Responding to a question posed by the media at a meeting of the National People’s Power (NPP), she said; “The Central Bank destroys old notes and prints new ones. It’s a customary process. They are not adding a new currency to increase the money supply. They are destroying the old notes. So, in the future, new notes could come with President Anura signature. This is a normal procedure, not newly printed money.”

LINK – https://youtu.be/xThOaC4w4HU?t=210

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) Act No. 16 of 2023, the authority to issue currency in Sri Lanka lies with the CBSL. Therefore, the task of creating, printing (notes), minting (coins), and distributing currency has been entrusted to the CBSL.

The Central Bank maintains an adequate stock of cash and notes to meet public demand and business needs. These funds eventually re-enter the Central Bank through commercial bank deposits.
Currency notes undergo counting, verification, and sorting via note sorting machines. Usable currency notes are reissued to commercial banks, while unusable notes are shredded by the Central Bank. Factors such as wear, contamination, deterioration, difficulty in identification due to markings on the note, minor damages occurring during circulation, and accidental deformation contribute to a note being considered “unusable currency”.

Former Deputy Governor of CBSL, W.A. Wijewardena explained the process of issuing new currency following the disposal of unusable notes. He said that the Central Bank disposes unusable notes issues new currency as a part of its currency management operations on a timely basis. Certain currency notes quickly become unclean based on public usage, thus Rs. 100 notes are newly added approximately every two months, while Rs. 5000 notes are printed every six months.

Mr. Wijewardena said that the Central Bank maintains stocks of currency for three years, and currency distribution takes about six months. He added that after a new Finance Minister or a new Governor of the Central Bank takes office, their specimen signature (copy of original signature) is obtained and sent to the De La Rue Lanka Currency and Security Print private Limited, which is then used when creating new currency notes.

Accordingly, FactSeeker confirms that currency notes may be issued in the future with the signature of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and it should not be regarded as a “new currency” being printed.