Unprecedented depreciation of SL rupee: Increase in public debt during past one week equal to cost of Colombo-airport expressway
Posted on April 26th, 2018
Courtesy The Island
April 26, 2018, 12:05 pm
Cabraal
Former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday said that during the past one week, the Sri Lankan rupee had depreciated Rs. 1.58 (from Rs. 157.46 to Rs. 159.04) against the US dollar. Since the foreign debt of Sri Lanka was approximately USD 30 billion, the depreciation of the currency, during the past week, had increased the total public debt by around Rs. 47 billion, he added
To understand such debt increase in perspective, the following facts were relevant, Cabraal said: a) The investment on the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway was Rs. 48 billion, b) The investment on the Mattala airport was Rs.30 billion, c) The expenditure in 2014 for the Samurdhi benefit and the Fertilizer subsidy was Rs.47 billion, he said.