Covid pandemic led to the economic crisis in the country which is hugely dependent on its tourism sector.
