Sri Lanka 2023: Wickremesinghe’s first six months between economic recovery and political uncertainty

The country’s effort to emerge from the economic and political crisis characterized the year under review for Sri Lanka. After long negotiations, Colombo managed to reach an agreement with international partners on financial aid, accompanied by a program of profound economic, fiscal and government reforms. These have weighed heavily on the population, especially the less well-off classes who reacted with widespread protests and strikes. At the same time, Colombo managed to obtain a partial consent to the restructuring of its debt with Beijing. On the political level, the year was characterized by a harsh confrontation between President Wickremesinghe and the opposition, and by civil society protests against the government’s apparent inaction in shedding light on responsibility for political violence in the country. There also remained considerable uncertainty about the government’s willingness to respect the electoral agenda which called for presidential and parliamentary elections by 2024.