Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa on Sunday warned that Sri Lanka faces a renewed risk of bankruptcy without an immediate successor agreement with the International Monetary Fund, sharpening a critique he first delivered three days earlier.
Speaking at the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) headquarters at an event to launch the party’s teachers’ union, Premadasa argued that government claims of economic stability did not match available data. He said that while the President had stated foreign reserves stood at around USD 7 billion, a portion of that holding was in Chinese yuan that was not freely usable — implying an effective reserve position below the headline figure. International benchmarks require reserves sufficient to cover at least three months of imports, he said, a threshold Sri Lanka does not currently meet given monthly import outflows of around USD 2 billion.
Premadasa also flagged external risks. Escalation in the Middle East could threaten the country’s USD 8 billion remittance base by disrupting migrant employment in the Gulf, he warned, while countries such as India — which extended support during the 2022 crisis — now have limited capacity to assist given their own fiscal priorities. He contrasted Sri Lanka’s economic messaging with India’s, calling for greater transparency with the public.
On fuel, the opposition leader noted that petrol — which reached around Rs. 470 during the 2022 crisis — now stands at roughly Rs. 410 per litre following a recent CPC revision, urging citizens to read the price within its broader macroeconomic context.
Premadasa said the current IMF programme is expected to conclude in March 2027 and that its expiry without a successor arrangement could affect the country’s credit ratings. He added that foreign debt repayment obligations are projected to rise sharply by 2028, increasing pressure on reserves alongside import costs. He repeated his call for a “people-centred IMF programme” and criticised the administration for not convening an international donor conference during earlier difficulties.
The warning sharpens Premadasa’s May 21 framing, which focused on the IMF’s USD 14.2 billion reserve target and called the pace required to meet it unrealistic. Sunday’s intervention shifts the framing from a missed target to outright financial instability, ahead of the CBSL monetary policy decision on May 26 and the IMF Executive Board’s expected seventh-review vote on May 27.
