SINGAPORE: President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong have written to Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to congratulate him on his election, said Singapore's Mi

Sri Lanka's newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has dissolved parliament to clear the way for a snap general election in the debt-ridden country, he said in a government gazette notification on Tuesday.

The main reason for worrying about Mr Dissanayake is not that he is a zealot. It is that he has little experience in government, barring a brief stint as agriculture minister two decades ago. Somehow, he must continue with painful reforms to keep the economy stable without alienating the people who elected him. It is an almost impossible task.

Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake said he plans to start discussions with the International Monetary Fund as part of his focus on establishing stability in the island nation before rolling out other initiatives.

Sri Lanka will hold a parliamentary election on Nov. 14, the government announced on Tuesday, less than two months after the Indian Ocean island nation elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president.

Ms Amarasuriya, 54, is the first woman in more than two decades and the only third woman in the history of independent Sri Lanka to take charge as the prime minister. She is a sociology lecturer and known for her activism on gender and minority rights.

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it was already communicating with Sri Lanka's new economic team. "We are discussing the next steps for engagement" IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said in an emailed statement,