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IMF urges Sri Lanka to raise taxes, devalue currency
The International Monetary Fund warned crisis-hit Sri Lanka on Thursday (Mar 3) that its foreign debt was "unsustainable", and called for devaluation and higher taxes to revive the almost bankrupt economy. The pandemic pushed the South Asian island's tourism sector - a key foreign-exchange earner - off a cliff, and the government in March 2020 imposed a broad import ban to try to shore up foreign currency.But more than two years on, Sri Lanka is grappling with food and fuel shortages, which this week saw its public transport crippled as buses ran out of diesel and the state imposed blackouts. Following its annual ... (full story)