Sri Lanka's prime minister takes on crucial finance ministry portfolio

COLOMBO, May 25 ― Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will hold dual charge as finance minister, the president's office announced today, and will lead talks with the International Monetary Fund as the crisis-hit nation seeks a bailout.

The turmoil has come from the confluence of the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the country's lucrative tourism industry and foreign workers' remittances, ill-timed tax cuts by Rajapaksa draining government coffers and rising oil prices. Initial discussions with the IMF ended yesterday. Earlier this week, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the lender was “working relentlessly” at a technical level on Sri Lanka.

The problem is that any economic reforms Wickremesinghe may bring to meet conditions for an IMF programme could cause short-term pain and trouble on the streets. Petrol and diesel price increases announced yesterday are bound to feed through to transport and food prices.

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