Sri Lanka economic crisis

Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repaying its $51 billion foreign debt, of which it must repay $28 billion by 2027.

Once again, the country is forced to seek a bailout from the IMF – with all the costs and benefits that entails.

The country has always has a sizable diaspora of migrant workers. But now many people are leaving not just to better themselves but out of sheer necessity.

The ADB cut its estimate for growth in Asia’s developing economies to 4.3 percent, down from an earlier forecast of 5.2 percent. But the slowdown is not evenly distributed.

The package is contingent on assurances from creditors, including China, India and Japan that debt sustainability will be restored.

The Yuan Wang 5’s docking at Hambantota Port continues to create ripples long after the ship left the island.

How did Sri Lanka’s economic crisis get so bad – and how can the country move forward from here?

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government will soon start negotiating debt restructuring with countries that provide loans to Sri Lanka.

The government should take advantage of the crisis to do things that it could never attempt before, from addressing regressive subsidies to restructuring state-owned enterprises.

China's role in lending to Sri Lanka has expanded in the last 20 years, but fewer Chinese loans would not have saved the country from its current economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe said the government's aim is to create a surplus in the primary budget by the year 2025 and to bring down public debt.