All govt. payments to be made online from 2024

• Says Data Protection Authority will be set up next year

All government payments will be made online with effect from March 1, 2024, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said. 

“I propose to make it mandatory for all the government payments electronically (online) with effect from 01.03.2024 including cash grants to the respective recipients as well as the payments for obtaining services from various government agencies by the public,” President and Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said delivering the 2023 budget speech in parliament on Monday.

“Accordingly, all government agencies should also take action to prepare a programme enabling online payments for those services and introduce the necessary legal changes as well. In this regard, required assistance should be sought from the IT Service Officers currently working in ministries and departments,” he added. 

The Budget 2023 allocated Rs.200 million for the implementation of this policy. 

Meanwhile, President Wickremesinghe said the government is committed to implementing the Personal Data Protection Act, No.9 of 2022 and will take steps to set up the Data Protection Authority in 2023.

“As we develop our digital economy, there is a need to regulate the processing of personal data in order to safeguard privacy of our citizens from adverse impact of digitisation.

The new regulator will be independent and engage with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Securities and Exchange Commission, TRCSL and all relevant sectoral regulators to ensure proper governance of personal data,” Wickremesinghe said.