The newly elected president of Sri Lanka has pledged to soon start negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to help get his country out of a severe economic crisis.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake addressed the nation in a televised speech on Wednesday.
He said, “The change we seek involves many steps that will take time. However, achieving stability and confidence in the economy is crucial.”
Dissanayake is the leader of the leftist JVP party. He beat the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe in last weekend’s presidential election.
The key issue during the election was the austerity measures introduced by the previous government as a precondition for the IMF’s bailout. The package is worth about three billion dollars under a four-year loan program.
During the campaign, Dissanayake called for tax cuts and lower electricity bills. He promised to renegotiate the IMF deal to ease the burden on ordinary people.
However, changes to the agreement could affect the debt restructuring worked out by foreign creditors, such as Japan and India.
Dissanayake’s coalition has also only three seats in the 225-member parliament. He has called a general election for mid-November in the hope of strengthening his power base while he still has momentum.