Sri Lanka to restart IMF bailout talks this month

COLOMBO, Aug 3 (Reuters): Sri Lanka will restart bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August, its new president said on Wednesday, while calling on lawmakers to form an all-party government to resolve a crippling economic crisis.

In a speech in parliament, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that constitutional amendments were required to curtail presidential powers - indicating he would meet a key demand of protesters who forced out his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

"The president of a country does not have to be a king or a god who is exalted above the people. He or she is one of the citizens," Wickremesinghe said.

The island nation of 22 million people is facing its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 with its foreign exchange reserves at record lows, and the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and a steep fall in government revenue.

Angered by persistent shortages of essentials, including fuel and medicines, and sky-rocketing inflation of over 60 percent year-on-year, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in early July, forcing Rajapaksa to first flee the country and then quit office.