Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera today said in Parliament that weakening of the Sri Lankan currency did not indicate weakening of the economy. 

The Minister made this remark when the Sri Lankan currency hit a new low today against the US Dollar. The Sri Lankan, for the first time in history, went as low as Rs. 170 against the US Dollar. 

Samaraweera said if was a long-standing myth that the strength of a currency was a sign of the strength of an economy, adding that Sri Lanka was not heading towards an economic crisis. 

He said many countries in the world were experiencing depreciation in their currencies against the US Dollar due to policies adopted by New York. 

Samaraweera said the deprecation of the Sri Lankan rupee was comparatively better than many other countries in the region. 

He explained that the country's inflation stood at 3.4 signalling economic stability .