Sri Lankan leader seeks world’s help during financial crisis

By HARUKA NUGA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has asked for urgent international help as his country suffers from a severe financial crisis. For months, Sri Lankans have been enduring shortages of necessities because of the country’s lack of foreign currency to pay for imports. The government has halted repayments of its foreign debt. The economic crisis has fueled political turmoil, with protesters demanding Rajapaksa’s resignation. He blamed the economic crisis on the virtual shutdown of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and a sharp decline in money repatriated by overseas Sri Lankan workers because of the pandemic, and rising world inflation. He warned that nations could also be affected by what he called the “long-tail effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”