Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, May 25: Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s prime minister, was sworn in as the country’s finance minister on Wednesday. According to the president’s office, he will now lead talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan programme to help the country escape a terrible economic crisis.
Wickremesinghe was sworn in by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office, two weeks after he was invited to form a unity government following his predecessor’s departure.
Notably, Sri Lanka is experiencing a severe currency crisis, preventing its import-dependent economy from obtaining critical supplies of food, gasoline, and medicines. As a result, the country’s 22 million citizens have faced extreme hardships, including record inflation and frequent blackouts, and the government has defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt.