Senior Lankan politician Dinesh Gunawardena was appointed Sri Lanka’s next Prime Minister on Friday, as President Ranil Wickremesinghe constituted his Cabinet. He took his oath as Prime Minister today at the Prime Minister’s Office on Flower Road in Colombo.
Gunawardena has held positions in the Sri Lankan parliament including the leader of the house, cabinet minister, and member of parliament. He has served as the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) party’s head since 1983.
This transpires after the Sri Lankan parliament had a presidential election on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, with Ranil Wickremesinghe winning. Wickremesinghe was acting president after the government disintegrated as a result of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation due to the present economic crisis and civil unrest. Now that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the country and submitted his resignation through email last week, Ranil Wickremesinghe will complete the remainder of his tenure.
Sri Lanka is experiencing its greatest economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, with inflation hitting a record high of 17.5% in February 2022. The island nation’s citizens are facing severe food and cooking gas scarcity. Power outages are common, and huge lines for diesel fuel may be seen throughout the National Capital.
The crisis was exacerbated following the coronavirus epidemic when the country began to struggle after tourism, the island nation’s main economy was severely damaged. Because the government lacked sufficient foreign reserves, many imports were prohibited. This resulted in extended power outages and blackouts. In April, the Sri Lankan government declared a default on USD 51 billion in foreign debt.
In the midst of Sri Lanka’s economic turmoil, India has offered assistance to the island nation. India has provided a credit line of $1.5 billion for the purchase of 40,000 tonnes of diesel. Additionally, Sri Lanka requested an extra $1 billion credit line for necessary imports. You can read in detail about the Sri Lanka crisis here.