A Parliamentary Hansard report reveals that the issuance of international sovereign bonds has raised serious suspicions of massive financial plunder since its inception.
This information is included in the Hansard Report dated November 17, 2012. Commercial loans were first obtained from foreign countries through sovereign bonds on October 24, 2007, and they expired on October 23, 2012. $ 500 million has been obtained at an interest rate of 8.25%. At the exchange rate of Rs. 109 to the dollar at that time, these loans amounted to Rs. 56200 million.
When settling the loan, Rs. 64 billion had to be repaid with an interest of Rs. 23 billion. However, the statistics on the repayment of the loan and the interest payments by the Sri Lankan government on the devaluation of the rupee alone raise serious concerns. One record indicates a sum of Rs. 87 billion was spent on loan repayments and interest repayments.
meanwhile, another note states the value of bonds that had to be repaid due to the devaluation of the rupee had increased by Rs. 8 billion. The note also states that the interest payable is Rs. 161 billion. Thus, there is a huge discrepancy in the statistics presented to Parliament. This information is revealed in an answer given by the then Deputy Minister of Finance Dr Sarath Amunugama, to a question raised by Dr Harsha de Silva.
