ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee has plunged to a record low to become the world’s worst-performing currency,as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa struggles to contain a worsening economic and political crisis, Financial Times, a UK-based newspaper reported.
In a report published Wednesday afternoon Sri Lanka time, the newspaper said the rupee was hovering near 300 per US dollar on Wednesday, down 32 per cent year to date and lagging even Russia’s rouble, after Rajapaksa ended emergency rule just days after it was imposed.
The rupee collapsed from around 200 to 300 to the US dollar after an attempt was made float the currency with a surrender requirement, which made it a peg under severe pressure.
Rajapaksa revoked a public emergency he had declared last Friday (01) following a violent protest outside his private residence the previous night over his government’s handling of Sri Lanka’s worsening economic crisis. The protest sparked a wave of protests islandwide, participated by ordinary citizens with no affiliation to a political party, demanding Rajapaksa’s resignation.
According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), the selling rate of the US dollar was at 308.4951 while the buying rate was 298.1064 as at 9.30am Wednesday. (Colombo/Apr06/2022)
