COLOMBO: Ranil Wickremesinghe, the president of Sri Lanka, on Wednesday urged political parties to join him in forming an all-party government that will help the country out of its economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe stated that he has already begun conversations with political parties on the subject while delivering the government's policy declaration after the third session of the 9th Parliament was formally opened.

Wickremesinghe said, Sri Lanka needs to modernise its economy and should stop relying on loans from abroad to fund its operations. He added that Sri Lanka must make future plans and that a national economic blueprint for the next 25 years will be developed. He said that the failure to make the necessary adjustments to the economy is the cause of the current economic crisis.

While fuel shortages will persist through the end of the year measures are being made to guarantee that everyone has equitable access to fuel supply, Wickremesinghe said. "The issues are lessening. Steps have been taken to assure a steady supply of gas, food, and medicines," he said.

Sri Lanka can come to a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of August, he said. "We will present this to the IMF soon. Then we will begin talking to countries that have given us loans and private investors that have bought our bonds," he said.

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