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# Ranil Warns Sri Lanka Could Face Bankruptcy Again After 2028
- URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/featured/ranil-wickremesinghe-warns-sri-lanka-could-face-bankruptcy-again-after-2028/
- Published: 2026-08-18T15:14:34.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-18T15:15:00.000Z
- Author: Our Reporter
- Tags: August 2026, Exclusive

**COLOMBO —** Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe warned on Tuesday that Sri Lanka faces a second bankruptcy when heavy debt repayments resume after 2028, and said the government was spending its remaining preparation time on the Constitution and the judiciary instead of on rebuilding foreign-exchange reserves.

He spoke at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall at the launch of *Yuddha Dekakata Ura Dee*, or *Shouldering Two Wars*, by Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, whom Mr. Wickremesinghe appointed state minister of finance during the crisis. Former President Maithripala Sirisena attended.

The remarks landed on the day the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was placed before Parliament. The bill would raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to 67 and Court of Appeal judges to 65, and fix the Chief Justice's term at six years. Gazetted on Aug. 7, it has drawn objections from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the Chief Prelates and opposition parties. Its tabling opens a two-week window for challenge in the Supreme Court.

"The country's main problem is how to repay the debt," Mr. Wickremesinghe said. "Not amending the Constitution, and not changing the terms of office of judges. If we cannot repay, the country will go bankrupt again."

By his account, reserves stand at about $6 billion, the Central Bank expects $8 billion by December, and $15 billion will be needed by 2028 to meet repayments. "So we still have to find another six billion dollars," he said. His own figures imply a shortfall of seven.

The underlying numbers are close to his description. Gross official reserves, including the swap facility with the People's Bank of China, stood at $6.59 billion at the end of July, up $133 million on the month after the Central Bank resumed heavy dollar purchases. Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe has said the target is to hold more than $8 billion by year-end, while cautioning that the net international reserve target is a much lower number once short-term liabilities are stripped out.

The $15 billion is not his own benchmark. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament in December 2024 that his government aimed to reach $15.1 billion by 2028.

Much of his speech was a defence of his own record. He said the collapse was not sudden but the product of tax cuts and a revenue base that had been hollowed out, compounded by the lapse of an earlier IMF arrangement that left Colombo without access to the Fund's advice. He put Indian assistance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi at $4 billion, which independent accounts support, and credited it with securing essential imports.

Several of his other claims are inexact. He said Bangladesh's then prime minister provided $100 million. The Bangladesh Bank swap facility totalled $200 million, was agreed in May 2021, and was disbursed in three tranches during that year, before he returned to office. He said $50 million in fertilizer was obtained after he raised the matter with Samantha Power, then the USAID administrator. Power announced $40 million for fertilizer and $20 million in humanitarian aid during her September 2022 visit, following concerns raised by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. He put IMF support at $2.3 billion. Disbursements reached $2.4 billion only in May 2026, well after he left office; the total during his presidency was roughly $1 billion.

His claim to have strengthened the rupee to 290 to the dollar describes his tenure. The currency now trades near 332, having lost 7.8 percent this year.

Reserves crossed $7 billion in February for the first time in more than five years, then fell in four of the next five months as fuel costs climbed and debt payments came due. The current account, in surplus a year ago, ran a deficit of $245 million in the first half as the merchandise trade gap widened to $5.5 billion from $3.3 billion. The IMF completed the combined fifth and sixth reviews on May 27, releasing $695 million, but cut its 2026 growth forecast to 3 percent, citing the Middle East war and the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah.

Sri Lanka is also well behind the reserve path drawn up when Mr. Wickremesinghe entered the programme. The original framework projected $8.5 billion by the end of 2025 and roughly $11 billion by the end of 2026\. The actual end-2025 figure was $6.8 billion.

Restructuring reduced and postponed payments rather than cancelling them. Bilateral creditors deferred obligations into a window running from 2028 to 2043\. The 48-month IMF arrangement expires in March 2027, and Mr. Wickremesinghe asked what replaces it, a question the government has not answered publicly.

"There are two wars in this book," he said. "Now what has to be written about is the third war. Those two wars may be over, but another is coming. If we do not escape it, great danger is waiting for us."