Sri Lanka's finance minister quits one day after joining
Colombo: Amid a deepening economic crisis and growing public unrest, Sri Lanka's finance minister Ali Sabry has resigned a day after being sworn in.
"I hereby tender my resignation from the post of Minister of Finance with immediate effect," Sabry said in a letter to the president, seen by Reuters.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Sabry on Monday after dissolving his cabinet and dropping his brother, Basil Rajapaksa, who previously served as finance minister, the report stated.
Sabry was going to visit United States later this month to discuss Sri Lanka's economic crisis with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whch said it is ‘very closely' monitoring the situation.
As protests grew, all 26 ministers of prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet quit.
The Sri Lanka central bank's governor, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, has also resigned.
The island nation's crisis has been triggered by huge foreign debts.
At present, it has $51 billion in foreign debts. The country must pay $4 billion this his year, including $1 billion in July whereas it has only $2.31 billion in reserves.
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