Ravi K opens up on CBSL and CID

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

Former Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake charged that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s conduct ridiculed the Government and prevented the country from moving forward.

Joining the Second Reading Debate of the Appropriation Bill 2018 yesterday, UNP MP Karunanayake said: “The Central Bank is expected to act independently. It should not perform its task differently from the Government’s vision. The President was elected. The Prime Minister has got a Government with Parliament. They expected the Central Bank to follow the new Government’s program. But the Central Bank would do otherwise leading to problems,” he said.

“Whenever I worked with the Central Bank, I found that they always had a different agenda. They always wanted something different from what we expected. We did not meddle with their duties. The Central Bank officials had a different vision. 

Now the country had been following their program, but inflation is high, gross domestic product has decreased. These results show how sound the programs of the Central Bank officials are. The value of the rupee is depreciating. The Central Bank should be held responsible for this. There is no point of a Government change if these officials of the previous regime continue in their positions. This is what happens when public officials are not changed regularly,” he added.

According to Karunanayake, a Government decides the economic and monetary policy, and the fiscal policy works closely together supporting rapid growth. “If you look at countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, you will be able to see that financial discipline comes into the fiscal and monitoring policy working together in one Government. I hope before long the follies in our system will be corrected. The follies that have been done in the past and are being carried on by the same officials under the present administration too should be corrected,” he said.

Describing the involvement of the Criminal Investigations Department in all matters which delay the regular assignments of the Department, he said: “I read in a newspaper today the issue of importing oil too had been directed to the CID. If there is a derailment of a train, the matter is referred to the CID. If there is something wrong with the cars imported to this country, the issue will be referred to the CID. So, the CID finally becomes involved in every matter and becomes the stumbling block in the Government’s forward march. The job of the CID is to catch thieves, but now it is being used for every single issue. The CID will not have time to catch thieves. The CID cannot finish its investigations on Lasantha Wickrematunge’s killing, the attack on Poddala Jayantha and abduction and attack on Upali Tennakoon or disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda because it has been used for other matters.”

According to Karunanayake there should be strict regulations and policies to achieve economic development targets. 

“Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera should focus on how his Budget proposals can affect state income. For example, due to his proposal of reducing soft liquor prices, excise income can decrease. It is very progressive that the Minister has thought to apply a strict Value Added Tax (VAT) policy. It is better to collect income now and settle debts as soon as possible. But imposing VAT on residential apartments can cause some other social issues. Minister Samaraweera should balance scenarios like these,” he added.