sri lankas new president ranil wickremesinghe had sought the top job for decades now he has to find ways to avoid the fate of his predecessor as he fends off protesters whore angry about persistent food and fuel shortagesthe veteran politician was sworn in last week after months of protests escalated forcing former leader gotabaya rajapaksa to flee to singapore and resignread alsosri lankas expresident gotabaya rajapaksa likely to return after fleeing protestsformer sri lankan president gotabaya rajapaksa is expected to return home from singapore where he has been staying for nearly two weeks after fleeing violent protests in the south asian country where citizens called for his ouster rajapaksa has been the focus of protesters who blame him for agotabaya is gone but shadow of rajapaksas still looms over sri lankan politicsnew delhi sri lanka finally has a government in place after a long period of violent protests and political instability triggered by unprecedented economic turmoil that eventually forced the allpowerful rajapaksas to relinquish power though the rajapaksa brothers are overtly out of the powerranil wickremesinghe sworn in as sri lankas new presidentveteran politician ranil wickremesinghe was on thursday sworn in as sri lankas eighth president wickremesinghe 73 took oath as the 8th executive president at the parliament complex before chief justice jayantha jayasuriya he will face the tough task of leading the country out of its economicranil wickremesinghe a wily political survivor elected sri lankas presidentranil wickremesinghe a lawyer who served as sri lankas prime minister a record six times has finally made it to the top job securing the presidency after winning a parliamentary vote on wednesday despite fierce public opposition to his candidacywho is ranil wickremesinghe the new president of sri lankawickremesinghe takes charge of a bankrupt nation that is in bailout talks with the imf with its 22 million people enduring severe shortages of food fuel and medicineranil wickremesinghe sri lankas prime minister and finance minister during an interview in colombo sri lanka on wednesday may 25 2022 the bankrupt nation will slash its budget expenditure to bare bones and hopes to break even or post a primary surplus of 1 of gross domestic product by 2025 wickremesinghe said in the interview in his officewickremesinghe 73 is focused on clinching a bailout program from the international monetary fund and securing dollars from friendly nations to end shortages of essential items that have stalled economic activity and pushed inflation near 70hes also seeking to quell wellorganized street protests the new president has placed sri lanka under emergency rule which allows security forces to detain and arrest people early friday just a day after he was sworn in wickremesinghe sent in the military and police to clear a key protest site leading to tense scenesthe first indications from ranil have not been great said lakshini fernando senior vice president of research at asia securities ltd in colombo but if he does focus on what are the dire needs of the citizens it may ease some pressure