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Former Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera stresses that a fuel shortage is likely to occur very soon, with about USD 1.2 billion in fuel costs still due.
Speaking at the inaugural discussion of the “True Patriots” movement, he highlighted the need to move towards a true patriotic ideology based on liberal democracy.
“We are becoming a failed state isolated from the world. Before July 27, we must repay a billion dollars for a loan taken in 2011. In addition, around USD 1.3 billion in Sri Lankan Development Bonds will have to be paid in December this year,” he said.
“When I took over as finance minister in 2019, the foreign exchange reserves in the treasury, which stood at USD 7.6 billion, after July 27 will fall to a record low of USD 2.6 billion, the lowest level in the country’s history.”
Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday said that the country’s national income had declined by about LKR 600 billion, the lowest revenue recorded in the last seven decades, was recorded in 2020.
Addressing the media at the Freedom Hub in Colombo yesterday to launch a new organisation called ‘True Patriots’, the ex-Finance Minister said that the largest budget deficit since 1988 had been recorded in 2020.
“Last year, the Central Bank had to print the largest amount of money in a single year to cover the growing budget deficit. In addition, the amount of new loans obtained by the government for the year 2020 alone has increased by another Lankan Rs 2 trillion,” he said.