Aim is to save crisis-hit Lanka, not family: New PM Wickremesinghe

Colombo: Sri Lanka's newly-appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday warned that next two months would be the toughest and said his aim is to save the country from the ongoing economic crisis, and not a person, family or group, in an apparent reference to the Rajapaksa family and its former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In his first televised address to the nation after becoming the Prime Minister last week, the 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader also said that US dollars will be sourced from open markets to pay for petrol, crude, furnace oil shipments currently in Sri Lankan waters. Wickremesinghe was appointed as Sri Lanka's 26th prime minister on Thursday as the country was without a government since Monday when prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after violence erupted following an attack on the anti-government protesters by his supporters.

"I am undertaking a dangerous challenge... I am wearing shoes with sharp nails that cannot be removed...I am accepting this challenge for our nation. My goal and dedication is not to save an individual, a family, or a party. My objective is to save all the people of this country and the future of our younger generation," Wickremesinghe said.

He warned that next two months would be the toughest in the ongoing economic crisis. "The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives. We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period," he said while addressing the nation on the current crisis. Wickremesinghe said that at present the Sri Lankan economy is extremely precarious and Colombo must obtain $75 million within the next couple of days to ease the current queues for essentials.

"At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day," he said, adding that diesel shortages would be eased thanks to the Indian credit line. "Due to the diesel shipment that arrived yesterday, the lack of diesel will be resolved to some extent. Under the Indian credit line, two more diesel shipments are due to arrive on the 18th May and 1st June. In addition, two petrol shipments are expected on 18th and 29th May," he said. "For over 40 days 3 ships with crude oil and furnace oil have been anchored within the maritime zone of Sri Lanka. We are working to obtain dollars in the open market to pay for these shipments," he added.

He said a quarter of electricity in Lanka is generated through oil. Therefore, there is a possibility that the daily power outages will increase to 15 hours a day. "However, we have already obtained money to avert this crisis," he said. The Prime Minister said the entire local banking system is suffering from the dollar shortages. He said another grave concern is the lack of medicine.

"There is a severe shortage of a number of medicines including medicine required for heart disease as well as surgical equipment. Payments have not been made for four months to suppliers of medicine, medical equipment, and food for patients. The payment owed to them amounts to SLR 34 billion," he said. The state had been unable to pay for medicine supplies over four months now.