Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance has suspended payments to its government bondbroke what it called a “perfect foreign debt service record” amid a deepening economic and currency crisis.

In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said it had “become impossible” to keep up with repayments, adding that “despite the extraordinary measures the government has taken to try to keep all its external debt up to date, it is now clear that , which is no longer a tenable policy.” It described the suspension as a “last resort”.

The ministry said a “comprehensive restructuring of these obligations” was needed, adding that it had sought help from the International Monetary Fund to develop a recovery plan and financial assistance. A meeting with the International Monetary Fund is scheduled to begin this month.

The confirmation that Sri Lanka could not service its debt pushed its prices down from already depressed levels, pushing the $1 billion bond due on July 25 further below par to a record low of less than 47 cents.

The country has a total outstanding foreign government debt of about $35 billion, of which $7 billion is due this year.International Monetary Fund said Sri Lanka’s public debt was at “unsustainable levels” last month.

The Finance Ministry advised creditors that they could calculate Sri Lanka’s arrears after today and add interest for final repayment.It pledged to have “sincere discussions” with other countries that lent money to it, the largest of which was Chinaand with commercial creditors.

Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves fell below $2 billion in March, as a shortage of U.S. dollars led to a sharp drop in imports, leading to shortages of vital commodities such as fuel. The Sri Lankan rupee has fallen more than 37 percent against the dollar this year, making it the world’s worst-performing currency.

Colombo was embroiled in a political crisis this month after widespread protests against the government prompted mass cabinet resignations.

protesters The government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of mishandling the Sri Lankan economy and causing the crisis. The Covid-19 hit to tourism and the surge in commodity prices caused by the crisis in Ukraine “eroded Sri Lanka’s fiscal position”, the finance ministry said.

Sri Lankans have been suffering from soaring inflation, 13-hour power outages and shortages of basic goods. But Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president’s brother and the former president herself, condemned the demonstrators in a speech on Monday.

“Friends, every second you protest in the streets, our country loses access to potential dollars,” the prime minister said.

The Finance Ministry’s statement came after Sri Lanka’s central bank surprised markets on Friday by raising the country’s benchmark policy rate by 7 percentage points to curb inflation. But analysts warned that the move would not be enough to ease fears of a potential default.