25 May 2022: Ranil Wickremesinghe, appointed prime minister on Thursday, said in an address to the nation that the next couple of months will be the most difficult ones in the lives of all citizens and the country must prepare to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.
Sri Lanka’s new prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has warned that the financial crisis engulfing the country will get worse and “the next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives''. The appointed prime minister said in an address to the nation the country urgently needed $75 million in foreign exchange to pay for essential imports.
Wickremesinghe very candidly announced that he had no intention of hiding the truth and lying to the citizens of the country, no matter how harsh and terrifying the reality is. He said the country had “run out of petrol ... At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day.” Two shipments of petrol and two of diesel using an Indian credit line could provide relief in the next few days, he added, but the country is also facing a shortage of 14 essential medicines.
He warned that the power outages, which have already lasted up to eight hours a day, were likely to worsen in the next two months. In Colombo, the commercial capital, long queues of auto rickshaws, the most popular means of transport in the city, lined up at gas stations in a fruitless wait for fuel. “We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period,” said Wickremesinghe.
Responding to the criticism, Mr. Wickremesinghe said in his speech: “My goal and dedication is not to save an individual, a family, or a party. My objective is to save all the people of this country and the future of our younger generation.”Mr. Wickremesinghe has reached out to all political parties, seeking support. “We must immediately establish a national assembly or political body with the participation of all political parties to find solutions for the present crisis.”Sri Lanka’s main opposition party said they would offer support for Wickremesinghe’s new government in any progressive policies they put forward, but would refuse to hold any seats in the cabinet until Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to step down.
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