Sri Lanka: 9 ministers take oath in PM Ranil Wickremesinghe's Cabinet amid economic crisis

Ending days of speculations, the Sri Lankan administration swore in new Cabinet members under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Aimed at pulling the island out of a gruesome economic crisis, all the nine lawmakers took oath on Friday morning.

Notably, the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, who earlier declined the proposal to be Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister was again absent from the list.

Here are profiles of the new Cabinet:

Tiran Alles – Minister of Public Security

Nimal Siripasa de Silva – Ports Shipping and Aviation

Ramesh Pathirana – Minister of Plantation

Susil Premajayantha – Minister of Education

Keheliya Rambukwella – Minister of Health

Harin Fernando – Minister of Tourism and Land

Manusha Nanayakkara – Minister of Labour

Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa – Minister of Justice and Constitutional Reform

Nalin Fernando – Minister of Trade, Commerce

Lawmakers to forego salaries 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that all the new Sri Lankan ministers will forego their salaries, in a bid to mitigate the crisis. In a statement, the newly-appointed leader said that the decision was made in a bid to ease public expenditure and would also see a cap on other benefits enjoyed by Sri Lankan lawmakers to date. 

This comes as the virtual mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to conclude technical talks on a potential IMF loan programme on May 24, Ada Derena reported citing Fund spokesperson Gerry Rice. Earlier in mid-April, Sri Lanka asked for financial aid from a global financial institution.

“The (foreign minister) made a request for a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to mitigate the current supply chain issues, yet initially IMF of the view that it doesn’t meet their criteria,” Finance Minister Ali Sabry’s aide Shamir Zavahir said on Twitter.

Sri Lanka - nicknamed the pearl of the Indian Ocean - is facing its worst economic crisis ever. An acute shortage of foreign currency has left the Rajapaksa administration unable to pay for essential imports, thereby triggering a never seen battle for basic commodities.

The country has also seen its currency value drop significantly in recent weeks, taking the value of the Sri Lankan Rupee to 360.21 against the US dollar (on Friday). All this has triggered massive protests in the country which eventually led to the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa from the Prime Ministerial post and the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as his replacement.