Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe confirmed on Saturday that he would resign.
“To ensure the continuation of the Government including the safety of all citizens, I accept the best recommendation of the Party Leaders today to make way for an All-Party Government,” he wrote on Twitter. “To facilitate this I will resign as prime minister.”.
Earlier the country’s news portal Newsfirst reported that Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign.
“Prime Minister is ready to resign,” the portal said following a meeting of leaders of political parties headed by the parliament speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.
Wickremesinghe told the participants of the meeting about his decision, according to the portal. Sri Lankan PM will resign after a government consisting of all parties is formed.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Colombo on Saturday, demanding resignation of sitting head of state Gotabaya Rajapaksa. They managed to break into his residence, and later – into the residence of Prime Minister. Over 30 people were wounded during the protests, including several policemen.
Head of State managed to leave the residence minutes before demonstrators got to its territory, a defense ministry source said. Rajapaksa is still considered the country’s president and he is currently protected by the military, the same source told the agency.
Since early April, Sri Lanka has been hit by protests against the deteriorating living conditions, the lack of fuel, food and essentials.
Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. It resulted from a contraction of foreign tourism due to the pandemic, which led to the shortage of foreign currency reserves in the country.
In this environment the authorities were forced to cut imports and introduce tight resource saving. The country’s external debt, which totals $51 billion, hinders Sri Lanka from making external borrowings and struggling against the economic crisis.
