Conflict threatens to swamp Sri Lanka

People stand in a queue to buy kerosene oil for home use at a petrol station in Colombo on March 17, 2022.

RUSSIA’S war in Ukraine, which has caused a humanitarian crisis and convulsed global financial markets, is now threatening to crush an US$81bil (RM340bil) economy more than 6,437km away in the Indian Ocean.

Hit by soaring oil import costs and a dip in tourism revenue, Sri Lanka is racing to avert a default amid dwindling foreign-exchange holdings.