Sri Lanka's priority to be economic recovery
China DailyAnura Kumara Dissanayake is sworn in as the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Monday. XINHUA The top priorities of Sri Lanka's new president will be to boost economic recovery, reduce poverty and improve the quality of life for citizens, an expert says, as the weekend's national election came two years after the country declared bankruptcy. On Monday, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena submitted his resignation, saying that with the election of Dissanayake as the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka, he is stepping down in accordance with the country's constitution. Dissanayake's victory came more than two years after former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned in July 2022 amid a severe economic crisis that sparked protests across the country. Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore's Business School, told China Daily that the new president's "utmost priority" should be sustained economic recovery, especially in light of the serious economic policy mismanagement of recent years.