Sri Lanka central bank chief threatens to quit

Bloomberg

Sri Lanka’s central bank chief imposed more capital controls and threatened to resign if politicians fail to return stability to the nation, which is in the grip of its worst economic
crisis since independence.
“I took on this responsibility with expectations that political stability will be established,” Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said in Colombo.
Weerasinghe’s briefing comes amid an ongoing political drama in the South Asian nation, whose prime minister resigned as public anger over mismanagement of the economy boiled over into political violence.
To curb black market transactions, the monetary authority plans to issue guidance to banks on movement of the exchange rate, including a daily trading band for the rupee-dollar trade, Weerasinghe said. Operating instructions will be issued on Thursday.
“Seems like an administrative peg which will keep getting revised on a daily basis,” said Saurav Anand, economist for South Asia at Standard Chartered Plc. “So unlike the earlier regime where value was fixed at 203; this time it would be revised on a daily basis.”
Weerasinghe’s briefing comes amid an ongoing political drama in the South Asian nation, whose prime minister resigned as public anger over mismanagement of the economy boiled over into political violence. The ancestral home of the ruling Rajapaksa family in the southern district of Hambantota was set on fire, and at least eight people have been killed.
“It’s a situation that will get worse before it turns around,” Weerasinghe said.