Central Bank money printing allegations trigger fresh claims from Rajith Keerthi Thennakoon over debt, reserves, rupee pressure and oversight failures.
Central Bank money printing allegations have triggered a fresh response from the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre after the regulator posted a “Don’t be fooled” message on social media.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued that message following a media release by the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre, which alleged that the institution was engaged in money printing.
In response, the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre has issued another media release through its Executive Director, Rajith Keerthi Thennakoon.
The release stated that the Central Bank had issued a two-sentence statement on May 25, 2026, in response to the Human Rights Centre’s earlier press release. It also noted that nine months earlier, the Central Bank had issued another “Don’t be fooled!” social media advertisement.
The statement claimed that 35 days have now passed since the Free Lawyers organization exposed what it called the Treasury heist, yet the Central Bank has still not provided any clarification regarding that incident or its supervisory role.
It further recalled that in 2015, Rajith Keerthi Thennakoon revealed the Central Bank bond scam and filed cases to prevent Arjuna Mahendran from being appointed Central Bank Governor for a second term.
In 2021, Thennakoon filed cases to prevent Ajith Nivard Cabraal from being appointed Central Bank Governor, though the Attorney General opposed the move. The release added that in 2022, when he issued a statement on money printing, the Central Bank again responded by saying “Don’t be fooled,” and within less than 100 days, the country declared bankruptcy.
The release also stated that it was Rajith Keerthi Thennakoon who obtained a court order preventing Mr. Cabraal from leaving the country.
According to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre, the Central Bank has failed to provide direct and reliable answers to the 15 points raised in its press release.
The organization alleged that, just as the Honourable President has not come to Parliament after the US$ 2.5 million incident and just as the Finance Secretary avoids the media, the Central Bank too has failed to provide specific facts on the issue.
- Don’t be fooled, the release said. The broad money supply, known as M2b, which stood at Rs. 14,439.1 billion in January 2025, had expanded by Rs. 2,146.1 billion, or Rs. 2.1 trillion, to Rs. 16,585.7 billion by March 2026. It claimed the impact is now being felt across every sector of the economy.
- Don’t be fooled, it added. The broad money supply, described by the organization as technically money printing, had expanded by Rs. 1,653.3 billion in 2025 and by Rs. 610.7 billion from January to March 2026.
- Don’t be fooled, the release said. The Central Bank uses rupee notes deposited in its vaults to buy dollars from commercial banks, and the organization described that as money creation, or printing.
- Don’t be fooled, it continued. Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is once again creating unfavourable international headlines. Steve Hanke, who made controversial claims about Sri Lanka’s inflation during the Gotabaya era, had stated in his latest X message on Sri Lanka: “INFLATION STORY = MONEY SUPPLY STORY.” The release said that during the 2021 crisis, the Central Bank repeatedly rejected Steve Hanke’s statements but failed to prevent a major disaster.
- Don’t be fooled, it said. Ranga Sirilal, who has provided weekly reports on money printing for 15 years, stated in an X message: “Rupee under pressure with Central Bank printing money: Rupee depreciated 7.2% against the US dollar so far this year to 353.17 rupees from last weeks 327.35 & last years 299.61. @CBSL printed 309.4 billion rupees in March bringing first three months printing to Rs. 610.7 billion.” The organization claimed the Central Bank has not provided facts on this.
- Don’t be fooled, the statement said. It alleged that newly printed currency notes have widely entered daily circulation. Currency in circulation on January 1, 2025 was Rs. 1,351,312 million. By May 22, 2026, it had increased by Rs. 303,956 million to Rs. 1,655,268 million. The release said the difference could be clearly understood from the Central Bank report.
- Don’t be fooled, it continued. The release alleged that the Governor of the Central Bank had, in two informal discussions, summoned commercial bank heads and licensed money exchange institution owners and instructed them to maintain the dollar within the Rs. 329 to Rs. 335 range.
- Don’t be fooled, the organization said. It alleged that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had unofficially announced a controlled price of Rs. 330 per dollar for interbank exchange, violating IMF provisions.
- Don’t be fooled, it added. The period given to exporters to bring money into the country within 90 days has now been reduced to 30 days.
- Don’t be fooled, the release said. The Central Bank has imposed a maximum limit of 70% in relation to pawned gold.
- Don’t be fooled, it stated. The vehicle business has become a tangled web.
- Don’t be fooled, the statement continued. As predicted on May 24, the Central Bank raised interest rates to 8.75% on May 26.
- Don’t be fooled, it added. The government has no alternative but to raise fuel prices as well.
- Don’t be fooled, the release said. Foreign reserves, which stood at US$ 6,531 million in March 2025, had increased only marginally to US$ 6,759 million by the end of April 2026. Although the Central Bank was able to increase reserves by US$ 175 million each month during 2023 and 2024, the release claimed foreign reserves have now stagnated.
- Don’t be fooled, it stated. The central government’s outstanding debt, which was Rs. 28,240.22 billion in November 2024, had increased by Rs. 1,754.47 billion to Rs. 29,994.69 billion by the end of 2025. The release noted that the decrease for the year was shown in the table below.
The Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre said that until the Central Bank conducts a data-based analysis of the 15 points raised above, the public should not be misled by press releases and social media posts issued to conceal facts.
It further stated that the Central Bank’s first “Don’t be fooled!” advertisement was issued nine months ago.
From then until today, it claimed, US$ 2.5 million has disappeared from an account where the Central Bank prepared files and commenced operations, and only about US$ 200 of that amount has been found so far.
The release also alleged that Rs. 13 billion disappeared from NDB Bank, which is under Central Bank supervision, and that the money had been taken out of the country.
It further claimed that in a foreign exchange transfer at People’s Bank, also under Central Bank supervision, an overpayment of Rs. 656 million had been made.
The organization also alleged that a large-scale fraud had occurred at the Kandy branch of Sampath Bank, which is under Central Bank supervision.
It said pyramid schemes continue to operate.
The release further claimed that money has disappeared from SriLankan Airlines’ Chennai and Middle East money transfers.
It also alleged that US$ 625,000 paid by the Postal Department to the United States Postal Service had fallen into the hands of a third party.
The statement said the Road Development Authority had made double payments.
It also claimed that double or excess payments had been made to 90,000 Aswasuma beneficiaries and that the money had still not been recovered.
“Don’t be fooled!” the release concluded.
Rajith Keerthi Thennakoon signed the statement as Executive Director of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre on May 26, 2026.
