Sri Lanka has fallen into default for the first time in its history as the government struggles to halt an economic meltdown.Sri Lanka has been mired in turmoil amid surging inflation — a plummeting currency and an economic crisis that has left the country short of the hard currency it needs to import food and fuel. Public anger has boiled over into violent protests and led the government to announce last month it would halt payments on its $12.6 billion pile of foreign debt to preserve cash for essential goods. This crisis marks the nation’s first sovereign debt default since it gained independence from Britain in 1948. Sri Lanka is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout and needs to negotiate a debt restructuring with creditors. The country has previously said it needs between $3 billion and $4 billion this year to pull itself out of crisis
Sri Lanka falls into default for first time in its history
