The Wall Street Journal reports that Ranil Wickremesinghe, the new president of Sri Lanka, indicated on Sunday that the return to the nation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa would inflame political tensions.
In an interview with the Journal, Wickremesinghe remarked, “I don’t feel it’s the time for him to return.” “I don’t believe he’ll be back anytime soon,” says the narrator.
In response to calls for him to quit down, Rajapaksa departed the country on July 13 and resigned.
Wickremesinghe was elected president of Sri Lanka in a parliamentary vote a few days later.
Rajapaksa’s administration and Wickremesinghe have been working together on administrative handover concerns and other government matters, according to the Journal.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been negotiating a rescue plan for the crisis-hit country. In April, Sri Lanka had suspended repayments on about $12 billion of foreign debt and has about $21 billion in debt obligations due by the end of 2025.
Reports say Wickremesinghe expects an IMF staff-level agreement to be achieved by end-August, and that Sri Lanka would need to acquire $3 billion from other sources to cover vital imports like gasoline, food, and fertilizers next year.
He also told the publication that it would take months before the economic situation of Sri Lankans improved noticeably.
