Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe reiterates commitment to revive economy; take tough decisions

Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe reiterates commitment to revive economy; take tough decisions

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday reiterated his commitment to revive the cash-strapped island nation’s dented economy through “tough and unpopular decision making”. Addressing a military gathering here, Wickremesinghe, 74, said that he decided to assume the post as the country’s president to revive the economy.

“I know we have embarked on this difficult task of reviving the economy with corrective measures. I had to think about this difficult task many times. If we fail to take the necessary decisions now we will be going back to economic bankruptcy,” he said. “If we continue to implement, the country will be assured of a good future. So I took the difficult decision on behalf of the country,” he added.

Wickremesinghe was appointed as the stop-gap president in July of 2022 with the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the island and resigned in the face of months-long public agitation over his handling of the economy and bringing it to a deep crisis. “It was not my aim to be popular when I took over the presidency. I wanted to rebuild the country to create a better future for the people,” Wickremesinghe said.He said that the International Monetary Fund programme that Sri Lanka has engaged in would be able to achieve a growth rate of 5 per cent by 2025-26.