Sri Lanka owes USD 37 billion in foreign loans and Rs. 19.6 trillion in domestic loans, officials from the State Debt Management Office told the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) this week, laying bare the scale of the island’s economic crisis.
The officials were summoned before the committee to discuss the current levels of debt obtained by the Sri Lankan government. However, tensions arose during the meeting after the officials failed to provide clear figures on this year’s repayment instalments.
Committee Chair Dr Harsha de Silva expressed dissatisfaction with the Debt Office’s lack of preparedness, criticising officials for being unable to provide accurate data on repayment schedules. He stressed that “competent personnel” must be appointed to the Debt Office, which bears full responsibility for managing the state’s loan acquisition and repayment processes.
The revelation comes as Sri Lanka continues to grapple with the fallout from its 2022 foreign debt default — the first in the island’s history — which plunged it into its worst economic crisis in decades. The collapse triggered severe shortages of fuel, food, and medicine, leading to mass protests that ultimately toppled then-president and accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Since then, successive governments have continued to rely heavily on both domestic and foreign borrowing. Sri Lanka secured a USD 3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, agreeing to implement sweeping austerity measures in exchange for financial assistance.
