Sri Lanka's new PM to sell national airline, print money to pay salaries

Wickremesinghe -- less than a week into the job -- said he was forced to print money to pay salaries, which will pressure the nation's currency

Sri Lanka’s new government plans to sell its national airline to stem losses, part of efforts to stabilize the nation’s finances even as authorities are forced to print money to pay government salaries. 

The new administration plans to privatize Sri Lankan Airlines, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a televised address to the nation Monday. The carrier lost 45 billion rupees ($124 million) in the year ending March 2021, he said just days before the nation is set to formally default on foreign debt.

“It should not be that this loss has to be borne by the poorest of the poor who