President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has informed the Speaker of Parliament that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed as the Acting President of Sri Lanka. 

Making a special statement to the media today, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abywardena said that the President has appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe to act on his behalf as he is out of the country. 

The Speaker said that Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed as the Acting  President as per Article 37 (01) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. 

Protests have broken out in several parts of Colombo today as anti-government protesters are calling on both the President and Prime Minister to step down over the current economic crisis. 

Following the public uprising on 09th July, the President informed the Speaker that he will hand in his resignation today.

However, the President had left for the Maldives along with his family early this morning without any information on his resignation. 

Thereby, the Speaker has now announced that the President has appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as Acting President to discharge duties on his behalf. (NewsWire)