Answering a query from the opposition, Senior Minister of International Monetary Cooperation Sarath Amunugama said 39.66 tonnes of gold were sold during 2011 to earn USD 1,966 million.
The government was taking the advantage of price fluctuations of gold in the bullion market.
At the end of 2011, Sri Lanka held gold worth USD 523 million or 9.98 tonnes.
The minister said the sales proceedings were deposited in the island's international reserves account.
Sri Lanka's reserves plummeted to critical levels at the end of the separatist military conflict in 2009.
Almost immediately the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stand by facility of USD 2.6 billion provided a bailout.
Hit by a widening trade deficit and dwindling reserves, the government introduced several corrective measures, the foremost of them was to squeeze vehicle imports.
Prohibitive import tariffs were introduced in April, primarily aimed at curbing the outflow of foreign exchange which was adversely affecting the reserves.
In furtherance of this import substitution was introduced as a main policy strategy to boost economy in 2012.
