Lankan Prez Gotabaya agrees to drop brother as PM
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to drop his older brother as Prime Minister in a proposed interim government to solve a political impasse caused by the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, a prominent lawmaker said on Friday, as a fresh surge in inflation threatened to renew calls for the family to resign.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed that a national council will be appointed to name a new Prime Minister and Cabinet comprised of all parties in Parliament, local media reported on Friday, citing Maithripala Siris- ena said after a meeting with the president.
Sirisena, a former president, was part of the ruling coalition before his Sri Lanka Freedom Party quit in protest of the Rajapaksas’ policies. Rajapaksa will also discuss the matter with other parties, lawmaker Weerasumana Weerasingha said, without elaborating.
However, Rohan Weliwita, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the President has not communicated any intent to remove the Prime Minister, and a decision will be announced if such a step is taken.
Rajapaksa earlier reshuffled his Cabinet and offered a unity government in an attempt to quell the protests, but opposition parties refused to join a government headed by the Rajapaksa brothers. Both the President and Prime Minister have held on to their positions, while three other Rajapaksa family members resigned from the Cabinet earlier in April in what appeared an attempt to pacify angry protesters.The Rajapaksa family has dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years. Protesters who have crowded the streets since March hold them responsible for the crisis.
According to reports, politicians are preparing positions before parliament resumes May 4. A divided opposition, that has so far been unable to form a majority and take control of Parliament, said it has enough support to oust the President, in line with demands from street protesters seeking his resignation.
Sri Lanka is near bankruptcy and has announced it is suspending payments on its foreign loans. It has to repay $7 billion in foreign debt this year, and $25 billion by 2026. Its foreign reserves stand at less than $1 billion. The foreign exchange shortage has severely limited imports, forcing people to wait in long lines to buy essentials such as food, fuel, cooking gas and medicine.
Data on Friday showed costs in the capital Colombo rose 30%, making more interest-rate increases almost certain to meet conditions of an International Monetary Fund bailout.
Consumer prices surged 29.8% in April from a year earlier, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement.