Rupee devaluation: Debt burden rises by Rs.50 bn in five days – Ravi

The impact of the rupee devaluation had resulted in the country’s debt burden rising by Rs. 50 billion within five days, the UNP said yesterday.Senior UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake, addressing a news conference in Colombo, said that the tussle for supremacy in the Finance Ministry had resulted in a big percentage drop in Sri Lanka’s currency value.


The rupee which stood at Rs.126.78 against the US dollar last Monday, had depreciated to Rs.128.60 by yesterday, courtesy the prestige battle between the Central Bank Governor and Treasury Secretary, Karunanayake said.

Despite the government claiming that the economy was in good shape and readying to take off to greater heights, the reality was that a greater percentage of investments were going out of the country. The only increase witnessed was in the number of taverns, brothels and casinos, Karunanayake observed.

Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, he said, had claimed that no more casino licences would be issued and they were only engaged in mixed development, but Ravi Wijeratne, who was the Australian billionaire James Packer’s partner in Sri Lanka had claimed that one of the biggest casinos in the region would be established in Colombo, MP Karunanayake said.