Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been appointed acting president after the president fled the country amidst ongoing protests, the speaker of parliament announced on Wednesday. This is coming on the day outgoing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to tender his resignation. The prime minister had also said he would leave office when a new government is in place. Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repayment of its foreign loans with foreign reserves near empty. It announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage.

Source: Nigerian Tribune July 13, 2022 18:47 UTC