New Delhi: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday appealed to the people of his country to end the anti-government protests as the government is working “round the clock” to deal with the ongoing economic crisis.
“The government is working round-the-clock to overcome the economic crisis,” he said.
Rajapaksa added that “every minute spent on streets deprives the country of dollar inflow,” reported news agency PTI.
His address to the island nation comes amid the increasing pressure on him to quit the government following the unprecedented economic meltdown accelerated by the pandemic.
The anti-government protests in the country started on Saturday and continue till Monday. Meanwhile, the attempts of forming a caretaker government also failed as the meeting between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and independent MPs who quit the government remained inconclusive.
The address by the PM comes hours after the Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa alleged that the poor economic policies of the government contributed to the economic crisis of the country, PTI reported.
He added that the cost of living in the country is going from bad to worse due to a rise in the price of essential items including food, medicine, rice, sugar, milk powder, wheat flour, and items like petrol, diesel, kerosene, gas, etc.
The country has also been facing huge power cuts which brought the people of the country to the streets.
The Opposition leader said that people gave ample time to the President to fulfill their needs, but neither the President nor his cabinet could do anything to address the issues of the people.
The government has been asserting that the pandemic is the cause of the economic crisis, however, the opposition is stringent on its take that it is due to mismanagement by the government.