Dissanayaka succeeds outgoing president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office at the peak of the financial crisis following the government’s first-ever foreign debt default and months of punishing food, fuel and medicine shortages.
Wickremesinghe, 75, imposed steep tax hikes and other austerity measures per the terms of an International Monetary Fund bailout.
His policies ended the shortages and returned the economy to growth but left millions struggling to make ends meet.
“I can confidently say that I did my best to stabilise the country during one of its darkest periods,” he said in a statement after placing a distant third in Saturday’s poll.
Shortly before the ceremony, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena resigned, clearing the way for Dissanayaka to appoint his own cabinet.
Dissanayaka’s party has said he wants to have his own cabinet until a fresh parliament is elected later this year. His JVP party has only three members in the 225-member parliament.
He has vowed to press ahead with the IMF rescue package negotiated by his predecessor last year but modify its terms in order to deliver tax cuts.
“It is a binding document, but there is a provision to renegotiate,” Bimal Ratnayake, a senior member of Dissanayaka’s party, told AFP.
