COLOMBO (Reuters) -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dropped his brother as finance minister on Monday after calling for a unity government as protests against an economic crisis persisted and cracks emerged in the ruling coalition.
The debt-laden country, run by Rajapaksa and his brothers in top positions, is struggling to pay for imports of fuel and other goods due to a scarcity of foreign exchange, leading to hours-long power cuts and a shortage of essentials.
Street protests against the government continued on Monday with crowds gathering in several towns, including in southern Tangalle where people holding posters and the national flag broke through police barricades, local media reported.
“Four ministers were appointed to ensure parliament and other tasks can be conducted in a lawful manner until a full Cabinet can be sworn in,” Rajapaksa’s media office said in a statement after cabinet ministers resigned in a bid to resolve the crisis.
It said Justice Minister Ali Sabry would be the new finance minister, replacing Gotabaya’s brother Basil Rajapaksa, who was due to visit Washington this month for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan program.
Previous ministers of foreign affairs, education and highways will keep their positions.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on Twitter he had also offered to quit.
Udaya Gammanpila, the chief of one of the 11 political parties comprising the ruling coalition, rejected Rajapaksa’s move, calling the new cabinet “old wine in a new bottle”.
Charmara Nakandala, a protester, said the cabinet changes were temporary attempts to placate the public.
The developments come after Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose elder brother is the prime minister, declared a state of emergency on Friday, following spiraling street protests in the island nation.
The country of 22 million, off India’s southern tip, is also grappling with soaring inflation after the government steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of the IMF talks.
The country’s expenditure has exceeded its income under successive governments while its production of tradable goods and services has been inadequate. The twin deficits were badly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic that crippled its economic mainstay, the tourism industry.
“The demands on the street were that Gotabaya Rajapaksa should go,” said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank.