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Rajapaksa, Ravi in debt war
View(s):The Government has refuted charges by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the present Government has borrowed far more in the 15 months than during Rajapaksa’s 9-year term, saying all current borrowings were to “service debt from the pre-2015 era”.
At a hurriedly-called media briefing on Thursday afternoon the purpose of which may have been to deflect borrowing figures that the former President was expected to release at the joint opposition rally that same afternoon, Finance Minister Ravi Karun-anayake said the actual amount spent on development projects by the former government was very much higher than the amounts mentioned by the former President.
Various figures about borrowings in the past have emerged. According to latest Central Bank data, total debt rose marginally by 4 per cent by the end of the third quarter of 2015 to Rs. 8,265,992 million (Rs. 8.2 trillion) from Rs. 7,937,459 million (Rs. 8 trillion) by the end of the comparative third quarter of 2014. However there were more loans and borrowings after the third quarter of 2015.
At Thursday’s rally, the former President read out figures of loans taken during his time and loans taken by the present Government, repeating figures which he has stated at previous forums too. He said the new Government had borrowed US$ 6 billion in short term loans over the past 15 months, far more than what his government had borrowed through short term loans during its entire term.
In response, Mr. Karunanayake told reporters that all borrowings in recent times were to repay loans taken by the former regime.
According to Mr. Rajapaksa’s statement, $190 million was spent on the Mattala airport. In rupee terms it amounted to Rs. 25,000 million, but in the Treasury accounts it was recorded as Rs. 48,600 million. What happened to the balance amount of Rs. 23,600 million, Mr. Karunanayake asked.
On Mr. Rajapaksa’s disclosure that $248 million or Rs. 35,000 million was spent on the Katunayake expressway, the minister said the actual amount in Treasury accounts was Rs. 49,000 million, adding that no one knew about this additional expenditure.
On Mr. Rajapaksa’s claim that $426 million or Rs. 55,000 million was spent on the Hambantota port, the minister said that the actual expenditure recorded in Treasury accounts was Rs. 79,000 million.
“The government will have to repay all those massive amounts spent by the former President who has hidden the true facts on expenditure from the public,” he told the media.