New Delhi: In an effort to counter the economic crisis, Sri Lanka’s president Rajapaksa Gotabaya on Monday has appointed 17 new Cabinet ministers and dropped some senior ministers facing graft charges.
According to the news agency Associated Press, Rajapaksa has formed a new cabinet comprising 17 ministers as the protesters are continuously demonstrating outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence in Colombo demanding the resignation of the Rajapaksa family.
While speaking to new ministers Rajapaksa requested their support for an efficient, clean government.
“Today, most of the government institutions are under serious economic difficulties and it is absolutely essential to rectify it,” Rajapaksa said, calling the crisis “an opportunity to bring about the system change that the people expected.”
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Significantly, the Sri Lankan government is struggling to meet the basic needs of its 22 million citizens. The crisis escalated after cabinet ministers resigned with immediate effect on April 3. The island nation is also currently facing a foreign exchange deficit, resulting in shortages of food, fuel, electricity and gas, and has sought economic aid from neighboring countries.
The minister will take oath for the office today and Prime Minister Rajapaksa will continue amid spiralling protests against the Sri Lankan government.
“New cabinet is to be sworn in today. President and PM (Mahinda Rajapaksa) to continue. Some new and young faces will be taken in as Cabinet ministers,” reported the news agency ANI quoting a ruling party earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, on 12 April, Sri Lanka's finance ministry announced that the country would default on $51 billion of its foreign loans pending a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a press release, the ministry further said that the government will suspend the normal loan service of all affected loans for an interim period. The Finance Ministry claimed that Sri Lanka has maintained an impeccable record of loan service since its independence in 1948.