After fleeing Sri Lanka and spending nearly two months in self-imposed exile, former leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa returned this month to a freshly painted, heavily guarded colonial-style bungalow in one of the island’s swankiest neighborhoods.
Much has changed since demonstrators drove Rajapaksa from office in July, the climax of months of protests after record-high inflation and depleted currency reserves bankrupted a country with 22 million people.
The streets are now mostly quiet. The International Monetary Fund tentatively agreed this month to lend $3 billion. Sri Lanka’s government plans to meet external creditors this Friday. And a new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has vowed to stabilize central bank coffers.