evidence: - Hyper-populist policies | The Rajapaksa government enacted populist policies, including massive tax breaks, that had an adverse effect on government revenue. The Goods and Services (GST) tax rate was slashed in half from 15 percent to 8 percent. Additionally, the government also cut the income tax by increasing the taxable income band by 600 percent from 500,000 Sri Lankan Rupees (SLR) to 3,000,000 SLR. This resulted in a 33.5 percent decrease in the number of tax payers. The loss of revenue to the Sri Lankan government was estimated at 2 percent of GDP. The reduced revenue to the government hindered its path towards lowering its percent of debt of the GDP and instead increased it, resulting in even higher interest payments. [...] Sri Lanka estimates that it needs USD 1.5 billion to tide over the crisis immediately and resume its imports of essential items. An IMF bailout that mandates resumption of non-organic ways of farming, cutting back populist tax regimes, and increasing government revenue through more efficient tax collection will not only help the country in the short term but will also lay the foundation to build its future.