COLOMBO —
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Wednesday given the
additional responsibility of running the finance ministry as the island nation
grapples with its worst-ever economic crisis.
اضافة اعلان
President
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office announced that Wickremesinghe was sworn in, two weeks after
he was invited to form a unity government following his predecessor’s
resignation. Wednesday’s appointment ends two weeks of wrangling among
coalition partners for the crucial position ahead of the bankrupt South Asian
nation’s bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.
“The president’s party
had wanted the finance portfolio, but the PM insisted he wanted it if he is to
lead the country out of the economic chaos,” a top politician involved in the
negotiations told AFP.
Sri Lanka is suffering a
critical shortage of foreign exchange that has left its import-dependent
economy unable to source vital supplies of food, fuel and medicines. The
country’s 22 million people have endured severe hardships as a result, with
record inflation and lengthy daily blackouts, and the government has defaulted
on its $51 billion foreign debt.
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