Reservations on President Dissanayake's Reserve Figures

Excluding the swap, the foreign reserves properly defined are USD 5.1 billion, as of March 2025. Past reserves exceeded this USD 5.1 billion figure on 9 occasions in the past five years, and 21 occasions in the past six years. The most recent instance was in December 2020, when reserves were USD 5.7 billion (4.25 years ago). See data in Exhibit 1.

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Thus, Sri Lanka's reserves in March 2025, whether using the CBSL's reported figure or the properly defined reserves figure, fall significantly short of being the highest over the past five to six years, as claimed by the president. Reserves in March 2025 were the highest in the last four years (after Sri Lanka lost access to international financial markets), and not the last five to six years.

ii. Months of import cover in reserves