NPR.

This is the Indicated from Planet Money.

I'm Adrienne Ma.

And I'm Wayland Wong.

The country of Sri Lanka is in a deep crisis.

For the last two years, the island has been grappling with skyrocketing prices and

a depreciating currency.

Where recently, they've been hit with medicine shortages and rolling power outages.

And one big reason for Sri Lanka's economic crisis actually has to do with the US dollar.

And that is because the US dollar is the world's reserve currency.

It is what global economies use to conduct trade and hold their savings.

And so if you crack open most countries' metaphorical piggy banks, you will likely find a big

stash of US bucks inside.

Sri Lanka's piggy bank of bucks, it's almost empty.

And this is money the country needs to do business with the rest of the world and literally

keep its lights on.

Today on the show, why Sri Lanka has been running so low on dollars?

And what this country's crisis reveals about the importance of foreign exchange reserves

for an economy?

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