- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
Sri Lanka hikes rates as economy risks collapse
Sri Lanka's central bank hiked interest rates by one percentage point on Friday and urged the government to increase taxes as the country skirts economic collapse.
The troubled South Asian island nation is in the grip of a severe foreign exchange crisis that has led to acute shortages of food, fuel, medicines and industrial raw materials, sending inflation soaring.
Food inflation hit a record 25 percent in January while overall price increases reached 16.8 percent, a fourth consecutive monthly record.
Public transport has been crippled since Wednesday with no diesel for buses and large parts of the country of 21 million people hit by lengthy power cuts.
On Thursday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked the energy and industry ministers after they both criticised the government's efforts to deal with the crisis.
Another senior minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara expressed solidarity Friday with the sacked ministers and said he would not attend cabinet meetings.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka hiked the benchmark deposit and lending rates by 100 basis points each to 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.
The move follows a January decision to lift borrowing costs by 50 basis points.
The increases "will dampen the possible build-up of underlying demand pressures on the economy, which would, in turn, help ease pressures in the external sector", the bank said in a statement.
It also urged the government to increase fuel prices and electricity tariffs immediately as well as raise taxes to shore up government revenue. That came after a similar call by the International Monetary Fund.
The bank also appealed to officials to suspend ongoing infrastructure projects, sell state-owned land and discourage "non-essential" imports.
A broad import ban has been in place since March 2020 to shore up foreign reserves after the pandemic knocked out the lucrative tourism sector which previously earned about $4.5 billion annually.
In a statement following its annual review of Sri Lanka's economy, the IMF on Thursday warned the country that its foreign debt was "unsustainable" and called for urgent action.
Official data shows Sri Lanka needs nearly $7 billion to service its foreign debt this year, but the country's external reserves at the end of January were only $2.07 billion -- just enough to finance one month's imports.
C.Amaral--PC