By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera   

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya yesterday reaffirmed that the salaries of public sector employees would not be slashed this month as reported in social media.  The Minister told Parliament that it was circulated in social media that state employees’ salaries and pension payments of the retired were being slashed into half this month.  The Minister refuted the reports saying that no such matter has even been discussed.  He said public sector salaries have been absorbed as basic expenditure among the recurrent expenditure and that the job safety of public sector employees has been ensured.  He said the government spends Rs. 119 billion monthly for public sector salaries and pensions.