IMF Ready To Work With Sri Lanka's New President Anura Kumara

COLOMBO (News 1st); The International Monetary Fund says that it looks forward to working together with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his team towards building on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery since entering one of its worst economic crises in 2022. Aruna Kumara Dissanayake, was elected as Sri Lanka’s president on Sunday (22) following a second round runoff. The elections were the first since civil unrest in 2022 led to the resignation and departure from the country of the then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is widely blamed for the economic crisis gripping the country. The 55-year-old AKD secured victory over opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over the country two years ago after its economy hit bottom. Dissanayake received 5,740,179 votes, followed by Premadasa with 4,530,902, Election Commission data showed. It's a remarkable turnaround for a man who won just 3% of the votes in the 2019 election. He will now inherit governance of a nation that is struggling to emerge from the shadow of that crisis, and a populace that is desperate for change.