PM Ranil says the Rajapaksa government will change its policies

Sri Lanka’s new prime minister has told the BBC an economic crisis that has brought misery and unrest is “going to get worse before it gets better”.

The country is facing fuel shortages and soaring food prices, with some Sri Lankans forced to skip meals. In his first interview since taking office, Mr Wickremesinghe told the BBC he would ensure families get three meals a day. Appealing to the world for more financial help, he said “there won’t be a hunger crisis, we will find food”. The new PM described the Sri Lankan economy as “broken”, but he said his message to Sri Lankans was to “be patient, I will bring things back”.

In his interview, Mr Wickremesinghe said he agreed with the sentiment of protestors who’ve been calling for President Rajapaksa to resign, but said that would not happen. “Blaming won’t lead to action, I’m here to see people nourished,” he said. But he added that he was “going to change all the policies of the Rajapaksa government”. Sri Lanka’s economy is in freefall.

“We don’t have kerosene, we don’t have petrol, we don’t have diesel, we don’t have cooking gas and we don’t even have access to wood-fired stoves,” a 68-year-old woman in the Sri Lankan capital Columbo told AFP. At the heart of Sri Lanka’s economic woes is that the country is heavily reliant on imports but has been burning through the foreign currency reserves it needs to pay for them.