No, Sri Lanka's Debt Did Not Go from Rs. 22 Trillion to Rs. 34 Trillion Under Anura — Here's What the Official Data Shows - Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka English

Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel

Sri Lanka’s debt is personal for every taxpayer who lived through the 2022 default, so a post now spreading on social media lands hard: “Thieves plundered for 74 years and ran up Rs. 22 trillion in debt; Anura came and pushed it to Rs. 34 trillion in 17 Poya days” (meaning 17 months). The implication is that the debt built up over seven decades since independence stood at Rs. 22 trillion, and that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake added Rs. 12 trillion in well under two years. We checked the official Central Bank and Treasury data. Here is what it shows.

Social Media Posts:

Facebook | Archived Link

Facebook

Fact Check:

To test the claim, we examined data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) of the Ministry of Finance.

The debt was already far above Rs. 22 trillion before Anura took office

Data compiled from the CBSL Annual Report (Table 105) show that at end-2023, several months before President Dissanayake took office, total central government debt stood at Rs. 28,696 billion, or about Rs. 28.7 trillion. Provisional Treasury figures put it at Rs. 29,146 billion (Rs. 29.15 trillion). By September 2024, the month he assumed the presidency, total debt had already crossed Rs. 30,025 billion, i.e. above Rs. 30 trillion. In other words, well before this administration, the debt stock was already roughly Rs. 8 trillion higher than the Rs. 22 trillion in the claim.

According to CBSL data, central government debt first crossed Rs. 22 trillion in the second quarter of 2022 (April–June). It stood at Rs. 21.6 trillion at end-March 2022 and rose to Rs. 24.26 trillion by end-June 2022, as the sharp depreciation of the rupee inflated the rupee value of foreign-currency debt, a valuation effect rather than fresh borrowing (CBSL Annual Report 2022).

Where the “Rs. 34 trillion” figure comes from

The Rs. 34 trillion figure appears in no official CBSL or PDMO debt series. On the latest official data (PDMO Quarterly Public Debt Bulletin, end-March 2026), central government debt is Rs. 31.19 trillion on the PDMO gross series or Rs. 30.19 trillion on the CBSL net series, government-guaranteed state-owned enterprise (SOE) debt is Rs. 1.03 trillion, and total public debt is about Rs. 32.23 trillion. Even the broadest official measure is roughly Rs. 1.8 trillion below Rs. 34 trillion. The Rs. 34 trillion number traces to a contested figure that MP Ravi Karunanayake cited before the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), which he himself questioned because it did not match the PDMO’s official numbers (Daily FT, PDMO publications, Newswire on the COPF statement).

For context on definitions: Sri Lanka reports central government debt on two official bases, the CBSL net series, which nets off government deposits (Rs. 30.19 trillion at March 2026), and the PDMO gross series under the Public Debt Management Act No. 33 of 2024 (Rs. 31.19 trillion). The gap between them is about Rs. 1 trillion, and both are official figures well short of Rs. 34 trillion (Daily FT on the PDMO gross series).

The fall from Rs. 30.03 trillion in September 2024 to Rs. 28.74 trillion in December 2024 was driven mainly by the International Sovereign Bond (ISB) restructuring completed on December 20, 2024. External debt dropped from Rs. 11,699 billion to Rs. 10,429 billion (about Rs. 1.27 trillion), while domestic debt was broadly flat (roughly Rs. 18,326 billion to Rs. 18,310 billion). That decline reflects the restructuring, not a cut in new borrowing (CBSL statement on the ISB restructuring).

Central government debt over the past six years

Period (quarter)	Central govt. debt (Rs. tn)	Source / note
End-2019	13.03	CBSL
End-2021	17.61	CBSL
End-2022	27.49	Rupee depreciation; forex valuation effect
End-2023	28.70	CBSL Table 105
Sept 2024 (AKD takes office)	30.03	Pre-ISB restructuring
Dec 2024	28.74	Post-ISB restructuring
Dec 2025	29.99	CBSL net series
March 2026	30.19 (net) / 31.19 (gross)	PDMO Q1 2026

The small gap between the two sources for 2023 and later quarters is simply because one is the final figure from the CBSL Annual Report and the other a provisional or revised quarterly figure. Either way, both sit far above the claimed Rs. 22 trillion.

How the debt actually grew, 2019–2024

2019–2021: Central government debt rose gradually from Rs. 13.03 trillion at end-2019 to Rs. 17.61 trillion at end-2021.
2022’s sharp surge: Total debt jumped to Rs. 27.49 trillion by end-2022, driven mainly by the steep depreciation of the rupee during the crisis, which inflated the rupee value of foreign-currency debt, not by a large volume of fresh borrowing.
Before this administration (Sept 2024): Total central government debt was recorded at Rs. 30.03 trillion.

Why net debt has stayed broadly flat

New borrowing continued, largely to roll over maturing domestic debt, yet net debt was broadly flat from September 2024 to March 2026 for three reasons: (1) the ISB restructuring completed on December 20, 2024, cut the rupee value of external debt by about Rs. 1.27 trillion; (2) rupee appreciation lowered the rupee value of foreign-currency debt with no repayment involved; and (3) fiscal consolidation under the IMF programme (CBSL statement on the ISB restructuring).

Debt servicing since restructuring

After completing external debt restructuring agreements in late 2024 and early 2026, Sri Lanka formally resumed debt-service payments. The PDMO reports total debt service of US$8.09 billion in Q1 2026, comprising US$5.98 billion of principal repayments, US$1.59 billion of domestic interest and US$530 million of external debt service (PDMO statement, Fact Crescendo on Q1 2026 debt servicing). Of that US$8.09 billion, about 93.5% (US$7.57 billion) was domestic rollovers; actual payments to external creditors were only US$530 million. In March 2026, the remaining arrears to holders of the 2022 ISBs were cleared through a Cash Tender Offer. In short, the current administration is servicing and managing existing obligations rather than piling on new debt.

Budget balance: an overall and primary surplus

The difference between the budget deficit and debt accumulation shows how the fiscal position is stabilizing. In Q1 2026 (January–March), government revenue and grants were Rs. 1,499.2 billion against total expenditure of Rs. 1,382.8 billion, an overall budget surplus of Rs. 116.4 billion. Because the primary balance excludes interest payments, the primary surplus is larger still. On CBSL data, Sri Lanka posted a record primary surplus of 5.4% of GDP in 2025, up from 0.6% in 2023 and 2.2% in 2024 (CBSL Annual Economic Review 2025, Daily FT on the budget surplus). An overall surplus means revenue is now covering routine operations and spending without relying on fresh domestic or external borrowing.

Join us to learn more about our fact-check investigations.

Conclusion:

On the official data, the claim of “Rs. 22 trillion over 74 years, Rs. 34 trillion under Anura in 17 months” is false and misleading. When President Dissanayake took office in September 2024, central government debt already stood at about Rs. 30 trillion, so a jump to Rs. 34 trillion in 17 months is arithmetically impossible.

No recognized official measure, central government debt, general government debt, or total public debt including SOE liabilities, currently records Rs. 34 trillion; the broadest measure was Rs. 32.23 trillion at end-March 2026. Debt has stayed broadly flat over the past year not because borrowing stopped, but because of the December 2024 ISB restructuring, rupee appreciation and a record 5.4%-of-GDP primary surplus in 2025.