By Yohan Perera

Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa was prevented from active participation in the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) as the majority of members in the committee decided he can only observe. 

Chaired by opposition MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, the COPF convened a meeting with officials from the Finance Ministry, the Central Bank, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF), and the banking sector. Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe made a detailed presentation to the COPF, as he had done to the Cabinet the previous day.

During the meeting, concerns were raised by COPF MPs, especially those from the opposition, regarding the absence of a resolution from the government outlining the specific details of the DDR programme. They argued that meaningful discussions on the matter would be challenging without a clear resolution in place.

Responding to the concerns, State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe agreed to present the resolution for discussion at today’s meeting.

In a separate development, state bank officials expressed their contentment as they were excluded from the debt restructuring process. This exclusion prompted questions from MPs about whether the banks could extend their support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by offering reduced interest rates, considering their anticipated profitability resulting from this exemption.