In response to allegations regarding increased borrowing since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office, Professor Anil Jayanta, Senior Adviser on Presidential Economic and Financial Affairs, clarified the government’s current financial strategy.
“Unless funds are collected from the local financial market to meet the expenses of the respective ministries and to repay matured treasury bills and bonds, nothing strange is happening these days,” he explained.
When asked about claims of rising local and foreign borrowings, Professor Jayanta said, “A government needs funds to meet its day-to-day essential expenses and to run its services. Every week, the central bank collects funds by selling treasury bills and treasury bonds, and repayments are made as due. This is a normal process.”
He added, “There is no special claim that the new president has been elected and that new borrowing has been done. As usual, we are only fundraising. Apart from that, no special, strange, or unusual fund collection has been done from the local financial market.”
Addressing concerns about whether new loans had been taken, he stated, “We need to find out whether we have taken loans from local or foreign financial markets as indicated by the media.”
Professor Jayanta also emphasized the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s responsibility in stabilizing the financial market, mentioning, “They recently made a purchase of US dollars, which was done before the appointment of the new president. We should look into that as well. Our team is working to investigate how much has been raised in terms of funds from the domestic market.”
