Ep 62 ft. Benjamin Parkin

Is There a Plan for Dealing with the Sri Lankan Debt? Sri Lanka is fast running out of foreign exchange reserves but maintains that it will pay all its debts. And it has many of those: holders of its international bonds are the largest group, but there is also debt to China, India, and other bilateral creditors. We’re puzzled why the government continues to dither in the face of growing shortages of fuel and other essential imports. Is this another case of politicians refusing to recognize the reality of a debt crisis? If not, why doesn’t the government seem to be taking any meaningful steps towards resolution (like involving the IMF). Benjamin Parkin of the Financial Times has been closely following the crisis and joins us to talk about the economic and political situation in Sri Lanka. Producer: Leanna Doty