The Government is attempting to amend the Monetary Law Act (MLA) of 1949 in an arbitrary manner, disregarding the recommendations made by President Maithripala Sirisena, MP Bandula Gunawardana said.

He said the President had instructed the Cabinet to obtain the opinion of an experts committee of economists prior to amending the Monetary Law Act but instead a cabinet paper to amend the MLA, which is of great importance, was submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance for recommendations.

“As a member of the committee, I requested the committee not to give any opinion or issue a report on the cabinet paper without looking into the recommendations made by the President. The committee says its duty limited to provide recommendations to the submitted cabinet paper only. In such a scenario, I intend giving a contradictory report,” the MP said.

He said the Central Bank was already facing difficulties because of the arbitrarily-amended Foreign Exchange Act with the Central Bank denying any involvement in it.

“Today, Sri Lanka has been sidelined internationally in the financial arena. The country has been included in the money laundering blacklist as well. We admit that amendments are needed. However, when the government disregards the President’s recommendations and tries to amend the MLA to fulfil political agendas and international demands, consequences will be dire,” the MP said.

He said it was the President's responsibility to intervene in this matter. (Lahiru Pothmulla)