President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka lifted the state of emergency late Tuesday after dozens of MPs quit the ruling coalition, leaving his administration with a minority in parliament as it tries to suppress protests amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Finance Minister Ali Sabry resigned a day after his appointment, only days before important meetings with the International Monetary Fund for a loan program.
On Monday, Rajapaksa disbanded his Cabinet and sought to establish a unity government as public outrage grew over the governing family’s handling of the debt-ridden economy, which has resulted in food and fuel shortages as well as chronic power outages. A doctors’ group also warned the administration that there was a critical scarcity of drugs that might bring the health system to its knees.
Rajapaksa annulled the emergency rule ordinance that took effect last Friday in a gazette issued late Tuesday.