Ranil calls Govt to disclose foreign reserve status

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today (29) called the government to disclose the current status of foreign reserves amidst reports that the dwindling reserves may affect the future fuel purchases.

Mr Wickremesinghe said that usually the figures of the foreign reserves are disclosed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by Friday and since the figure is available, it should be disclosed to Parliament in order for members to discuss on how the country should prepare for possible power cuts.

He said internal sources have revealed that the foreign reserves have dropped to 1.5 billion US dollars out of which 300 million US dollars are of gold.

He said if the foreign reserves were down, it could affect the plans to purchase fuel resulting in possible power cuts by March next year. “If we have to face power cuts we have to face it. We need to prepare for this,” he added.

However, Petroleum Minister Udaya Gammanpila said that in view of the rains, the hydro power generation has gone up to about 50 per cent and therefore there would be no threat to power supplies. “If at all we can have shortage of fuel supplies, not power cuts”, he added.