State of Emergency in Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka has declared an indefinite state of emergency as massive protests gripped Colombo after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa  fled the country.

Key Highlights:

• Rajapaksa, 73 fled the country to the Maldives along with his wife on July 12, 2022.
• He was expected to step down from his position on July 13.
• An indefinite curfew has been imposed across the Western Province to contain the spiraling protests.
• The Prime Minister's office released a statement saying that "Since the president was out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation."
• An extraordinary Gazette has been issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, appointing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to perform and discharge the powers and duties of the Office of the President with effect from July 13, 2022.
• The official letter has no signature of the president.
• However, the protestors are demanding Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to also step down along with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka Economic Crisis:

• Sri Lanka is headed deep into one of its worst economic crisis.
• Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for its 22 million people.
• There is a severe food and fuel shortage in the country, leading to long queues to buy fuel and cooking gas, forcing people to skip meals to survive on the already scarce food.
• The island nation today relies on assistance from the International Monetary Fund and nearby nations like China and India to survive.
• Due to its $51 billion in debt, the nation is unable to pay even the interest on its debts.
• As a result of the over 80% collapse in the value of the Sri Lankan rupee, there has been extremely high inflation, with food prices soaring by nearly 57%.

About Sri Lanka:

• Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia.
• It is located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea.
• The capitals of Srilanka Colombo and Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
• Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital while Colombo is the largest city and center of commerce.
• The currency used here is Sri Lankan rupee.