Sri Lanka marked its 75th independence anniversary on Saturday as a bankrupt nation, with many citizens angry, anxious and in no mood to celebrate. Many Buddhists and Christian clergy had announced a boycott of the celebration in the capital, while activists and others expressed anger at what they see as a waste of money in a time of severe economic crisis. Despite the criticism, armed troops paraded along the main esplanade in Colombo, showcasing military equipment as navy ships sailed in the sea and helicopters and aircraft flew over the city. Catholic priest Rev. Cyril Gamini called this year's ceremony commemorating independence from British rule a “crime and waste” at a time when the country is experiencing such economic hardship. “We ask the government what independence they are going to proudly celebrate by spending a sum of 200 million rupees ($548,000),” said Gamini, adding the Catholic Church does not condone spending public money on the celebration and that no priest would attend the ceremony. About 7% of Sri Lanka’s 22 million people in this Buddhist-majority nation are Christians, most of them Catholics. Despite being a minority, the church’s views are respected. Prominent Buddhist monk Rev. Omalpe Sobitha said there is no reason to celebrate and that the ceremony is just an exhibition of weapons made in other countries. Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year pending the outcome of talks with the International Monetary Fund. The country’s total foreign debt exceeds $51 billion, of which $28 billion has to be repaid by 2027. Unsustainable debt and a severe balance of payment crisis, on top of lingering scars from the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to a severe shortage of essentials such as fuel, medicine and food. The shortages led to protests last year that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign. Read more: Sri Lanka’s government cuts expenses as economy tanks There have been signs of improvement under President Ranil Wickremesinghe, but power cuts continue due to the fuel shortages, hospitals face medicine shortages and the treasury is struggling to raise money to pay government employees’ salaries. The economic crisis has made people angry and apathetic toward political leaders. To manage the country's expenses, the government has increased income taxes sharply and has announced a 6% cut in funds allocated to every ministry this year. Also, the military, which had swelled to more than 200,000 members amid a long civil war, will be downsized by nearly half by 2030. A group of activists began a silent protest on Friday in the capital, condemning the government’s independence celebration and failure to ease the economic burden.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Sunday sought extensive concessional loan from the World Bank to help Bangladesh weather the economic shocks caused by Russia-Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic. Kamal sought the assistance from the International Development Association (IDA), the soft-lending widow of the bank, during a meeting with the visiting World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region Martin Raiser at Secretariat office, the ministry sources said.   Abdoulaye Seck, WB’s newly designated country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, was also present at the meeting. Read more: Bangladesh's strong growth could be at risk without urgent climate action: World Bank The WB officials arrived in Dhaka on Sunday on a 3-day visit to discuss Bangladesh’s request for a new loan to tide over the current economic woes and economic reforms. The visit takes place close on the heels of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreeing to lend $4.5 billion to Bangladesh as the country strives to stabilize its declining foreign exchange reserves and the balance of payments. During the visit Raiser will also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other senior government officials. Before the visit Raiser said, “I am glad to be back in Bangladesh and to continue discussing with the government the important reforms that can help the country stay on the resilient and inclusive growth path and create opportunities for the people,” The finance minister thanked the World Bank for working on a Technical Assistance project named “Beautification of Dhaka” to ensure environmental restoration and navigability of rivers around Dhaka city and to enhance the beauty of Dhaka. Kamal also discussed the progress of various projects under implementation with World Bank loan assistance. Read more: World Bank Vice President Martin Raiser arrives Saturday Bangladesh has received $1.0 billion in budget support from 2019 to April 2022. It is expected that another $500 million in budget support will be available in the current financial year. Green, Resilience, Inclusive Development (GRID) DPC is expected to get 500 million in the next 2 fiscal years, he said. A loan proposal of $6.15 billion is in the pipeline for the period 2023-2025. Kamal termed the World Bank as one of the important development partners of Bangladesh adding that since 1972, Bangladesh has received $37 billion in loan and grant assistance from the World Bank. “Of which $26.6 billion have been remitted. We have paid $6.36 billion in interest and principal so far,” he added. Fatima Yasmin, Senior Secretary of Finance ministry, Sharifa Khan, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division, Guangze Chen, Regional Director, and Dandan Chen, Acting Country Director of World Bank, were present at the meeting.

Sri Lankans who have endured months of fuel and food shortages are bracing for more pain as a newly installed government scrambles to find solutions to the Indian Ocean nation's economic emergency. Like many others, fish monger Gamini Mallawarachchi says he is pinning his hopes on President Ranil Wickremesinghe 's ability to revive the economy and restore stability after months of turmoil and protests. “Things are really, really bad now and my life is almost ruined,” said Mallawarachchi, who has given up on selling fish because he can't find fuel to get to the village where he used to buy it, and anyway his customers were buying less and less. Mallawarachchi said he views Wickremesinghe his “last hope.” Also read: Sri Lanka to host Asia Cup in UAE, ACC confirms “I think he will do something. With his experience and knowledge, I believe he has the capability,” said Mallawarachchi. “But, he must show some results before the end of this year, otherwise, he will also have to face protests from the people,” he said. Sri Lanka inched closer to ending its dire economic and humanitarian crisis with the July 20 appointment of Wickremesinghe's new government after months of protests and turmoil. But daunting hurdles lay ahead. Lawmakers backed him in extending a national emergency that gives the president broad powers to crack down on any violence. That may buy him time to try to reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund on a requested $3 billion bailout. Also read: Schools reopen in Sri Lanka after closure from fuel shortages By his own admission, that’s easier said than done. On Saturday, Wickremesinghe said he has pushed back by a month his aim of getting an agreement by early August since talks with the IMF stalled amid recent political turmoil. So far there are scant signs of progress in negotiations with Sri Lanka’s other creditors on more than $50 billion that it owes to lenders. “Because public debt is assessed as unsustainable,” the IMF’s approval would “require adequate financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored,” the lending agency said in a statement. That would require lenders, both public and private, to agree to accept smaller payouts on bonds, lower interest rates or extended repayment terms. IMF conditions also would likely involve tax increases, better safeguards against corruption and other reforms such as privatizing state-owned companies like the national airline. The World Bank issued a statement last week expressing “deep concern" over Sri Lanka and saying it wouldn't supply more funding, pending plans for “deep structural reforms" to address the causes of the crisis. “He’s in a bind,” said Tamanna Salikuddin of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent institute based in Washington, D.C. Austerity measures are a bitter pill to swallow for people who are going hungry and walking or biking to work because they cannot buy fuel. And raising taxes would likely undercut support from stalwarts in the ruling party who benefited from the tax cuts that helped deplete state coffers, she noted. In June, Wickremesinghe, who was then prime minister for the sixth time, suggested a conference of major donors such as India, China and Japan. Sri Lanka, whose foreign exchange reserves are largely exhausted, is seeking “bridge financing” to be able to buy fuel and other essential supplies to keep the economy running. “We have to hope that friendly countries will support Sri Lanka in the short term,” said political analyst Jehan Perera. On a visit last week to New Delhi, Samantha Power, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, contrasted India’s aid to China’s, and urged Beijing to do more. India’s government says it has provided more than $1.5 billion in credit for purchases of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials. Asked about Sri Lanka's debt impasse — and criticism that China's lending is not transparent — Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused the U.S. and other “western capital" of manipulating Sri Lanka's credit rating, speculating in its markets and preventing it from obtaining new financing. “We hope the U.S. can genuinely help Sri Lanka overcome the current difficulties, ease the debt burden and realize sustainable development instead of unscrupulously using every opportunity possible to shift the blame, smear other countries and seek geopolitical games," Zhao said. Official Chinese lending to Sri Lanka accounts for only about 10% of its debt but the amount of additional commercial borrowing from China is unclear. “Unless and until the rest of their debt is restructured I don’t see the Chinese doing anything,” said Salikuddin. “They never take the first step.” As talks with Sri Lanka’s lenders drag on, its people carry on, finding ways to get by and often waiting days in lines for gasoline, sometimes still returning home empty handed. “Even if a deal (with the IMF) is agreed, Sri Lanka still faces a tough road ahead as far as its economic recovery goes. By no means is it that a deal is agreed and things get back to normal very quickly,” Gareth Leather of Capital Economics said in a recent online briefing. The state-owned gas company has begun distributing cylinders of cooking gas — a mixture of propane and butane — but most people have to wait at least overnight to be able to buy them and the price has more than tripled since October. The government also has introduced an app to ration gasoline purchases: 4 liters (1 gallon) a week for motorcycles, 20 liters (5.3 gallons) a week for cars and 40 liters (10.6 gallons) a week for buses. The aim is to reduce the long queues at gas stations and crack down on a black market in fuel. Priority is being given to school buses, farming, fishing, tourism and public transport. Many people say they’ve cut back or virtually given up on eating fish and meat due to high prices. Milk powder is hard to come by and prices of most essentials including bread and lentils have tripled. “People will be more patient and will be prepared to wait as long as the acute shortages are dealt with,” said Perera. “Otherwise, it will be like a tinder box — you can see angry people on the roads every day in their cars, motorbikes. Angry people, it’s a tinder box situation, and a spark would lead to more turmoil.” Mallawarachchi, the fish monger, used to earn about 6,000 rupees ($16) a day. Now he's living off his savings. Sithum Udara, an office clerk, still goes to work, but what used to be a quick, comfortable commute by motorbike has become a misery of cramming onto buses or a train. “Going to office is a nightmare now. I am really fed up and I think this is the worst time of my life," Udara said. “I have no choice but to go to work." But Udara believes Wickremesinghe should be given “considerable time” to revive the economy and solve other problems. “He can't do it overnight; people must understand that reality." For now, a big part of the president's job is managing expectations. “The first thing he has to do is deliver on the economics,” Salikuddin said. “It’s the bankruptcy of the economy that brought people into the street,” she said.

Sri Lanka was in a political vacuum for a second day Monday with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters angry over the country’s deep economic woes. Protesters remained in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence, his seaside office and the prime minister’s official home, which they stormed on Saturday demanding the two leaders step down. It marked the most dramatic day of protests during three months of a relentless crisis that has pushed many to the brink to despair amid acute shortages of fuel, food, medicine and other necessities. The protesters, who come from all walks of life, vowed to stay put until the resignations of the leaders are official. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Saturday he would leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of Parliament said Rajapaksa would step down Wednesday. Wickremesinghe’s office said Monday that Rajapaksa had confirmed his earlier decision to resign on Wednesday. Also Monday, a group of nine Cabinet ministers announced they will quit immediately to make way for an all-party government, outgoing Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe said. Wickremesinghe’s office said meanwhile that another group that met the prime minister decided to stay on until a new government is formed. The president hasn’t been seen or heard publicly since Saturday and his location is unknown. But his office said Sunday that he ordered the immediate distribution of a cooking gas consignment to the public, suggesting that he was still at work. Opposition party leaders have been in discussion to form an alternative unity government, an urgent requirement of a bankrupt nation to continue discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout program. Lawmaker Udaya Gammanpila said the main opposition United People’s Front and lawmakers who have defected Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition have had discussions and agreed to work together. Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Dullas Alahapperuma, who was a minister under Rajapaksa, have been proposed to take over as president and prime minister and have been asked to decide on how to share the positions before a meeting with the parliamentary speaker later Monday. “We can’t be in an anarchical condition. We have to somehow reach a consensus today,” Gammanpila said. Read: Sri Lanka opposition meets to name new gov’t amid turmoil Opposition parties are also concerned over military leaders making statements about public security in the absence of a civil administration. Lawmakers have discussed Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Shavendra Silva’s statement over the weekend calling on people’s cooperation to maintain law and order, said Kavinda Makalanda, spokesperson for Premadasa. “A civil administration is the need, not the military in a democratic country,” Makalanda said. If opposition parties fail to form a government by the time Rajapaksa resigns, Wickremesinghe as prime minister will become acting president under the constitution. However, in line with the protesters’ demand, opposition parties are keen on not allowing him take over even as acting president. They say Wickremesinghe should promptly resign and allow Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena take over as acting president — the next in line according to the constitution. Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in an effort to solve the shortages and start economic recovery. But delays in alleviating the shortages of basic supplies has turned public anger against him with protesters accusing him of protecting the president. Wickremesinghe had been part of crucial talks with the IMF for a bailout program and with the World Food Program to prepare for a predicted food crisis. The government must submit a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement. Sri Lanka is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the IMF. Wickremesinghe said recently that negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state. Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027. Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades but is accused by protesters of mismanagement and corruption.