Sri Lanka’s central bank announced Thursday that the maximum amount of foreign currency an individual can possess will be reduced to $10,000 from $15,000, with anyone holding it for more than three months facing penalties, as police fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of students demanding the government step down for failing to solve the country’s economic crisis.
People must deposit their extra foreign currency in a bank or convert it into local currency within two weeks, according to Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe. Following that period, authorities from the Central Bank and the police will conduct raids, and anyone who breaks the new restrictions would be penalised, he said.
The rules, which will be imposed under the country’s foreign exchange statute, come amid a severe foreign currency shortage that has severely hampered imports of basic products including fuel, cooking gas, medicine, and food.
Sri Lankans have waited in huge queues for months to purchase basic necessities, the majority of which are imported. Inflation has intensified as a result of hard currency shortages, which have hampered imports of raw materials for manufacturing.
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