A few years ago, Sri Lanka was performing well on the economic front. The country welcomed a higher number of tourists in 2019. The economic position of Sri Lanka was once even praised by the World Bank and the IMF. In 2020, the tourism-reliant economy was hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak, and now it has officially been declared as bankrupt. The Sri Lankan tourism industry has had a precipitous collapse because of which the country’s annual revenues declined.
In a bid to save the melting economy, the Sri Lankan government stopped the imports. But this decision resulted in a food crisis that was followed by the petroleum and power crises. The island nation is in a confused state with no roadmap to reach normalcy. World leaders must extend a helping hand towards the people of Sri Lanka so that they can get out of this mess safely and quickly.
Abdul Rafay Jamali
Hyderabad