COLOMBO, April 16 — The Colombo Stock Exchange today announced a five-day trading halt after crisis-hit Sri Lanka hiked interest rates and declared a default on its external debt during the traditional New Year holiday.
Brokers had been expecting shares to be hammered on Monday, after the central bank almost doubled its benchmark interest rate to 14.5 per cent following the close on April 8, the last trading day before the holiday. The island nation is grappling with its worst economic downturn since independence in 1948, with regular blackouts and acute shortages of food and fuel in addition to record inflation.
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