COLOMBO —
Sri Lanka’s new president Ranil Wickremesinghe
has formally invited MPs to join an all-party unity government to revive the
bankrupt economy by undertaking painful reforms, his office said Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
Wickremesinghe
took office earlier this month after public anger over the island nation’s
worst economic crisis forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the
country and quit.
In a meeting
Saturday with the influential monks of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, one of
Buddhism’s most sacred shrines, Wickremesinghe outlined his plans.
“As the
president, I wish to start a new journey,” Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling
the monks in his first meeting with the powerful Buddhist clergy since taking
office.
“I would like to
get all the parties together and go on that journey as well as to form an
all-party government.”
He has written
to all lawmakers asking them to join a unity government.
A former
opposition MP, Wickremesinghe, 73, took up the premiership for the sixth time
in May after Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda resigned and there were no other
takers for the job.
Wickremesinghe
went on to become the president after Gotabaya escaped on July 9 when tens of
thousands of protesters angry at the economic crisis stormed the presidential
palace.
He fled to
Singapore from where he resigned five days later and Wickremesinghe became
interim president and later won a vote in parliament confirming his ascension.
Sri Lanka’s 22
million people have endured months of lengthy blackouts, record inflation and
shortages of food, fuel, and medicines.
Since late last
year, the country has run out of foreign exchange currencies to finance even
the most essential imports. In April, Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion
foreign debt and opened bailout talks with the
International Monetary Fund.
Wickremesinghe
told monks that the economy would decline further this year with a contraction
of 7.0 percent, but expected a recovery next year.
“I am working to
restabilize this economy and build the economy in such a way that the country
can be developed by 2023, 2024.”
He said
inflation currently running at 60.8 percent could go up further.
After his
election, Wickremesinghe, while ordering security forces to clear protest sites,
has appointed an interim cabinet leaving the door open for others to join.
He has called a
new session of parliament from Wednesday and is expected to expand the
18-member cabinet to accommodate members from opposition parties.
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