Cash-strapped Sri Lanka yesterday appointed nine more ministers to an “all-party government” tasked with trying to steer the country out of its economic crisis, but the crucial finance portfolio remains vacant.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took over earlier this month after Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president’s elder brother, resigned as escalating protests blamed his administration for leading the economy to the brink of collapse. Wickremesinghe had pledged to put together a cross-party coalition after the previous Cabinet was dissolved.
The new ministers — for health, education and justice, among others — were sworn in before Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at his tightly-guarded official residence in Colombo, the government said in a brief statement.
Photo: Reuters
Two legislators from the main opposition SJB party broke ranks to join the new government. Another opposition party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, agreed to support President Rajapaksa and was yesterday given one portfolio.
The finance position — which will bring with it responsibility for leading negotiations with the IMF over a bailout — remains vacant. However, the new prime minister’s office said that someone would be appointed next week.
The delay in getting a finance minister could hinder the IMF negotiations, the central bank chief said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst-ever shortage of foreign exchange with the government unable to finance even the most essential imports such as food, fuel and medicines.
The government yesterday shut offices and schools as the fuel shortage crippled transport across the country.
However, officials said the government had managed to raise the US$53 million necessary to pay for a gasoline shipment which arrived at the Colombo port this week.
Retail pumping stations could be supplied over the weekend, officials said.
The central bank on Thursday announced that it would not be able to resume foreign debt repayments for at least another six months until the nation’s external debt of US$51 billion is restructured.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in