Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, PM confirms

Amid mounting pressure from protesters Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he is resigning from his postRajapaksa has informed that he will be resigning as previously announced the Prime Ministers media unit said according to Colombo GazetteEarlier on Saturday Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced in a press conference that the President will resign from his post on July 13Rajapaksas resignation comes after thousands of people stormed into the Presidents House in Fort on SaturdayAlso read PHOTOS Sri Lankan commoners occupy residential premises of President Rajapaksa and PM Ranil WickremesingheEven Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also announced to step down from their posts amid the ongoing protests However the protesters who have occupied the residences of the President and Prime Minister have cleared that they will continue to occupy their houses until they resign from their postsThe dramatic visuals came from PMs official residence where they were seen playing carrom board sleeping on the sofa enjoying in park premises and preparing food for dinnerThe worsening economic situation in the country has led to increasing tensions and over the last few weeks there were reports of several confrontations between individuals and members of the police force and the armed forces at fuel stations where thousands of desperate members of the public have queued for hours and sometimes daysSri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948 which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID19 threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the countrys ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals SDGsThe oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice Reduced domestic agricultural production a lack of foreign exchange reserves and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortagesThe economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty some for the first time adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemicThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever