Sri Lanka finally got fresh air from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the election of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. It is hoped that Sri Lanka's bankruptcy will be resolved soon.Both sides had originally wanted to finalize the deal by August 2022. However, due to recent unrest, the deal was pushed back until September 2022. The archipelago of 22 million people has $12 billion in foreign debt with private creditors. Last weekend, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Finance discussed more specifically about the IMF bailout. The government said the talks were very successful.

Previously, Deborah Brautigam, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said Ceylon needed to get out of its current state of chaos before the IMF stepped in with the bailout.

"The IMF can't... interact with the government when things are in sustained crisis mode. So until the government stabilizes, until they have a finance minister, there's no one the IMF can talk to," Brautigam said.

Brautigam said the IMF should be able to work with the Sri Lankan government to put together a program. "The IMF will not lend into situations where they think their money will not be repaid," he added.

The Johns Hopkins professor also said the IMF needed guarantees from the government that it would get its "fiscal home." He said the IMF would try to ensure that government revenues and their spending "better match."

"So if Sri Lanka cannot provide guarantees, there will be nothing from the IMF," Brautigam said, adding that Sri Lanka would not be able to provide what was needed "as long as the crisis persists."

The Morning some time ago reported a number of women bartering sex for food due to lack of money.

They have to switch professions to become sex workers, with the aim of being able to get food and medicine for their families. The number of sex workers in the country is reported to have increased.

Based on data from the local sex worker advocacy group, Stand Up Movement Lanka (SUML), the number of women who became prostitutes during the crisis increased by around 30%. Most of them came from the textile industry, because many foreign orders disappeared by 10%-20%.