Fact-checking president’s fact-check on foreign loans

• To verify this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Ministry of Finance Annual Reports, Mid-Year Reports, and the Public Debt Bulletins (PDB)

In response to an alleged social media post stating that the total foreign debt was USD 71 billion and increased to USD 100 billion during his presidency, President Wickremesinghe, stated in parliament that (1) the total foreign debt is only USD 37 billion, not USD 100 billion, and that (2) Sri Lanka has had no recourse to foreign borrowing as no country has the legal right to provide loans to Sri Lanka since it defaulted on its debt.
To verify this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Ministry of Finance Annual Reports, Mid-Year Reports, and the Public Debt Bulletins (PDB).
Claim 1: PBD reveals that in March 2024 total external debt stood at USD 37 billion, in line with the president’s quoted figure (see Additional Note 1). The alleged figures in the social media post likely referred to total public debt, which includes domestic debt. Total public debt stood at USD 70.9 billion (excluding guaranteed loans) in September 2022, and rose to USD 100.1 billion (including guaranteed debt) by March 2024. 
Claim 2: After suspending debt payments (excluding the Indian credit line, which the president acknowledged separately in his response) Sri Lanka was still able to receive foreign loans from two sources: multilateral institutions and other countries. The total amount received (excluding from India) was almost USD 3.4 billion (see Exhibit 1). Of which, a total of USD 104 million came from bilateral disbursements of past and new loans; with at least USD 10 million from new loans provided by France and the Netherlands.
In sum, the president accurately cited the total foreign debt as USD 37 billion. However, his assertion that foreign debt could not have increased, along with the reasons provided is a little off the mark on two counts. Firstly, foreign debt did increase due to lending from multilateral banks. Secondly, the assertion that no country had the legal right to lend to Sri Lanka after the default is contradicted by the fact that countries other than India disbursed further lending and signed new loans to Sri Lanka after the default. Therefore, we classify the president’s claim as PARTLY TRUE.
*FactCheck.lk’s verdict is based on the most recent information that is publicly accessible. As with every fact check, if new information becomes available, FactCheck.lk will revisit the assessment.