The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva
As Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva rejected claims that about Rs. 22 trillion in borrowings were “missing” or unaccounted for. He explained that borrowed funds are often reflected as assets or expenditure under public entities such as the Mahaweli Authority and the Road Development Authority, and noted that reconciliation work by the Comptroller General and Auditor-General is already underway. He urged responsible public statements on the matter to avoid misinformation.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, as Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, I must clarify: earlier it was said — by a Deputy Minister — that about Rs. 22 trillion of borrowings are unaccounted for and “missing,” which is now spreading as news. That is not correct. When debt is taken, the corresponding assets often sit in other entities — e.g., Mahaweli Authority for Mahaweli works; RDA for roads. No one has stolen Rs. 22 trillion. Between 2015–2019 a Comptroller General was appointed to reconcile the “Island Account” deficit and consolidate information. I just spoke to the Comptroller General and the Auditor-General; the work has already been underway. Therefore, I state responsibly: Rs. 22 trillion has not “gone missing.” Borrowed funds are used for various assets and expenditure; some values change due to depreciation, etc. I respectfully request that statements be made responsibly.
¶ 02 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 23 May 2025 ·No. 1750228312097834 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 May 2025. No. 1750228312097834. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/23932