colombo sri lankans roamed through a ransacked presidential palace on sunday as calm returned to the commercial capital colombo a day after protesters stormed the building and forced president gotabaya rajapaksa to announce his resignationprime minister ranil wickremesinghe also said he would step down to allow an allparty interim government to take over with rajapaksa scheduled to quit on july 13 according to the speaker of parliamentthe political chaos could complicate efforts to pull sri lanka out of its worst economic crisis in seven decades triggered by a severe shortage of foreign currency that has stalled the imports of essentials like fuel food and medicinesthe international monetary fund imf which has been in talks with the sri lankan government for a possible 3 billion bailout said on sunday it was monitoring events closelywe hope for a resolution of the current situation that will allow for resumption of our dialogue on an imfsupported programme the global lender said in a statementfrustration with the economic crisis boiled over on saturday as a huge crowd surged into the presidential palace some taking the opportunity to frolic in its swimming poolabout 45 people were brought into a main hospital on saturday a hospital official said but there were no reports of any deathson sunday amazed ordinary folk took the opportunity to inspect the colonialera building members of the security forces some with assault rifles stood outside the compound but did not stop people going inamong those taking a look was 61yearold handkerchief seller bm chandrawathi who sauntered into a firstfloor bedroom accompanied by her daughter and grandchildrenive never seen a place like this in my life chandrawathi told reuters as she tried out a plush sofathey enjoyed super luxury while we suffered she said we were hoodwinked i wanted my kids and grandkids to see the luxurious lifestyles they were enjoyingnearby a group of young men lounged on a fourposter bed and others jostled for turns on a treadmill with a view set up in front big windows overlooking manicured lawnspeaceful handoverthe economic crisis developed after the covid19 pandemic hammered the tourismreliant economy and slashed remittances from overseas workersit has been compounded by large and growing government debt rising oil prices and a sevenmonth ban on importing chemical fertilisers last year that devastated agriculturelike most sri lankans chandrawathi said her family was struggling to make ends meet battered by record inflation currency depreciation rolling power cuts and chronic fuel shortagesheadline inflation in the country of 22 million hit 546 last month and the central bank has warned that it could rise to 70 in the coming monthssprawled on an ornately carved wooden sofa wasantha kumara said he had spent the night inside the presidents house where a section of the main sweeping staircase was damagednearby a handwritten poster read watch as much as you want dont destroy or loot a smashed vase lay next to itthe pools water had turned murky by sunday and no one was seem swimmingkumara a 33yearold government employee said