Sri Lanka leader trims cabinet of relatives ahead of IMF talks

Sri Lanka’s embattled chief dropped two of his brothers and a nephew from his cupboard Monday, following public anger over the ruling circle of relatives’ mismanagement of a crippling economic disaster and calls for his resignation.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has presided over the island state’s maximum painful downturn in memory and his authorities are getting ready for impending bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

Dozens of lawmakers have become in opposition to the management and opposition events have rebuffed invitations to enroll in a team spirit government from the president, who insists he will continue to be in the office to manual Sri Lanka thru the crisis.

Huge protests have despite the fact that demanded Rajapaksa stand down, along with tens of thousands of people camped out of doors his seafront workplace for extra than a week.

The new cabinet retains Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya’s older brother and the head of Sri Lanka’s ruling clan while leaving out eldest sibling Chamal and younger brother Basil, the former finance minister.

Mahinda’s eldest son Namal, who ran the sports ministry and had been touted as a future leader before the crisis, was also dropped.

The 21-member cabinet is seven people fewer than its predecessor, which resigned en masse two weeks ago in response to public outrage over nepotism and corruption.

Ministers are entitled to several SUVs, a large contingent of bodyguards and unlimited fuel, as well as state housing and entertainment allowances.

New finance minister Ali Sabry led a delegation to Washington over the weekend to open talks with the International Monetary Fund from Tuesday, officials said.

Sri Lanka is seeking three to four billion dollars from the IMF to overcome its balance-of-payments crisis and boost depleted reserves.

Alongside the acute shortages, Sri Lanka is also facing record inflation and lengthy electricity blackouts, as the government has run out of foreign currency to import fuel.

Lanka IOC, a petrol retailer which accounts for a third of the local market, announced yet another steep hike in fuel costs on Monday to account for the collapse in the value of the local currency.

The cost of diesel, the fuel most commonly used for public transport, has risen by 138 percent since the start of the year while petrol prices have nearly doubled.

The authorities closing week introduced a default on Sri Lanka’s $51 billion overseas debt and the Colombo Stock Exchange has suspended trading to prevent a predicted marketplace disintegrate.

Rajapaksa’s parliamentary majority has been thrown into query after former allies abandoned the ruling coalition.

The competition has stated it’s going to try and topple the authorities via a no-confidence vote within the coming weeks.

Monday marked the 10th immediately the day of protests outdoor Rajapaksa’s office, with demonstrators establishing a protest camp that they say will preserve until the chief stands apart.

Activists shone virtual projections on the workplace denouncing corruption and demanding the president “pass domestic”, prompting police to preserve up huge screens to block the mild beams.