<p>Bankrupt Sri Lanka will drastically slash its military, the defence ministry said Friday, as the government works to overhaul its shambolic finances after an unprecedented economic crisis.</p>.<p>The island nation is still reeling from months of food and fuel shortages that made daily life a misery for its 22 million people last year.</p>.<p>President Ranil Wickremesinghe has hiked taxes and imposed harsh spending cuts to smooth the passage of an expected International Monetary Fund bailout following a government debt default.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka's armed forces are next on the chopping block, with the defence ministry announcing it would retire 65,000 soldiers from its 2,00,000-strong army over the year.</p>.<p>The cuts make up the lion's share of plans to downsize Sri Lanka's land forces to 1,00,000 by the end of the decade.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/conflict-between-tribal-bodies-jain-community-over-parasnath-hills-in-jharkhand-1178751.html" target="_blank">Canada sanctions Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa for human rights violation during Sri Lanka's civil war</a></strong></p>.<p>"The overall aim of the strategic blueprint is to broach a technically and tactically sound and well-balanced defence force," a ministry statement said.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka's armed forces remain bloated more than a decade after the end of the country's traumatic ethnic civil war.</p>.<p>Nearly 4,00,000 people served in the military at its peak strength in 2009, the year government forces crushed the Tamil Tigers separatist movement during a no-holds-barred offensive that saw thousands of civilian casualties.</p>.<p>Defence accounted for nearly 10 per cent of public spending last year, and according to expert analysts, pay for security force personnel makes up half the government's salary bill.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka warned this week it had barely enough revenue to pay public employees and pensions despite huge tax hikes at the start of the year.</p>.<p>The economy shrank an estimated 8.7 per cent last year as the public endured lengthy blackouts, long queues for petrol, empty supermarket shelves and runaway inflation.</p>.<p>The crisis peaked in July when protesters angered by the crisis stormed the official residence of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who briefly fled the country and tendered his resignation from abroad.</p>
<p>Bankrupt Sri Lanka will drastically slash its military, the defence ministry said Friday, as the government works to overhaul its shambolic finances after an unprecedented economic crisis.</p>.<p>The island nation is still reeling from months of food and fuel shortages that made daily life a misery for its 22 million people last year.</p>.<p>President Ranil Wickremesinghe has hiked taxes and imposed harsh spending cuts to smooth the passage of an expected International Monetary Fund bailout following a government debt default.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka's armed forces are next on the chopping block, with the defence ministry announcing it would retire 65,000 soldiers from its 2,00,000-strong army over the year.</p>.<p>The cuts make up the lion's share of plans to downsize Sri Lanka's land forces to 1,00,000 by the end of the decade.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/conflict-between-tribal-bodies-jain-community-over-parasnath-hills-in-jharkhand-1178751.html" target="_blank">Canada sanctions Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa for human rights violation during Sri Lanka's civil war</a></strong></p>.<p>"The overall aim of the strategic blueprint is to broach a technically and tactically sound and well-balanced defence force," a ministry statement said.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka's armed forces remain bloated more than a decade after the end of the country's traumatic ethnic civil war.</p>.<p>Nearly 4,00,000 people served in the military at its peak strength in 2009, the year government forces crushed the Tamil Tigers separatist movement during a no-holds-barred offensive that saw thousands of civilian casualties.</p>.<p>Defence accounted for nearly 10 per cent of public spending last year, and according to expert analysts, pay for security force personnel makes up half the government's salary bill.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka warned this week it had barely enough revenue to pay public employees and pensions despite huge tax hikes at the start of the year.</p>.<p>The economy shrank an estimated 8.7 per cent last year as the public endured lengthy blackouts, long queues for petrol, empty supermarket shelves and runaway inflation.</p>.<p>The crisis peaked in July when protesters angered by the crisis stormed the official residence of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who briefly fled the country and tendered his resignation from abroad.</p>