Sri Lanka's economy could contract by -3.5 or -4.0% in 2023 after shrinking -11% last year, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday.
"From 2024, we will take this economy to positive growth. We are creating a strong country that does not bow down to anyone and is debt-free," he said.
Speaking at a religious event, he said: "The growth rate of the economy in 2022 was -11% and could be -3.5 or -4.0% this year."
If economic programs which includes difficult changes in policy such as higher taxes, cuts in public expenditure and debt restructuring were not implemented then Sri Lanka could witness further political unrest, he said.
"No one can prevent the country from falling into crisis again similar to May and June last year," Wickremesinghe said.
The island nation of 22 million people has struggled with challenges during the past year ranging from a shortage of foreign currency to runaway inflation and a steep recession - the worst such crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
The government signed a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September for a $2.9 billion program but has to put its debt on a sustainable path before disbursements can begin.
At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
Russian air attacks on Ukraine kept the eastern half of the country under air raid alert for more than five hours, Ukraine's military said early on Sunday, with Moscow launching several waves of strikes targeting Kyiv and other cities.
Massive consecutive strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs from late Saturday into Sunday, sending booms across the city and sparking flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away.
Over 80 police personnel have been injured in clashes with supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan taking part in a march near Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday.
Ukraine will present its "victory plan" at a regular meeting of its allies at Ramstein in Germany on October 12, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram on Saturday.