Sri Lanka PM faces rising pressure to quit

COLOMBO • Sri Lanka's beleaguered Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa came under increased pressure to step down yesterday, as a Cabinet minister and other senior party members backed street protests calling for resignations over a worsening economic crisis.

Media Minister Nalaka Godahewa announced his support for the thousands outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office who are demanding that he and other members of his powerful family quit power.

Sri Lanka is suffering its most painful economic downturn since independence in 1948, with months of lengthy blackouts and acute shortages of food, fuel and other essentials. The crisis has sparked countrywide protests, with angry demonstrators camped outside Mr Rajapaksa's office for more than three weeks.

Under pressure, the President this month dropped two of his brothers - Chamal and Basil - and nephew Namal from the Cabinet, but protesters rejected the changes as cosmetic.

Mr Godahewa, previously a staunch Rajapaksa loyalist, said the President should sack his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa - the head of the family - and allow an all-party interim government to take over.

He said the government had lost its credibility after the police killing of a protester last Tuesday. Mr Godahewa said he had offered his resignation but President Rajapaksa had not accepted it.

"We need to restore political stability to successfully meet the economic crisis," Mr Godahewa said on his Facebook page.

"The entire Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, should resign and (there should be) an interim Cabinet that can win the confidence of all."

Several senior ruling party members, including former media minister and Cabinet spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma, have also asked the premier to step down.

"I urge the President to appoint a smaller Cabinet with a genuine consensus representing all parties in Parliament for one year," Mr Alahapperuma said yesterday.

Food, fuel and electricity have been rationed for months and the country is facing record inflation. Hospitals are short of vital medicines and the government has announced a default on its foreign debt. It has also appealed to citizens abroad for donations.

Finance Minister Ali Sabry, who is in Washington to negotiate a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, warned on Friday that the economic situation in the South Asian nation will likely worsen further.

"It is going to get worse before it gets better," Mr Sabry told reporters. "It is going to be a painful few years ahead."

He also said that India and the World Bank are considering extending about US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) in bridge finance so it can continue essential imports.

The country of 22 million people is struggling to pay for imports after a sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves which has led to a currency devaluation and soaring inflation. Sri Lanka, which has US$51 billion of external credit, is working on a wider plan to secure funds to help it through its worst economic crisis.

India has already agreed to double a US$500 million credit line for fuel and defer about US$1.5 billion in import payments. It has also extended the tenure of a US$400 million swap given in January.

"Talks with the World Bank have been very positive," Mr Sabry said, adding: "In the next four weeks to six months we expect about US$500 million from them, which will be partly used to provide direct cash transfers to the poor."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS