Sri Lankan PM highlights Rajapaksa's extravagant spending
During a parliamentary debate on government expenditure, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya disclosed a detailed breakdown of the staggering foreign travel costs incurred by former presidents over the past fifteen years.
The figures, which detailed the lavish spending habits of previous administrations, particularly the Rajapaksa family, have sparked fresh scrutiny of Sri Lanka’s financial mismanagement amid the country’s ongoing economic crisis.
According to Amarasuriya, the breakdown of presidential foreign travel costs from 2010 until 2025 are as follows:
• 2010-2014 (Mahinda Rajapaksa): Rs. 3,572 million
• 2015-2019 (Maithripala Sirisena): Rs. 384 million
• 2022-2022 (Gotabaya Rajapaksa): Rs. 126 million
• 2023-2024 (Ranil Wickremesinghe): Rs. 533 million
• September 2024-February 2025 (Anura Kumara Dissanayake): Rs. 1.8 million
Amarasuriya claimed that current president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has spent only Rs. 1.8 million on three official foreign visits to China, India, and the UAE since taking office in September 2024. This is a stark contrast to the excessive spending of his predecessors, which she argued demonstrates the new government’s commitment to fiscal discipline.
In her address to Parliament, Amarasuriya highlighted the government’s efforts to cut unnecessary expenses. “We were asked not to be symbolic, but to show through action, not just words. Here, we have done exactly that,” she stated, reinforcing the administration’s pledge to curb wasteful government spending.
She particularly condemned former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe for spending Rs. 384 million on foreign visits between 2023 and 2024, noting that he had travelled with as many as 154 individuals at the taxpayer’s expense. She compared this to Dissanayake, who travelled to India with a delegation of just five, whereas Wickremesinghe had taken 23 individuals on a similar visit in 2024.
However, it was Mahinda Rajapaksa who was responsible for the highest single-year expenditure, spending an astronomical Rs. 1,144 million in 2013 alone. The Rajapaksa family has long been criticised for its extravagant lifestyle, maintained at public expense.
The latest revelations come as Dissanayake has ordered Mahinda Rajapaksa to vacate his government-funded luxury residence, which underwent Rs. 470 million in renovations. The former president has refused to comply, claiming that the move was designed to appease the Tamil diaspora, who continue to demand accountability for his role in the Mullivaikkal genocide.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, along with his brother, former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, were held directly responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic collapse by the Supreme Court. Their mismanagement led to Sri Lanka defaulting on its foreign debt of $35.1 billion on 19 May 2022, plunging the country into food and fuel shortages, hyperinflation, and mass protests.