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Posts circulated in social media stating that the new government has resumed the printing of money, which had been temporarily stopped. Some people argued that an inflation could occur in the country as a result of this, while some stated that these are new policies followed by the new government.
We did a fact check on this claim.
Social media posts:
Social media posts circulated stating that the new government has printed money without borrowing from abroad to cover the government’s budget gap or to settle the governments arears.
This is how it has spread among Facebook users.
We did a fact check on this to check the credibility of these statements.
Fact Check
It was stated in ECONOMYNEXT that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, as of October 25, has printed about 100 billion rupees through various liquidity tools, and that the Central Bank injected 36.16 billion rupees through an overnight auction and 70 billion rupees for 7 days through a term auction of printed money. As of October 25, excess liquidity held in the central bank’s standing facility increased to 193.4 billion rupees, up from 138 billion rupees just a month earlier. You can read the full article here. Archived.
It is further pointed out that although the central bank’s ability to print money has been blocked by a new discretionary finance law that cannot be labeled a central bank statue, Sri Lanaka’s pan-economists have believed the public and the politicians because, through open market operations, the central bank has unlimited powers to manage liquidity to banks, allowing them to print money and trade without deposits.
The Central Bank’s monetary policy has been influenced by the upcoming elections, leading to a cautious approach as some banks have decided to borrow at higher interest rates of 9.25 percent. The Morning Telegraph had reported that the Monetary Authority has prevented excessive trading by providing low interest loans and encouraging banks to trade without deposits. Archived Link.
Professor of Economics Sirimal Abeyratne
Commenting on this matter, Professor Sirimal Abeyratne said that the claim that the money was newly printed is misleading. He pointed out that what is mentioned here as currency printing is the increase in the country’s reserve currency, not printing.
“While the central bank’s treasury should have money for the monthly cash flow, to pay salaries by the 25th of the month, pensions by the 10th to provide welfare subsidies by the 15th, and also to pay the interest on loans of about 250 billion rupees, as well as about 150 billion rupees, and since the loan is to be paid in cash, there should be a cash flow for this to happen on a monthly basis. But our treasury does not have such a cash flow. The tax income is only half of the monthly required amount. The rest was paid from the loans, now the debt has reduced a little due to the measures taken since last year, but borrowing is still happening.
The main thins that is done for borrowing like this is that treasury bills are issued every week. There is an auction for that. The central bank collects money from those auctions and gives it to the treasury. Treasury bonds are issued about once a month.
So, the money found from the auctions, are circulated around the country. They are issued to the country. Therefore, what is meant by printing money is the increasing of amount of money in the country. The amount of reserve money is something that has always been increasing and this is not something that is happening these days. They make up for the shortfall in treasury cash flow. Money printing here refers to the increase in the country’s reserve currency, not printing.
As money increased, so does the inflation. It is managed through policy interest rates. However, there should be no fear of inflation in the country at present.”
The new government has not done any money printing so far. -Minister Vijitha Herath
Cabinet Media Spokesman, Minister Vijitha Herath, while announcing the Cabinet decisions held yesterday (29) stated that his government has not printed any money so far and that the news spreading in this regard is completely false.
He also mentioned that according to the Central Bank’s normal system, when treasury bills and bonds expire, new ones are issued proportionately and no new money has been printed.
Occasions where the Central Bank of Sri Lanka should print new currency notes.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has to print new currency notes based on two factors. One of them is to replace the currency notes which have become discolored and unclear during use and to print new notes in proportion to the economic development of the country. When the country’s production increases and the economy is strong, people need money to buy those products. In such situation, new currency notes will be printed according to the development of the country. Printing of currency notes are done on accurate estimation and scientific basis.
Banknotes printed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka are released as loans to the government. Loans are issued through the purchase of Treasury Bills and Development Bonds issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. When government buys these, new currency notes are released to the public use.
In the bond auctions issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, local and foreign institutions are interested in buying these, but sue to the country’s economic condition and unusual interest, investors are not buying them. As a result, the government itself has to buy them. In that way, these new currency notes are released to the public use. Here, an unnecessary amount of money is received in the hands of the people.
New Central Bank Act limits money printing
Based on the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund, to independently regulate and establish the Central Bank and to implement the Central Bank Act to stop the money printing that caused inflation in the country, the Central Bank act was passed. Accordingly, the government’s opportunities to make requests for money printing were severely limited, and steps were taken to make the central bank more independent.
Only in the case of a special security problem in the country and in case of a world-class health problem the money can be printed, and thus money can be printed only in an amount not exceeding 5% of the value of the issued treasury bills.
Here is the explanation made by the former Minister of State in the regard.
Open Market Activities
Open Market Operations is a task carried out daily by central banks of any country to maintain stable short-term interest rates through liquidity management of banks.
Here, what happens is that the central bank gives loans to banks with low liquidity for short-term needs such as one day or one week. Banks have to pay back that money to the central bank on the relevant date.
This is a necessary process in line with the central Banks’s usual open market operations to stabilize the economy while keeping inflation at a minimum level.
Many people were misled to believe that the central bank’s purchase of government treasury bills is called printing money. More information in this regard here. Announcements related to central bank’s activities here.
The target given by the International Monetary Fund should maintain inflation between 5%-7% and according to the National Consumer Price Index, the country’s point surface inflation will reach 2.3% in August 2024, and the inflation in the non-food category 2.2%-0.2% had gone down. You can refer here, and here for further details.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
Recently, there have been reports that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has printed 100 billion rupees through various market activities, and the Central Bank has stated in a statement that these reports are baseless. It is a normal central bank activity to provide liquidity through market activities around the central bank. Market operations are conducted to maintain price stability through interest rate management, which cannot be described as mere money printing. You can refer to the announcement here.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the notes that were circulated indicating that money was printed without foreign borrowing to cover the government’s budget gap or to settle the government loans are misleading. No new money has been printed and this is in line with the central bank’s usual open market operations to stabilize the economy by keeping the inflation at a minimum level.
Since the increase in the country’s reserve currency is known as currency printing, many people were misled into thinking that this was printing new money.
