The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has refused a fundamental rights application filed by Ven. Matara Ananda Sagara Thero and Ravi Kumudesh seeking to challenge the decision to suspend the payment of Sri Lanka’s external debt.
The petition was filed against the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Secretary to the Treasury, the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka, and former Finance Minister Ali Sabry.
The petition was heard by a bench presided by the Chief Justice, Buwaneka Aluvihare J. and Vijith Malalgoda J. impugning the decision of the Governor Central Bank, Secretary to the Treasury, the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka and former Minister of Finance Ali Sabry to suspend the external debt repayments on the 12th of April 2022.
The Supreme Court questioned the counsel for the Petitioners whether the Respondents had any other option other than to immediately suspend the debt repayments in order to avoid a hard default on several loan repayments which were required to be settled during the month of April.
The counsel for the Petitioners conceded that there was no confirmed inflow of funds that could be utilized to meet the debt repayment obligations.
In view of the said admission, the Supreme Court extensively questioned the counsel for the Petitioners about what other alternatives were available in the opinion of the Petitioners for the Respondents other than to immediately suspend repayment of the external debts.
Their Lordships’ being dissatisfied with the submissions of the Petitioners refused to grant leave to proceed against the Respondents named in the Petition. (NewsWire)