DDR for Sri Lanka and SLR for CBSL: CB Governor’s rationale is puerile

Monday, 1 April 2024 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe having made the blunder of unilaterally deciding to grant a phenomenal and unprecedented increase in the emoluments for the Central Bank (CB) staffers has further aggravated the issue by citing that for some employees the take home salary will be negative if the revised salary is not granted.

I would like the CB Governor to elaborate as to how the take home salary will be negative because of the loan given to the staff? It is normal that when an employer grants a loan to an employee, the loan amount is such that it is recovered in instalments over a period of time whilst the employee at the same time gets a reduced amount of take home pay (because of the deduction of the loan).

For the take home pay to be negative, I think that the Governor has made an additional blunder having given a colossal sum as loan which if it is to be recovered, within a short period of time, from the salary will make the take home salary negative!

The solution I would like to suggest to the Governor is to grant a haircut for the employees who have taken the loan. This will definitely require going for a SLR (Staff Loan Restructuring) as well somewhat similar to DDR (Domestic Debt Restructuring) which our country has adopted to settle the debt.

I request the Auditor General’s Department to scrutinise the CBSL accounts to find out as to how the take home salary of an employee can be negative.

Mohamed Zahran

Colombo