Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake retained the key finance minister portfolio and reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister on Monday as the Indian Ocean island nation targets stronger recovery from a draining financial crisis.

Sri Lanka’s new left-leaning president swore in on Monday a 22-member Cabinet after his party coalition secured a landslide victory in a snap parliamentary vote last week.

Dissanayake said during the presidential campaign that he would propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF deal signed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, saying it placed too much burden on the people. However, he has since said Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement.

Veteran legislator Vijitha Herath was also reappointed to helm the foreign affairs ministry. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Party of Sri Lanka's new Marxist-leaning president is leading in parliamentary elections, results show. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's sweeping coalition election win this week underlined widening support for his leftist policies, but he faces the test of steering the nation's recovery from a financial crisis with an inexperienced set of lawmakers.

Voting begins in Sri Lanka's parliamentary election that is key for its new, Marxist-leaning president.