The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake questioned discrepancies between debt data provided to the Committee on Public Finance by Public Debt Management Office officials and the Minister’s statements, asking which figures were correct and whether officials had misled the Committee. He challenged the claim that the Government chose not to borrow, arguing that borrowing became impossible after the 12 April 2022 default, and sought an answer under Standing Order 27(2) on how a debt standstill and decision not to service debt were made without parliamentary approval.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, our data came from officials of the Public Debt Management Office of the Ministry of Finance who briefed the Committee on Public Finance around 20th October. If there is a discrepancy, which is correct? Usually this Minister does not give wrong data; did the officials mislead the Committee? The reality is not that you chose not to borrow, but that after default you could not borrow. Under Standing Order 27(2) I asked how a debt standstill was declared without Parliament’s approval. On what basis did you decide not to service debt? Since 12th April 2022 we have been unable to borrow. Did Parliament approve that? I have not received an answer. I cannot get a proper answer to my question.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 27 November 2025 ·No. 23013 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/5269
Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 27 November 2025. No. 23013. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/5269