Sri Lanka eyes trimming presidential powers

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's government on Thursday proposed amending the constitution to trim presidential powers and beef up anti-corruption powers to help shore up stability and defuse unrest provoked by the country's worst financial crisis in decades.

The South Asian island of 22 million people is close to running out of fuel and has struggled for months to find enough US dollars to pay for essential imports such as food, cooking gas and medicine.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whom critics blame for the financial crisis for having given key posts to relatives and being slow to seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, has been under prolonged pressure to step down, though he has said he plans to stay on until his term ends in 2024.

Two of his brothers resigned earlier as prime minister and finance minister following weeks of street protests. The proposed amendment, whose draft was published on Thursday, would establish a constitutional council and nine independent commissions to improve governance.