National People’s Power (NPP) MP Lakmali Hemachandra has slammed President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s claims of rebuilding Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves, saying the $6 billion reserve touted by the government is not new and had existed long before the current administration.
Speaking in an interview with a weekend newspaper, Hemachandra argued that Sri Lanka’s reserve level was at the $6 billion mark as far back as 2015. “Even back then, they said they would bring in investments and grow the reserves, but nothing happened. It didn’t go up, it crashed.”
She said the notion that Ranil had rebuilt the reserves to $6 billion by 2024 was “personally ridiculous” when placed in historical context. “This was the same number we had before. It’s not an achievement, it’s a return to the baseline after plunging into disaster.”
Hemachandra went on to assign blame for the reserve collapse on key political leaders, including Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and their respective finance ministers. “These were not ordinary citizens who drove the reserves down to $20 million. It was them. They should bear the responsibility.”
According to her, the current reserve level is not the result of new progress, but of “a very serious economic program that weakened the country.”
“They claim recovery, but what we see is recycled stagnation. The number might look the same, but the damage and debt behind it are worse.”
