COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main Marxist leader and a key presidential hopeful in elections next month pledged on Monday ( Aug 26 ) to selectively welcome foreign investors, especially in green energy, if he wins.
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, a 55-year-old past agricultural secretary and outspoken campaigner against transplant, is popular with voters fed up with the prevalent problem he blames for the planet’s 2022 financial meltdown.
The ballot on September 21 will mark the initial since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted by protesters angry at an unprecedented economic crisis.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, elected by congress after the impeachment, is seeking a mission to proceed with a US$ 2.9 billion IMF loan payment to stabilise the market.
Dissanayaka does promise to renegotiate the agreement, though he has n’t made any specific adjustments other than wanting to lower high taxes.
Dissanayaka stated as he launched his manifesto that” we will invite foreign companies into sectors like renewable energy, where we do n’t have the capacity to invest large amounts of capital.”
There are 39 individuals in the battle, but next season’s competition is viewed as principally between Dissanayaka, Wickremesinghe and the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa.
Both Premadasa and Wickremesinghe share the same ideological stance.