DHAKA (THE DAILY STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - We are heartbroken by what is happening in Sri Lanka.

Years of mismanagement and nepotism, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic and global economic instability because of the war in Ukraine, have left its economy in shambles. We sympathise with the Sri Lankans, who after years of turmoil due to civil war, have once again been thrust into great difficulty, even though they have no blame for what is currently transpiring in their country.

The island nation of nearly 22 million people has been grappling with rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day, as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel and other essential imports. Sri Lanka's acute foreign currency shortage has largely been driven by sharp declines in tourism and remittances-its two main sources of foreign currency.

Failing to diversify its export basket over the years has pushed Sri Lanka into the worst economic turmoil in the country's history since its independence in 1948. The family-based politics practised in Sri Lanka have also led to years of nepotism and unchecked corruption, and years of poor debt management ultimately overburdened the economy to the point of complete collapse.

According to experts, what's happening in Sri Lanka should serve as a strong lesson for Bangladesh, which suffers from many of the same problems that its government high-ups refuse to even acknowledge, let alone address. And one can only hope that our government officials have the capacity to take heed of it before it's too late.

While Sri Lanka is somewhat a victim of Black Swan events, its leaders totally failed to prepare the country's economy to face any unpredictable economic shocks-which somewhat predictably is bound to happen at some point. Similarly, we have also seen government high-ups in Bangladesh come out when things go wrong and claim that there was no way of them predicting the external circumstances, so what happened was not their fault.

While the former might be true to some extent, there is no excuse for not establishing strong economic pillars in the country that can automatically absorb most external shocks.

The tragic collapse of the Sri Lankan economy, followed by the civil strife and mass resignation of its cabinet members, should wake us up to the grave danger that we ourselves could face.

We must work towards diversifying our exports and securing our macroeconomic stability, and send a strong message to our political class of the danger of them living in their own bubbles, ignoring experts' warnings and people's concerns.

• The Daily Star is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 news media organisations.