Sri Lanka’s leaders are showing no signs of stepping down in the face of mounting protests as the government ramps up efforts to find emergency funds to import essential goods and avoid an international default
Sri Lanka's Leaders Remain Defiant at Home While Scrambling for Funds Overseas
“We did not end the war to bring people to suffering like this,” Mahinda Rajapaksa, 76, said in the televised speech on Monday night. The government will offer solutions even as the nation is falling “into a deep trench,” he said. The government faces an imminent test of global investor confidence on April 18, when $36 million in interest on a 2023 dollar bond and $42.2 million on a 2028 note both come due, Bloomberg-compiled data show. A $1 billion sovereign bond maturing July 25 presents a bigger challenge: It fell to a record low this week as economists at Citigroup Inc. see a “very high” chance of default.
The pre-scheduled address sparked speculation he would resign to make room for a premier more palatable to the opposition. Instead, he used the six-minute speech to attack the opposition for refusing to work with the government and accused it of indulging in petty politics.
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