Elementary my dear Cabraal, Dr. Indrajit tells ex-CB Chief

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Akin to Sherlock  Holmes saying, “Elementary my dear Watson”, Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy yesterday rebutted former Central Bank Chief Nivard Cabraal over the latter’s claim on Monday that foreign reserves at the end of Rajapaksa regime had been squandered by the Yahapalana Government.

Though not directly referring to Cabraal’s statement, the Central Bank yesterday said a misleading news item had been disseminated in relation to Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves and external debt servicing.

While stating that around $ 8.9 billion of borrowings by the Government were absorbed to

Central Bank reserves during 2015-2018, the article provides no consideration on the significant debt repayment effected through the utilisation of reserves during the period, which the Central Bank is obligated to as the official debt manager of the government.

The Central Bank stressed the need to identify not only borrowings but also the debt repayments in analysing how gross official reserves were utilised. See Page 8 for the full statement of the Central Bank.