South Asia and Beyond

‘Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis Has Triggered A Political Collapse’

NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka’s long pending debt crisis finally blew up taking the government with it. At the time of writing this, Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reconstituting his council of ministers with no decision yet on a prime minister who will replace Mahinda Rajapaksa. The governing coalition could see the exit of the SLFP and MPs are under pressure from their constituencies to quit.

In this chat on StratNewsGlobal, Colombo based strategic analyst Dr. Harinda Vidanage, gives a broad overview of current developments and looks at the options before President Rajapaksa. His call for a government of national unity may have merit, but opposition parties may prefer to bide their time in the hope and expectation that the ruling establishment will sink further.

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The president is battling to resolve the economic crisis on the ground. Public anger is growing and some violence has been reported. For a country that has been on a fairly steady economic and political path since the defeat of the Tamil insurgency, this is probably another time of reckoning.

Tune in for more in this conversation with Dr. Harinda Vidanage.

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