Former president warns Sri Lankan gov't facing financial crisis

The new Sri Lankan government, which was sworn to power after the January presidential election, is facing a serious financial crisis, a former president and top legislator has revealed.

Addressing a meeting organized by the Sri Lanka Development Officer's Union on Sunday night, former president Chandrika Kumaratunga said that the government was facing difficulties due to the depleted finances of the Treasury and was even unable to pay the salaries of public sector employees.

"The government is not able to pay state sector salaries to everyone. It's hard to expand the sector, and some of the employees have no work," she said.

She also said those politicians who were opposed to good governance had begun a counterrevolution against the new government, adding that the financial crisis had been caused by the lack of transparency in the projects carried out by the previous government headed by Mahinda Rajapakse.

Some projects initiated by the former regime are being reviewed by the new government of President Maithripala Sirisena after it was reported that the former government did not follow proper procedures before approving the projects.