The British Foreign Office warns against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka as it faces its worst economic crisis in seven decades.
The country in South Asia, with a population of 22 million people, is experiencing shortages of necessities, according to the British government.
Economic mismanagement and the impact of the Covid pandemic has left the country cash strapped as they are unable to pay for essential imports of food, medicines and fuel.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister announced the island nation will present a debt restructuring plan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of August, in a bid to win approval for a four-year funding programme.
However, he says the talks are proving to be difficult as the country is now a bankrupt nation.
They aim to hold a donor conference with China, India and Japan to secure more loans if an agreement is reached with the IMF.
The central bank is Sri Lanka is expected to raise the interest rates on Thursday to tackle the record-high inflation and move forward with the talks with IMF.
According to economists and analysts the rate is will increase ranges from 100-300 basis points.
Sky news.
