India faced a very similar situation in 1991, same as Sri Lanka today, they had only about $1.2billion of foreign exchange reserves left to run the whole country (barely enough to last for 3
weeks of essential imports and only weeks away from defaulting on external debt) To their benefit, they had an election an got a farsighted government.
Dr Manmohan Singh (an Economist) was appointed as the Finance Minister. He immediately sought an IMF bailout to prevent the country from bankruptcy and made Huge Economic Reforms.
The Huge Economic Reforms made by the farsighted economist Manmohan Singh brought India from $1.2 billion in 1991 to $600 billion as of now. Now India has the 6th Largest Economy in the world!
Sri Lanka too needs an Economist or a Financial Specialist to hold the position of the Finance Minister to overcome this extreme economic situation. And he should make Key Economic Reforms immediately while seeking an immediate IMF bailout. Unless we will never be able to overcome the economic situation and probably will default on our external debt. A caretaker government with competent people is what we need for six months to get out of this crisis. The caretaker government ideally should be led by veteran PM Ranil Wickramasinghe. The Finance Minister should be Eran Wickramarathne who was a state minister of finance. Harsha de Silva should be appointed the Investment promotion Minister and assigned the foreign ministry. This arrangement should only be for six months. If not Sri Lanka will never recover .
