Sri Lanka Central Bank Governor quits amid mounting economic woes

Sri Lankas Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal who had resisted calls for an IMF bailout resigned on Monday amid escalating protests in the island nation over the mounting economic woesCabraal 67 announced his resignation in a Twitter post after being elevated to this position less than seven months agoHe stepped down after all members of Sri Lankas cabinet apart from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit on late on SundayIn the context of all Cabinet Ministers resigning I have today submitted my resignation as Governor CBSL to the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa GotabayaR SriLanka GoSLIn September 2021 he replaced WD Lakshman to take over for his second term as Central Bank governorA former state minister of finance and a Member of Parliament since August 2020 Cabraal had earlier served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka between 2006 to 2015In his second stint the veteran policymaker displayed his proclivity on reducing reliance on foreign debts and was reluctant to take loans from the International Monetary Fund despite the Sri Lankan economy going into a tailspinCabraal leaves office at a time when inflation in Sri Lanka is at an alltime highHis resignation came hours after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday removed his brother and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa from his postAccording to the Central Bank estimates inflation and prices of essentials have surged to 175 per cent in February this year and are expected to rise in the coming months due to the devaluation of the Sri Lankan currencyOn Sunday the entire cabinet apart from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda the Prime Minister resigned against the mounting economic crisis and the social media ban that failed to quell antigovernment protestsThe island nation has seen widespread public anger against the government for its mishandling of the worst economic crisisThe country is grappling with what is said to be its worst economic crisis since independence from the UK in 1948It is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency which is used to pay for fuel importsPeople are languishing in long queues for fuel cooking gas and endure power cuts lasting multiple hoursThe public came out onto the streets independently of political parties The mass agitation prompted the government to impose a state of emergency which gives security forces sweeping powers to arrest peopleLater a curfew was imposed to curb public protests which the public defiedpgtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever