Crisis-hit Sri Lanka hikes rates as protests spiral
Published: 04:04 PM,Apr 09,2022 | EDITED : 08:04 PM,Apr 09,2022
People wait in a queue to buy diesel at a Ceylon Petroleum Corporation fuel station in Colombo on April 9, 2022. The shortages of essentials have been caused by a wide-ranging import ban as Sri Lanka seeks to conserve its meagre foreign currency reserves to pay its debts. (Photo by AFP)
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka's central bank hiked interest rates by a record 700 basis points on Friday as police fired tear gas at hundreds of students protesting over the economic crisis.
Severe shortages of food and fuel, alongside lengthy electricity blackouts, have led to weeks of widespread anti-government demonstrations -- with calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.
The latest protests saw students try to march on Friday to the national parliament, and police used water cannons in efforts to disburse the angry crowds.
Monks, who had largely rallied the Sinhala-Buddhist majority to elect Rajapaksa at the November 2019 polls, were also seen joining demonstrations in the capital Colombo, where some defiantly stood opposite police wearing gas masks and holding riot shields.
Demonstrators nationwide carried placards saying 'Gota go home', demanding Rajapaksa and his administration step down over the country's worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
Severe shortages of food and fuel, alongside lengthy electricity blackouts, have led to weeks of widespread anti-government demonstrations -- with calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.
The latest protests saw students try to march on Friday to the national parliament, and police used water cannons in efforts to disburse the angry crowds.
Monks, who had largely rallied the Sinhala-Buddhist majority to elect Rajapaksa at the November 2019 polls, were also seen joining demonstrations in the capital Colombo, where some defiantly stood opposite police wearing gas masks and holding riot shields.
Demonstrators nationwide carried placards saying 'Gota go home', demanding Rajapaksa and his administration step down over the country's worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.