Ravi demands answers on 'unlawful' 2022 debt default

Former Finance Minister and MP Ravi Karunanayake has questioned the legality and accountability of Sri Lanka's 2022 decision to suspend repayment of its external debt, calling on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to clarify whether the move was made without parliamentary approval.

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Karunanayake noted that although the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance cited depleted reserves and an inability to fund essential imports when announcing the suspension of foreign debt payments, the decision had not been sanctioned by Parliament nor taken under any existing legal framework.

In his letter, he described the move as a unilateral executive act that raised serious constitutional, legal, and procedural concerns.