The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Hon. Ravi Karunanayake questioned the adequacy of current foreign reserves in light of rising borrowings, increased imports, rupee depreciation, and the need to resume substantial external debt repayments from 2028. He asked what specific measures would be taken to attract investment and develop exports, arguing that weak export and investment growth could undermine Sri Lanka’s future debt repayment capacity.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 From your detailed Answer, two points as one question: You stated reserves are USD 6.828 billion. Today the dollar is at about 315; borrowings have increased by about Rs. 900 billion. Imports are up, and the rupee has depreciated. In 2028 we must start paying USD 6,500 million, requiring roughly USD 14,000 million in reserves. With weak export growth and investments, what precise steps will you take to raise investment and develop exports? Without foreign investment yields, our debt repayment capacity will fall. We ask with a forward-looking perspective.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 9 January 2026 ·No. 23149 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/1706
Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 January 2026. No. 23149. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/1706