The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition
Sajith Premadasa questioned the effectiveness of the proposed fiscal-monetary Coordination Council, citing differing positions of the Central Bank and Treasury over the alleged disappearance or theft of US$25 million. He also sought clarification on usable official reserves, arguing that import-cover adequacy should exclude non-convertible reserves such as yuan holdings. He further warned that non-compliance with IMF governance-linked bond conditions could result in the loss of an estimated US$70–80 million in coupon relief in 2026, and urged attention to the impact on the public.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Minister, you mentioned a Coordination Council ensuring coherence between fiscal and monetary policies. If such a council exists and there is coherence, why do the Central Bank and the Treasury express differing positions regarding the disappearance or theft of US dollars 25 million?
¶ 02 Further, a clarification on reserves: You noted maintaining reserve ratios as a Central Bank duty. In terms of reserves, at least three months of import cover is needed. In reality, we lack adequate usable reserves, as a portion is in non-convertible yuan. Therefore, accurate disclosure of usable official reserves is essential.
¶ 03 Finally, the IMF has forecast that non-compliance with governance-linked bond conditions could forfeit a prospective coupon rate reduction/relief of about US dollars 70–80 million in 2026. People are suffering and expect solutions—
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 9 June 2026 ·No. 23706 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 June 2026. No. 23706. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2791