Sri Lanka’s central bank governor said he tendered his resignation as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades.

Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s announcement came after all of the country’s cabinet ministers resigned.

Following this, Bloomberg reported that P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, a career central banker, has been named head of Sri Lanka’s monetary authority as the government seeks to pull the South Asian nation out of an economic slump, avoid a default of bonds and to begin talks of assistance with the International Monetary Fund.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has yet to make an official announcement on Mr. Weerasinghe’s appointment. A bank spokesperson told the BBC that he awaits the confirmation of the president of the country.

Speaking by phone from Australia, Mr Weerasinghe said he had been offered the job and had taken it.

“I will take up the post of Governor of the Central Bank when I return to Sri Lanka on the 7th [of April],” he said.

However, he declined to comment on any of his plans for Sri Lanka’s crisis-hit economy or when an interest rate decision would be made.

“I have to go back and see how it goes,” Mr Weerasinghe said.

“But I have already started working,” he added.

With a doctorate in economics from the Australian National University, Weerasinghe previously served as an alternate executive director at the IMF until 2011 and chief economist at the central bank, according to the authority’s website. He had chaired the monetary policy committee and the foreign reserve management committee of the CBSL.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it was monitoring political and economic developments in Sri Lanka “very closely” as public unrest in the island nation worsens amid its worst economic crisis in decades.

Posted: Tuesday, April 5, 2022, 10:58 a.m. IST