Wickremesinghe calls for unity government
THE new president of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, formally invited MPs to join an all-party unity government to revive the bankrupt economy by undertaking painful reforms, his office said last Sunday (31).
Wickremesinghe took charge last month after public anger over the island nation’s worst economic crisis forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country.
In a meeting last Saturday (30) 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.”
A former opposition MP, Wickremesinghe, 73, become the president after Rajapaksa fled to Singapore via the Maldives on July 9 when tens of thousands of protesters, angry at the economic crisis, stormed the presidential palace. He resigned five days later and Wickremesinghe became interim president and later won a vote in parliament confirming his ascension.
Wickremesinghe told the monks the economy would decline further this year with a contraction of seven per cent, but expected a recovery next year.
He added that inflation, which was currently running at 60.8 per cent, could go up even further.
“I am working to restabilise the economy and build it in such a way that the country can be developed by 2023, 2024. It is a difficult task. But if you don’t do it now, it will be more difficult,” he said.
After his election as president, Wickremesinghe appointed an interim cabinet, leaving the door open for others to join. He called a new session of parliament from Wednesday (3) and is expected to expand the 18-member cabinet to accommodate MPs from opposition parties.