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The one problem is debt-BY RAJPAL ABEYNAYAKE Source:Sundayobserver How much external debt Sri Lanka has incurred over the years is extremely clear — far too much. What’s not clear is what amount of debt was incurred in which period and what purposes each separate tranche of debt was used for. External debt ballooned, it seems, after the budget deficit ballooned, and we are told that this happened in the last decade or so in particular. However, successive Governments were guilty of running a massive external debt, and though much is spoken about such debt, people are not fully aware why there was such a massive component of debt that was allowed to mount over the years. Some of the debt was incurred allegedly for ‘development’ purposes, but there was also a considerable proportion of it that was incurred for consumption, and for the purposes of paying off existing debt. ...