Sri Lanka Faces Mounting Hardships as IMF Bailout Demands Austerity

Sri Lanka faces austerity measures like increased taxes to meet IMF bailout conditions, causing hardship and prompting professional emigration.

Inflation has reduced but remains high, eroding incomes already hit by tax hikes and living costs.

Sri Lanka must increase revenues, remove exemptions, eliminate evasion per IMF, but risks worsening emigration of professionals.

Proposed electricity tariff hikes have paralyzed small businesses, while social safety nets have shrunk despite IMF call to widen them.

With contracting industrial and services activity, Sri Lanka walks a tightrope between IMF reforms and rebuilding society burdened by austerity.