Each Sri Lankan was in debt to the tune of Rs. 196,914 this year, Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told Parliament yesterday.

The total debt of Sri Lanka stood at the Rs. 4,020,780 million, Minister Siyambalapitiya said.

The Minister was answering a question raised by UNP Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake. Sri Lanka’s labour force stood at 8,160,000 in the first quarter of 2009, he said.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of this year at the current market price was 1,107,738 million rupees, and at constant market prices it was Rs. 600,000 million.

The real growth rate reported during the first quarter of this year was 1.5 per cent, he added.