The South Asian country is grappling with its worst financial crisis in decades and needs to unlock a $2.9 billion IMF loan that was agreed to in September, to get its public finances in order.

“Unless you change the institutions and the rules of the game governing these countries, they’re always going to remain in the same ... situation that they’ve been in for a long time,” Hanke, who is now professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, said.

“In fact, most of the personalities involved in Sri Lanka at the high level are exactly the same as they’ve been for years. So nothing has changed.”

Sri Lanka has struggled with severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel and electricity since last year. This has led to angry protests that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee from the country and resign. The country’s lawmakers chose six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president last July as his successor.

Hanke, who was previously economic advisor to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was also skeptical whether the IMF bailouts will help Sri Lanka’s crisis-stricken economy in the long term. He pointed out that the country has gone to the fund several times cap in hand for relief.