Sri Lanka, Sept. 2 -- Sri Lanka's total public debt fell to USD 97.95 at the end of June, down 4.2% from USD 102.27 billion three months earlier, according to the Public Debt Management Office's (PDMO) Statistical Debt Bulletin for the second quarter of 2026, published August 28. Read in the currency that actually pays the country's bills, though, debt did not fall. It rose. In rupees, total public debt climbed from Rs. 32.23 trillion to Rs. 32.98 trillion over the same three months, an increase of Rs. 744 billion, or 2.3%.

Both figures are accurate. Both come from the same PDMO tables. The gap between them is less a contradiction than a warning about reading debt bulletins in dollars during a depreciation quarter, and the second quarte...