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President of Sri Lanka to Cut Budget Spending Due to Economic Crisis
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Sri Lanka’s new President Ranil Wickremesinghe is established to swear in his Cabinet on Friday, which will include members of the previous government, including the next Prime Minister, Dinesh Gunewardena. The previous Cabinet will continue to function until a national government is agreed upon by Parliament, at which point a Cabinet reshuffle will take place.
Mr. Wickremesinghe, 73, who was sworn in as the country’s eighth president on Thursday after winning a parliamentary vote, has called for bipartisanship to address the country’s unprecedented economic crisis.

Mr. Gunewardena, the Leader of the House in the Sri Lankan Parliament, will be the new Prime Minister. He was assigned as Home Minister by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in April.
Mr Gunawardena, a veteran of Sri Lankan politics, has also served as foreign minister and education minister.

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Officials said Mr Wickremesinghe would try and build an all-party government to address the country’s current economic crisis, which is the worst since its independence in 1948.

Mr Wickremesinghe, a 6 former prime minister, was elected by lawmakers on Wednesday in a rare move that could provide continuity for crucial talks with the IMF about a bailout deal for the cash-strapped country.

He will be given the mandate to complete Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term, which comes to an end in November 2024.
Meanwhile, a group of protesters who had been camped out in front of the prime minister’s government house since the end of April announced that they were calling it quits.

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“There was a discussion that we should respect the Constitution and end this protest,” a group spokesman said.
However, the main protest group, which had been camped out in front of the President’s Office since April 9, said they would keep fighting until Mr Wickremesinghe resigned.

“Our victory will come only when we are able to form the People’s Assembly,” said the group’s spokesman, Lahiru Weerasekera.

Ranil Wickremesinghe told media that he intends to sue those who continue to occupy the President’s Office.
He stated that he would support peaceful protesters but would be harsh on those who attempted to promote violence under the guise of peaceful protests.

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Meanwhile, tense sequences were noted from the Galle Face protest site early Friday morning after a large military contingent swooped in.

The Galle Face in Colombo was the epicentre of protests that rocked the country as the country faced an economic and political crisis.

According to the Daily Mirror, troops were seen detaining people and dismantling the protest site.
On July 9, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to leave the country after a popular uprising over his fiscal mismanagement dealt the final blow. He resigned in exile in Singapore after surviving massive protests since April.