Minister Anil Jayantha on debt, repeats the mistake of CBSL Governor

Fact Check

Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Anil Jayantha Fernando, speaking on ITN News, said that Sri Lanka’s “total debt” stood at USD 100.3 billion at the end of 2025, equivalent to 95% of GDP. On this basis, he claimed that Sri Lanka had already achieved its 2032 debt target.

To check his claim, FactCheck.lk FactCheck.lk reviewed debt data published by the Ministry of Finance and the debt figures reported under Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The minister’s claim involves three errors, some of which were made previously in a statement by the CBSL governor, in how the debt figures are identified and compared. See fact-check on titled: CBSL governor reports debt reduction with reduced accuracy posted on 12 August 2026.

First, the figure he describes as the country’s “total debt” is central government debt, which is only a partial measure of debt. The USD 100.3 billion figure cited by the minister aligns with the MoF’s measure of central government debt (CGD). At the end of 2025, CGD stood at LKR 31,109 billion, equivalent to approximately USD 100.4 billion and 95% of GDP (see Exhibit 1). However, CGD does not capture the broader measure of public debt, which includes additional liabilities (see Additional Note).

Second, the minister applies this CGD figure to a target that is set for public debt, not CGD. Under Sri Lanka’s IMF programme, the relevant debt-stock target is for public debt (PD) to “decline below 95% of GDP by 2032” (IMF, Sri Lanka: Request for an Extended Arrangement, March 2023, Annex I, paragraph 7).

Third, the relevant measure (public debt) had not fallen below the 95% threshold by the end of 2025. Public debt stood above that threshold at the end of 2025: at 98.30% of GDP under the MoF measure and 101.1% of GDP under the IMF programme measure (see Exhibit 1 and Additional Note).

In sum, the minister makes three errors: (1) he presents central government debt as the country’s “total debt”; (2) he applies that central government debt figure to a target set for the broader measure of public debt; and (3) he claims that the target had been achieved even though public debt remained above 95% of GDP under both the MoF and IMF measures.

Accordingly, the claim that Sri Lanka had already achieved the 2032 public-debt target by the end of 2025 does not match the facts as published in official debt figures.

Therefore, we classify this statement as FALSE.

* FactCheck.lk’s verdict is based on the most recent information that is publicly accessible. As with every fact check, FactCheck.lk will revisit the assessment if new information becomes available.

Exhibit 1: Sri Lanka’s debt stock as at end-2025