London:British Prime Minister Liz Truss has sacked her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in an effort to stem the economic turmoil unleashed by his mini-budget at the end of last month, reports emerging from Downing Street in London said on Friday. A formal announcement is expected when Truss addresses a scheduled press conference later on Friday, when a replacement is likely to be confirmed for Kwarteng in office at the UK Treasury for only 38 days. He took to Twitter soon after to confirm that he had been asked to step aside as Chancellor.
"As I have said many times in the past weeks, following the status quo was simply not an option. For too long this country has been dogged by low growth rates and high taxation - that must still change if this country is to succeed," his resignation letter reads. Earlier, the finance minister cut short his visit to the US for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington to fly back for a meeting with his boss. It had triggered speculation over his job and possible U-turns on the tax cuts he had tabled in Parliament, which had resulted in the pound plummeting against the dollar and the Bank of England stepping in to buy the country's long-term bonds to shore up the pension funds.