Ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns to Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka's former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled in July as protesters angry over the dire economic situation stormed his home and office, has returned to the country.

He was received at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on Friday night by several ministers and politicians, local media reported.

Gotabaya arrived from Thailand on a Singapore Airlines flight.

The 73-year-old leader left Sri Lanka for the Maldives on July 13 on a military plane along with his wife and from there travelled to Singapore.

Gotabaya formally resigned as president while abroad, paving the way for the then prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to become Sri Lanka's new president.

The public fury that led to Gotabaya's exit and his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa's resignation on May 9 has subsided in recent weeks.

Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its external debt in April, saw its inflation soar to 64.3 per cent in August.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday it has signed a preliminary agreement to extend a US$2.9 billion loan to Sri Lanka to help it recover from its economic crisis.

-- BERNAMA