Sri Lanka bill with president's image is not legal tender: central bank

"They reiterated they didn't print it, but here it is," read a Sinhala-language Facebook post from November 2 which shared the image appearing to show a 5,000-rupee bill with Dissanayake's picture and signature.

The post appeared to refer to allegations the central bank printed 100 billion rupees' ($340 million) worth of cash in October, which it rejected as "baseless" (archived link).

A bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has prevented the bankrupt island from printing money (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false post captured on November 2, 2024

Similar Facebook posts shared the image here and here, suggesting Dissanayake's government had flouted the rules to print new banknotes.

The self-avowed Marxist won a landslide in September promising to reverse steep tax hikes, raise public servant salaries and renegotiate the IMF rescue package secured by his predecessor.

Dissanayake had called for better terms, but after two days of talks with an IMF delegation in Colombo, his government said it would honour his predecessor's deal.

The 2023 bailout helped end crippling shortages of food, fuel and medicine and returned the economy to growth, but its austerity measures left millions struggling to make ends meet.

'Entirely false'

A representative for the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said it "has not printed any currency bearing the portrait or the signature of Anura Kumara Dissanayake".

"This claim is entirely false," they told AFP in an email on November 6.

Sri Lanka's 5,000-rupee bill features two dams -- the Weheragala dam and the Canyon dam -- alongside a butterfly and a bird, according to the central bank's website (archived link).

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Sri Lanka's 5,000-rupee banknote

Dissanayake's Facebook profile photo appears to have been inserted onto a picture of the genuine banknote, covering the bird (archived link).

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A screenshot comparison of the image shared in the false posts (left) and the president's picture from Facebook (right)

The fabricated bill also contains several errors.

Dissanayake was elected on September 22 but the date on the banknote is "September 21, 2024" (archived link).

Furthermore, under Sri Lankan law, banknotes are signed by the finance minister -- a post that Dissanayake currently also holds -- but in the note he is referred to as "president" (archived link).

Below is a screenshot with the erroneous date (left) and the "president" label (right) highlighted:

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AFP has repeatedly debunked misinformation targeting Dissanayake.