COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday said the country had reached a decisive juncture and called for patience as protests continued over the government's handling of a deepening economic crisis.

       In a televised address, Rajapaksa said that the government, which is led by his younger brother Gotabaya, will bring back a fertiliser subsidy for farmers, who were badly hit by a ban on the product last year that was later rolled back.

       "The President and I are spending every moment to formulate solutions on how to get Sri Lanka out of this current crisis," he said.

       (Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; editing by John Stonestreet)