Debt-laden Sri Lanka marks Independence Day with Thai prime minister as guest of honor

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is the guest of honor at Sri Lanka’s 76th Independence Day celebrations. Sretta joined Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday at a low-key ceremony near the country’s main seaside esplanade that involved a military parade and parachute jumps. The holiday commemorates Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule in 1948. Sri Lanka is struggling to emerge from its worst economic crisis. The island nation declared bankruptcy in April 2022 with more than $83 billion in debt, more than half of it to foreign creditors. The economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022.