Sri Lanka's former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa accused the current coalition government of mismanagement which has allowed for an inflation crisis.
"[There is] no confidence in this government and they can’t control it," Rajapaksa said. "They are not doing anything. I mean we want to defeat this government. We want to have elections. The first thing is to have elections, so we are fighting for it."
The government has rebuked his claims and assert that it was his administration that has caused the problem.
“This years debt repayment 83 % of the debts were from the Rajapaksa era and of course we have had to take further loans in order to settle the previous debts," Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera told Al Jazeera. "But whilst doing all that, whilst grappling with this mountain of debt Rajapaksa left behind. we have also managed to bring the economy to a stable state”.
Since December 2014, the National Consumer Price Index has risen 17.82 percent and core inflation has risen 18.36 percent, Economy Next reports.
The rupee’s exchange value with the US dollar has also risen 23.2 percent across the same period. This inflation, however, has slowed in recent months as it had decreased from 3.4 in July to 2.5 percent in August. Yet, it continues to cause difficulty for ordinary Sri Lankans trying to meet ends.