Sri Lankan President Dissanayake swears in 21-member Cabinet

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday picked a 21-member Cabinet after winning a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary elections last week.

Dissanayake will keep ministerial portfolios of finance, defense, and digital, while educationist Harini Amarasuriya again took oath as the prime minister of the island nation.

Dissanayake won presidential elections in September and ran the government with a three-member Cabinet until last week's general polls where his National People's Power won 159 seats in a parliament of 225 members.

The swearing-in ceremony of the Cabinet, which was telecast live, took place at the Presidential Secretariat in the capital Colombo.

Prime Minister Amarasuriya will also hold the ministry of education, higher education as well as vocational education.

Vijitha Herath has been appointed foreign minister.

Ananda Wijepala is the new public security and parliamentary affairs minister while Bimal Rathnayake has been tapped as transport, highways, ports and civil aviation minister.

Dissanayake is likely to pick deputy ministers in the coming weeks.

Sri Lanka has been undergoing a financial program by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following a default in 2022.

An IMF delegation led by Peter Breuer is on a week-long trip to the island nation to hold talks with the new government as well as conduct a third review of Sri Lanka's economic reform program of $2.9 billion.