Though Anura Kumara Dissanayake's lead has decreased since early morning, he's still expected to come out on top. Everyone except Dissanayake & Premadasa have been eliminated from running.
Voting is underway at 13,134 polling stations in Sri Lanka, began at 7 am and will close at 4 pm local time. The counting of votes is expected to begin at 9:30 pm local time.
Sri Lanka is struggling with its worst financial crisis after the country's foreign exchange hit record lows and triggered its first foreign debt default last year.
The increase is the latest measure to clinch a $2.9 billion loan from IMF to tackle a crisis that evolved from pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by previous govt.
The government is seeking a loan of about Rs 31,000 crore this year from the International Monetary Fund and creditors including China and Japan to help pay for food and fuel.
DMK govt accuses Centre of withholding funds, tightening borrowing, unilateral deductions from state accounts. Says Centre's accounting & funding decisions have 'artificially inflated' debt burden.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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