Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI and PAUL WISEMAN
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A few years ago, Sri Lanka had an economy strong enough to provide jobs and financial security for its 22 million people. Now its economy is in a state of collapse, the nation is dependent on aid and its leaders desperately are trying to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. The situation in Sri Lanka is worse than typical financial crises in the developing world: It’s a complete economic breakdown. And it resulted in major political fallout on Saturday as the speaker of Parliament announced that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will resign Wednesday and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he will quit once a new government is formed.