Sri Lanka’s president has agreed to replace his brother with another leader as prime minister in a proposed interim government to resolve the political deadlock caused by the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy, has to pay $7 billion in foreign debt this year, and $25 billion by 2026. Its foreign exchange reserves have dwindled to less than a billion dollars.
The shortage of foreign exchange has badly affected imports, with people waiting in queues for hours for food items, fuel, cooking gas and medicine.
Gotabaya and his family, including Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, have dominated almost every region of Sri Lanka for the past 20 years. People who have been protesting on the streets since March have blamed him for the current crisis.
