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Sri Lankan president has apparently left country, says former envoy

Udayanga Weeratunga added that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had passed along a letter on his resignation to his confidants

NEW DELHI, July 9. /TASS/. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has apparently left the country by air, former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga who is in Colombo, told TASS on Saturday.

"According to the information I have, he [president] has already left the country by air," he said, adding that the president had passed along a letter on his resignation to his confidants. Depending on the situation they are to make the letter public later on Saturday.

The information has not been officially confirmed yet.

Since early April, Sri Lanka has been hit by protests against the deteriorating living conditions, the lack of fuel, food and essentials. Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. It resulted from a contraction of foreign tourism due to the pandemic, which led to the shortage of foreign currency reserves in the country. In this environment the authorities were forced to cut imports and introduce tight resource saving. The country’s external debt, which totals $51 bln, hinders Sri Lanka from making external borrowings and struggling against the economic crisis.

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