Sri Lanka’s new prime minister is expected to address the crisis-hit nation as the Sri Lankan minister of power told citizens not to join lengthy fuel queues that have galvanized weeks of anti-government protests.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, appointed to the position on Thursday, said he would give a “full explanation” of the financial crisis that has devastated the strategic Indian Ocean island nation, where China and India are battling for influence.
“There is a lot to be done and undone. We are prioritizing matters, rest assured they shall be addressed as early as possible,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Photo: Reuters
The crisis led to widespread protests against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family, culminating with the resignation of his older brother, Mahinda, as prime minister last week after fighting between government supporters and protesters killed nine people and wounded 300.
The president replaced him with Wickremesinghe, an opposition parliamentarian who has held the post five times previously, in a desperate bid to placate protesters.
However, the protesters have said they would continue their campaign as long as Rajapaksa remains president. They have also labeled Wickremesinghe as a stooge and criticized his appointment of four cabinet ministers, all members of the political party run by the Rajapaksa brothers.
Hit hard by the pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the Rajapaksas, Sri Lanka is in the midst of a crisis unparalleled since its independence in 1948.
A chronic foreign exchange shortage has led to rampant inflation, along with shortages of fuel and other essentials, drawing thousands of people onto the streets in protest.
A diesel shipment using an Indian credit line arrived in the country on Sunday, but is yet to be distributed across the island, leading to lengthy queues in several places.
The public should not try to obtain fuel “in the next three days until the 1,190 fuel station deliveries have been completed,” Sri Lankan Power Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said yesterday.
Wickremesinghe is yet to find a nominee for the crucial finance minister post, who is to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for badly needed financial help.
Former Sri Lankan minister of finance Ali Sabry held preliminary talks with the multilateral lender, but he quit along with Mahinda Rajapaksa last week.
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