COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Cash-strapped Sri Lanka is “gradually” emerging from its worst economic crisis after the austerity of an International Monetary Fund bailout, the president said Sunday in a speech to mark independence day.

Recalling the “indignity of being labelled a financially bankrupt country,” President Ranil Wickremesinghe dispensed with the customary annual address in favor of a brief statement.

The island nation defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in 2022 after a foreign exchange wipeout left it unable to import food, fuel and other essentials.

Sri Lanka saw months of civil unrest at the peak of the economic crisis, culminating in the ouster of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa when thousands of protesters stormed his home.

The IMF released the first tranche of a $2.9 billion four-year bailout loan to Sri Lanka in March last year under a reform program that saw taxes raised and prices sharply increased.