‘Business confidence in Lanka has hit rock bottom’

Business confidence in Sri Lanka is at its lowest in years, according to the chairman of the Ceylon Chambers of Commerce Vish Govindasamy.

“Business confidence is probably at its lowest since I’ve been in business. It’s probably the most difficult times that we have faced. But we are resilient,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” hours before lawmakers picked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president, to take over from Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country.

Wickremesinghe defeated his nearest rival Dullus Alahapperuma by a wide margin of 52 votes in the three-way race. Of the 225 votes, Wickremesinghe garnered 134 votes, and Alahapperuma took 82. The third candidate, leftist Anura Kumara Dissanayake, secured only three votes, according to Reuters.

Sri Lanka has faced months of demonstrations over shortages of food and fuel amid the worst economic crisis in the island nation’s history.Last week, angry protestors stormed the home of Rajapaksa, whom they blame for mismanagement of the crisis, and the president fled the country and resigned days later.

“The businesses are making sure we survive through this difficult time… [but] reforms are absolutely necessary,” Govindasamy said Wednesday on “Squawk Box Asia.”

Fiscal reforms are imperative for the new government, said Roshan Perera, a former director of the Sri Lankan central bank, who spoke to CNBC before Wickremesinghe was elected.