🛬 Sri Lanka Abandons Sale of Debt-Ridden SriLankan Airlines 🇱🇰

⭕ SriLankan Airlines, burdened with over $2 billion in debt, was initially put up for sale in September.

⭕ Six firms expressed interest, with three, including Malaysia's AirAsia, making the shortlist.

⭕ On July 9th, the Cabinet decided to terminate the bidding process, opting for an "alternate strategy." No specific reasons were given for this sudden change.

⭕ With nearly 6,000 staff, SriLankan Airlines is the biggest and most expensive of the cash-haemorrhaging SOEs draining the budget and compounding Sri Lanka’s economic woes.

⭕ This decision goes against the IMF's key demand from last year's bailout loan agreement. Sri Lanka will have to restructure or sell SriLankan Airlines in order to get the next tranche of the IMF bailout package.