Sri Lanka, located just off the coast of southern India, has been rocked by ongoing protests for months over its worst financial crisis in seven decades. It has been plunged into chaos as its president has fled, appointing the prime minister as interim leader as questions swirl about the country's future.

Embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Maldives on a flight to Singapore on Thursday 14^th July. Sri Lanka’s ruling party has asked the new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe to provide security and other assistance to enable him to return to the country in the next week.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has restarted bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  He has called on legislators to form an all-party government to resolve the country’s worst economic crisis in 70 years.  The talks with the IMF aim to secure a four-year bailout programme that could provide up to $3bn. He told parliament the negotiations were progressing but did not provide a timeline for when a deal would be finalised.

The country's foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to record lows, with dollars running out to pay for essential imports including food, medicine and fuel -- leaving millions unable to feed their families, fuel their cars or access basic medicine.  Frequent and largely peaceful protests have been held since March, with rising public anger over food costs, electricity cuts, and the government's handling of the crisis. The crisis has been years in the making, said experts, who point to a series of government decisions that compounded external shocks.

Over the past decade, the Sri Lankan government has borrowed vast sums of money from foreign lenders to fund public services, which coincided with a series of blows to the Sri Lankan economy, from both natural disasters like monsoons and man-made catastrophes, including a government ban on chemical fertilizers that decimated farmers' harvests.

Facing a massive deficit, Rajapaksa slashed taxes in a doomed attempt to stimulate the economy. But the move backfired, instead hitting government revenue. The country lost access to overseas markets and imports of fuel and other essentials saw prices soar.

Topping all that, the government in March floated the Sri Lankan rupee -- meaning its price was determined based on the demand and supply of foreign exchange markets. However, the plunging of the rupee against the US dollar only made things worse for ordinary Sri Lankans.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has kept its key rates steady, a widely anticipated move as it awaits the effect of past hikes to trickle through the economy while a fall in global commodity prices is also expected to soothe domestic inflation.

The Standing Lending Facility rate stayed at 15.5 percent on Thursday 18th August, while the Standing Deposit Facility Rate remained at 14.5 percent.

The United Nations and several prominent international human rights organisations have condemned the repeated use of emergency regulations against peaceful protesters by the Sri Lanka government.  They have urged the newly appointed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to end the crackdown against the months-long protests.

More:   Al Jazeera,   CNN, The Guardian

Pray:

For political stability that allows for effective government on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka

For those who are suffering most from the economic collapse of the rupee and the series of disasters and man-made catastrophes

That Sri Lanka be restored to the prosperity and security of former years.