Gotabaya Rajapaksa will "martial" Sri Lanka out of economic crisis, says brother Mahinda

Former Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday expressed confidence that his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will ''martial'' the island nation out of the raging economic crisis.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, the patriarch of the Rajapaksa family, in a social media post, wished Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his 73rd birthday.

"A very happy birthday to President and all the very best as he steps into another year of his life,'' Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned last month amid mass protests at the government's handling of a deepening economic crisis, tweeted.

''His presence has always been a source of strength and I have every assurance that he will martial this country out of this crisis," the 76-year-old two-time Sri Lankan president wrote on a day when anti-government demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tried to block all the gates to his office.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. After Mahinda Rajapaksa's resignation, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as his successor to steer the island nation out of the woods.

Wickremesinghe recently said the country needs at least USD 5 billion over the next six months to pay for essential goods as it faces its worst economic crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)