explained. SRI LANKA: 5 REASONS FOR THE CRISIS Months before the pandemic, Lanka came up with deep tax cuts inan attemptto stimulate the economy. But the move backfired and government revenue shrunk, derailing the economy1a ete) ECE e Foreign exchange reserves In March, Sri Lanka devalued have plummeted byalmost70 its currency by 15 percentina percentintwoyears.OnApril bid toattract remittances and 12, Lanka announced that it imposed import limits. Result: would be defaulting onallofits already sky-high consumer external debt — $51 billion prices went up further #QUIXPLAINED. FERTILISER BAN Inabid to be the world’s first © organic farming nation, Lanka banned chemical fertilisers. After it led to a drastic loss of yield, the ban was reversed. But the damage was done #QUIXPLAINED The Easter suntfenBree = of 2019, followed peepee of the pandemic hi za country’s tourism industry — its third-largest source of foreign exchange TEXT: AGENCIES 3