An Ex-Marxist Is Taking Risks to Reshape Sri Lanka: Mihir Sharma

Last week, regulators in cash-strapped Sri Lanka raised power prices by 15%. President Anura Dissanayake, who during his successful election campaign last year promised to lower the cost of electricity by a third, had to explain his U-turn. The treasury could no longer afford to subsidize power, he said.

Seven months into his term, the former radical has realized that keeping his country from one more crisis requires him to break promises and lose friends.

The International Monetary Fund, which lent Sri Lanka $2.9 billion in 2022 so it could keep the lights on, serves Dissanayake as both scapegoat and ...