Saturday 27th of April 2024

One Hundred and Fifty Six Thousand crores have been printed

2022-03-21 7719

The country is destitute - the economy is almost destroyed

During the tenure of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa alone, Rs. 1,569,290 million have been printed so far. Ignoring the recommendations and strategic advice of the International Monetary Fund, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka continues to print money that skyrockets inflation, which is ravaging the country and the economy. Since President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came to power, the total amount of money printed so far has exceeded Rs. 1,500 billion.

The total amount of money printed from March 1 to March 16, 2022 was 132.66 billion rupees and the amount printed on March 18, 2022 is kept secret by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. While the President was in discussion with the IMF's Representative to seek its assistance on March 14, 2022, 83 billion had been printed.

The total amount printed from January 1, 2020 to date is 1,596,290 million rupees. That is Rs. 156,929 crore. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who claims that printing money will not increase commodity prices, has printed 359.66 billion rupees since taking over as the Governor of the Central Bank. In addition to the dollar and fuel crisis, the Government's printing of currency has been a major factor in the rupee's domestic crisis.

The International Monetary Fund has recommended to stop the arbitrary printing of money by the Monetary Board, led by the Governor of the Central Bank and the Secretary to the Treasury, to resolve the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. To this end, the International Monetary Fund has on several occasions advised the Government to remove the Secretary to the Treasury from the Monetary Board to amend the Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949 and to hand over that position to professionals. In spite of this, the Central Bank continues to print money.

Printing of money without limitations has not only created a dollar crisis, but also made domestic commodity prices unbearable. With the introduction of the concept of organic farming, the country's agricultural production has been completely toppled and the collapse of agricultural production has led to higher prices of locally produced food items, including vegetables, fruits, eggs, and other commodities.