Sri Lanka halts debt repayment pending IMF bailout plan

Sri Lankans shout anti government slogans blocking the entrance to president’s office during a protest in Colombo (AP)

Sri Lanka is suspending its repayment of foreign debt pending the completion of a loan restructuring programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the island nation’s worst economic crisis in decades, the government said.

For the past few months, Sri Lankans have endured shortages of fuel, food and other essentials and daily power outages.