President assures independence for CB

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

CB Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday assured Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe that the Central Bank will be fully supported to conduct its duties independently. He gave this assurance during a meeting with Dr. Weerasinghe and Monetary Board member PC Sanjeewa Jayawardena.

“The President fully assured them that the Governor and the Monetary Board has his fullest and unqualified assurance of freedom to discharge their functions independently and without any extraneous constraints,” a statement from the President's Media Office said.

The meeting came three days after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as Finance Minister.

President during the meeting sought a briefing of the progress of the IMF program, as well as of the economic recovery process. The Governor gave a full briefing on the satisfactory progress of the talks with IMF at technical stage and emphasised the importance of advancing towards securing an IMF assistance expeditiously, which would in turn, facilitate the all-important, debt restructuring process.

Dr. Weerasinghe also briefed the President of the numerous, multi-pronged measures put in place with the support of the Monetary Board, in respect of the economic recovery process.

The President expressed his confidence in these measures and thanked the governor once again for accepting this post during very trying circumstances. The President also assured an interactive process and indicated that the Governor and the Monetary Board would be accorded any assistance required in his capacity as the Head of State, including engaging with his international counterparts, at the highest level of state engagement, in order to assist Sri Lanka’s economic recovery process.

The Governor thanked the President for reposing his confidence and for the assurance of full independence and autonomy.