The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake argued that Sri Lanka’s heavy reliance on imports makes the economy highly vulnerable to rupee depreciation and interest rate increases, citing substantial cost impacts from both. He urged the country not to rely solely on IMF guidance but to undertake its own economic reassessment, improve competitiveness, and attract investment. He also cautioned against escalation of conflict, calling for prudent leadership and policies that improve living standards for Sri Lankans.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 In any case, we import 65% for this country. When 65% is imported, a depreciation of the rupee means the country’s cost increases by Rs. 40 billion. A 1% increase in interest rates adds Rs. 178 billion to our costs. Without simply following the IMF, we must move forward with our own self-critique. As before, we must create competitiveness and increase investment.
¶ 02 Madam, I will finish with these words. To start a war, it is very easy. History teaches us that escalation of war has no ceiling and retaliation has no memory. Real leadership is measured not by how hard we strike, but how wisely we stop fighting. I wish that sagacity would be exhibited not only by Sri Lanka but by other countries as well. Ensure that Sri Lankans would have better living standards today than what they had yesterday.
¶ 03 Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 3 March 2026 ·No. 23335 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/14892
Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 3 March 2026. No. 23335. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/14892