Top Businessman Dhammika Perera is set to enter the Parliament replacing Basil Rajapakse and is tipped to swear in as the Minister of Technology and Investment Promotion.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has created two new ministries, including an investment ministry, to handle the worst economic crisis in the island nation.
The role of the new ministry of ‘Technology and Investment Promotion’ will also be to promote foreign direct investment and private sector investment while promoting economic potential in Sri Lanka.
The new ministry was created after Basil Rajapaksa, former finance minister and the intellectual pillar of the Rajapaksa brothers, quit Parliament on Thursday.
The role of the new ministry of ‘Technology and Investment Promotion’ will also be to promote foreign direct investment and private sector investment while promoting economic potential in Sri Lanka.
Perera in recent weeks has been making public suggestions of his plans to promote the flow of US dollars into the country in order to tackle the unprecedented economic crisis the island nation has faced since 1948.
Perera had headed the Board of Investment as a political appointee and was also the Secretary to the ministry of Highways between 2005-15 under the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Chinese built Colombo Port City and the government’s investment promotion arm, the Board of Investment have been listed under the new technology ministry.
The telecommunications regulator and Sri Lanka Telecom alongside the Registrar of Persons and Department of Immigration and Emigration — all key institutions handled by Rajapaksa himself have also been listed under the new technology ministry.