These Are Not Mere Numbers – This Is a Story About Hearts of Resolve
Staff Reporter
What remains is a landscape of rubble. Satellite imagery has identified some 1,300 landslides, stark evidence of the scale of devastation. So too is the towering mountain of garbage that accumulated in Gampola town. Food items once meant for human consumption, along with everyday household goods from homes, shops and other buildings, were reduced to refuse. Even a cursory examination of these two principal indicators makes clear the magnitude of the destruction that turned normal life into ruins.
To rescue daily life from this wreckage, an immediate Rs. 7,200 crore was deployed. The next task is the sustainable reconstruction of both livelihoods and the country itself. For that purpose, a supplementary estimate allocating Rs. 50,000 crore was approved by Parliament on the 19th. Appearing before the House in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake laid out in detail the strategy for rebuilding the nation and restoring livelihoods.
The economic figures cited by the President merit far deeper public scrutiny than they have thus far received. This article seeks to draw attention to precisely that.
“You are aware,” the President told Parliament, “that for a long time the Treasury account was operated through bank overdrafts. At times, interest rates of 33 or even 36 per cent were paid on these overdrafts. In 2018, the overdraft stood at Rs. 180 billion. In 2019 it rose to Rs. 274 billion. In 2020 it climbed to Rs. 575 billion, and in 2021 to Rs. 821 billion.”
This runaway overdraft, accelerating like an arrow released from a bow, was finally tightened . By the end of November 2025, the Treasury account balance had been transformed into a surplus of Rs. 1,202 billion. That figure represents far more than a numerical milestone. It means that the Rs. 821 billion deficit recorded in 2021 has not only been eliminated, but that an additional Rs. 1,202 billion has been accumulated. In real terms, therefore, the value represented by the November 2025 figure is Rs. 2,033 billion.
As with Treasury overdrafts, the government has had to pay punitive interest on its total borrowings. The era in which Sri Lanka could access concessional loans ended long ago. Borrowing now comes either at commercial rates or at outrightly usurious ones.
This is the vicious cycle confronting the present administration led by President Dissanayake. Even during the relief period secured through negotiations with creditors after Sri Lanka formally declared bankruptcy on 12 April 2022, the interest burden remained enormous. For 2026 alone, Rs. 2,617 billion has been allocated for interest payments. In 2025, interest payments amounted to Rs. 2,650 billion; in 2024, Rs. 2,690 billion.
A substantial share of government expenditure is devoted to public sector salaries. For 2026, Rs. 1,323 billion has been earmarked for this purpose. Yet interest payments alone, at Rs. 2,617 billion, are nearly double that amount—an illustration of the depth of the debt trap.
Even after debt restructuring, annual payments are not limited to interest alone; principal repayments also resume. In 2026, loan instalments due amount to Rs. 1,878 billion. Combined with interest, total debt servicing for that year reaches Rs. 4,495 billion. Against this, the maximum borrowing limit announced with the 2026 Budget stands at Rs. 3,740 billion. To channel Rs. 500 billion for disaster recovery without breaching this ceiling is, by any measure, a feat bordering on the miraculous.
Another point highlighted by the President deserves close attention. “Since 1950,” he noted, “Sri Lanka has recorded a primary surplus only on about six occasions, and even then it was below one per cent. But for the first time in our history, the primary surplus has reached 3.8 per cent.”
Understanding the concept of the “primary balance” is crucial. It represents the balance after the government meets its core expenditures—public sector salaries, interest payments, subsidies, essential goods and services, and public investment—from its total annual revenue. In Sri Lanka’s history, a surplus after these expenditures has been achieved only around six times, and always at less than one per cent of GDP. This year’s 3.8 per cent is the highest ever recorded.
Such surpluses are used to repay loan principal, reducing the need to borrow further simply to service existing debt. In responding to the debate on the supplementary estimates, the President outlined only a handful of the economic gains achieved over the past year. One clear indicator is the government’s borrowing ceiling. For this year, it stands at Rs. 3,740 billion—less than half the nearly Rs. 7,900 billion borrowing limit envisaged in the 2024 Budget presented by the previous Ranil Wickremesinghe administration.
By converting the Treasury overdraft into a positive balance and turning the primary balance into a surplus, the present government has demonstrated fiscal discipline sufficient to halve the state’s borrowing requirement.
Another significant achievement was also highlighted. “This year,” the President said, “has become the first in our history in which revenue targets were exceeded. We expected Rs. 4,960 billion. By 15 December, revenue had already reached Rs. 5,125 billion.”
Yet the President did not shy away from the underlying reality. “We did not inherit an economy capable of absorbing major shocks. Even a small misstep could have caused severe damage. That is why, over the past 14 to 15 months, we have proceeded with extreme caution—studying even the smallest details—to establish economic stability. These facts cannot be denied.”
He substantiated this claim with data that few could reasonably dispute. In simple terms, numbers are not just numbers. While figures are essential to demonstrate achievement, much of what lies behind these gains cannot be captured in statistics alone.
These achievements are the product of unyielding resolve—of determined hearts. That resolve cannot be quantified by data sets. It must be judged through intellectual rigour and moral insight. It reflects the life force of people who have gone beyond numbers and spreadsheets.
The President, Prime Minister, ministers and MPs have not only exercised power responsibly but have made sacrifices that many would not even imagine. President Dissanayake’s expenditure on official overseas travel has been exceptionally low. One opposition MP attempted to mock this frugality, joking, “Did the President travel hanging onto the footboard?” Another quipped, “Did he go on half a ticket?”
Such remarks only underscore a continued attempt to toy with the political consciousness of the public, reducing people’s lives to a game of dice.
Despite this, the government’s extraordinary intervention to rescue the country from catastrophe has drawn global attention. From a Sri Lankan worker in South Korea donating Rs. 400 to the national rebuilding fund, to estate workers contributing Rs. 21,000; from prisoners donating their food allowances to a Swedish woman contributing USD 33,000—this is a story of generosity and expansive hearts.
Alongside this, determined efforts continue to restore normal life: rebuilding roads, bunds, canals, tanks, embankments, and reviving railway lines with remarkable speed. None of this can be measured in economic indicators alone.
From the beginning of next year, Rs. 50,000 crore will be spent on providing the tools and infrastructure required to sustain this collective effort. Dr Ruchira N. Wijesena has pointed out that the intensity of the torrential rainfall that struck around ten districts on 27 November exceeded the explosive power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb by more than 200 times.
That a country reduced to rubble by such force is nonetheless advancing—securing achievements that astonish the world—has already been proven by the unwavering resolve of its people.