Sri Lanka's prime minister says he will slash expenditure in new budget

A woman waits in a line to buy a domestic gas tank near a distributor, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 24, 2022. [Reuters]

Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday he will present an interim budget within six weeks, slashing infrastructure projects to re-route funds into a two-year relief programme for the crisis-hit island nation.

Wickremesinghe, who took office two weeks ago, warned that inflation would rise as the government gets down to tackling the crisis and that there could be more protests on the streets.