Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, joined by other party leaders, has formally requested an urgent parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka’s worsening rupee depreciation, Newswire reported on Friday.

Premadasa said the request was conveyed at a meeting with Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne on May 22. “The rupee is under tremendous pressure. And we don’t have clear answers nor plans,” the Opposition Leader said in a post on X, adding that “the public deserves honesty and immediate action before the situation gets worse.”

EconomyNext reported on Friday afternoon that Premadasa had separately called on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to convene an All Party Conference immediately. “The rapid depreciation of the Rupee, rising cost pressures, and growing uncertainty cannot be treated as a partisan issue,” he said, adding that the opposition was coming together “because the country is once again staring at a dangerous economic warning sign.”

The formal request elevates the rupee dispute from public commentary to a procedural ask of the Chair, and follows a sequence of escalating opposition interventions over the past week: Harsha de Silva’s “frozen market” framing on Wednesday, Premadasa’s own call for successor IMF programme talks, and Patali Champika Ranawaka’s earlier critiques on policy rates.

The petition lands on a day when the rupee recovered sharply in the spot market, closing at Rs. 329 from Rs. 342/350 the previous day, after exporters made strong forward sales. Deputy Finance Minister Anil Jayantha Fernando welcomed the move and warned against misinformation that had predicted a slide to Rs. 360 or Rs. 400.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Friday said “2022 will not happen again,” citing nearly $7 billion in foreign reserves compared with about $50 million at the peak of the 2022 default. He also pledged a record Rs. 2,000 billion in capital expenditure for 2027 and said the Government would not allow shortages of fuel, gas, milk powder or fertiliser.

The opposition request gives the Speaker the procedural decision on whether to make time on the order paper for an early debate. The IMF’s Executive Board is scheduled to consider Sri Lanka’s fourth programme review on May 27.

Sources: Newswire, EconomyNext.