Twenty million dollars. That was all we had. Today, we’ve reached six and a half billion. Three hundred thousand tourists are arriving. But don’t step out at night—you might run into a foreign woman
These were the words of Deputy Minister Nalin Hewage, speaking at a National People’s Power rally at Samanala Stadium in the Galle district. According to him, when the party took over, the country’s foreign reserves were just twenty million dollars. Now, he says, that figure has climbed to 6.5 billion. He claimed that stabilizing the economy and revitalizing tourism were their first accomplishments after assuming power.
He painted a picture of a country on the edge of disaster—like a bus teetering off a cliff, with no one daring to take the wheel. But Comrade Anura, he said, had the courage to do exactly that.
However, the numbers tell a different story.
This is the third time Nalin Hewage has repeated this claim. But Central Bank records show that when Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed leadership, foreign reserves were under twenty million dollars. By the time he left office, reserves had grown to 6 billion—over a span of 26 months.
Anura came to power with reserves already standing at 6 billion. In the six months since, the figure has increased to 6.51 billion—just a 500 million dollar rise.
So the question stands: Is Hewage misleading the public on purpose? Or is he simply repeating what he doesn’t fully understand? And if the President, who sits beside him and listens to these remarks, knows the facts, why isn’t he correcting them? Especially considering Hewage is the Finance Minister.
Is it deception? Or just a bad habit?
