Constitutional Amendments

MR says PM’s and President’s offices will be audited after 20A but Auditors’ Union disagrees

Imesh Ranasinghe

Monday October 5, 2020 12:47 pm

By Imesh Ranasinghe

Monday October 5, 2020 12:47 pm

ECONOMYNEXT- Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is saying that the offices of the President and the Prime Minister will continue to remain within the purview of the Auditor General by the proposed 20th amendment to the constitution, and reports to the contrary are Opposition propaganda.

The Government Auditors Union, however, told EconomyNext that the proposed 20th Amendment opens the door for these two top offices to avoid an audit.

Issuing a statement yesterday, the Prime Minister said that it is seldom “that the Constitutional provisions regarding the Auditor General come to the attention of the public. This has made it easier for the opposition to propagate various falsehoods in this connection.”

Rajapaksa said that from the very inception of the 1978 Constitution, the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office have been under the purview of the Auditor General.

He said that the phrase “all departments of government” in Article 154(1) of the pre-19th amendment constitution brought the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office under the purview of the Auditor General. These institutions were always listed as government departments in the Government Financial Regulations.

Speaking to EconomyNext Speaking the secretary of Sri Lanka Audit Service Association R.M.P.A. Janaka agreed, but added that some Secretaries to the President had refused an audit saying these offices are “not normal government departments.”

“We audited them some time ago, there was no problem back then, but later some of the President’s Secretaries did not allow the secretariat to be audited as they said it was not a normal department of the government,” Janaka said.

So he added that it was the reason to specifically include the Office of the Secretary to the President and the Office of the Secretary to the Prime Minister in article 154 (1) to the constitution through the 19th amendment.

Rajapaksa said the inclusion of the Presidential Secretariat and the Office of the Prime Minister by name in Article 154(1), by the 19th amendment did not achieve “anything new.”

“Even after the 20th amendment reinstates the old article 154(1) which existed from the inception of the 1978 Constitution, in place of the so-called ‘changes’ made by the 19th Amendment, the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office will continue to remain within the purview of the Auditor General. Over the past decades, it’s the Auditor General who audited the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office and not some private audit firm,” Prime Minister said.

Janaka added that he does not see what the idea was behind “removing already written things in the constitution, there is no need to think about something which indirectly indicates when it was already clearly written,” he said. (Colombo, October 5, 2020)

Reported by Imesh Ranasinghe

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Economy

Sri Lanka to ramp up weekend fuel deliveries after petrol price cut

More deaths reported at Sri Lanka fuel queues

Friday June 2, 2023 5:52 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will be operating on the weekend to complete all fuel deliveries to end vehicle queues forming outside fuel stations after the price revision earlier in the week, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.

“Instructions have been given to CPC and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals to continue fuel deliveries on Saturday and Sunday this week to supply sufficient stocks to all fuel stations,” Minister Wijesekera said in a TWITTER.COM MESSAGE

“To reduce expenses on overtime, CPC and CPSTL have not been operating on Sundays and public holidays in the last 4 months,” Wijesekera said.

“Non-placement of orders by fuel stations from last Saturday, anticipating a price reduction, not maintaining minimum stocks, immediate increase in demand by consumers after the price revision, and quota increase have created shortages in the fuel stations.”

The Minister in April 2023 said all fuel stations would be required to maintain a minimum of 50 percent of stock tank capacity.

“I have asked CPC to review and suspend the license of fuel stations that had not maintained minimum stocks.” (Colombo/ June 02/ 2023)

Bonds & Forex

Sri Lanka bonds yield up at close, rupee at 291.75/292.50 against the US dollar

Friday June 2, 2023 5:21 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s bonds closed steady on Friday, dealers said, following the central bank’s decision to cut its main policy rate by 250 basis points.

The Spot US dollar closed at 291.75/292.50 rupees, dealers said.

The rupee opened at 290.25/75 to the US dollar Thursday and closed at 292.50/295.50 to the US dollar.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed at 24.70/90 percent up from 24.50/90 percent a day earlier, dealers said.

A bond maturing on 15.05.2026 closed at 25.75/26.25 percent up from 25.00/26.00 percent a day earlier.

A bond maturing on 01.05.2025 closed at 27.00/30 percent, up from 26.30/27.00 per cent at last close.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2032 closed at 20.25/21.00 percent, up from 20.00/40 per cent at last close.
(Colombo/ June 02/2023)

Markets

Sri Lanka’s shares edge up on positive macroeconomic sentiments

Friday June 2, 2023 5:18 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s shares closed higher in trade on Friday, over positive macro-sentiments encouraging investors to redeem their interest towards buying, an analyst said.

The main All Share Price Index was up 0.72 percent or 62.19 points to 8,753.80, while the most liquid index S&P SL20 was up 0.68 percent or 16.87 points to 2,487.29.

Sri Lanka’s inflation in the 12-months to May 2023 has eased to 25.2 percent from 35.3 percent a month earlier according to a revised Colombo Consumer Price Index calculated by the state statistics office.

Prior to the Monetary Policy investors were quite optimistic that inflation is to lower and interest rates will decrease and since exp, an analyst said.

Sri Lanka Central Bank is waiting for the government proposal on the domestic debt restructuring (DDR), the central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said amid uncertainty over DDR and speculations over instability in the banking sector.

“On debt restructuring, the borrower is the ministry of finance’s treasury. Certainly we will announce what the strategy will be. We are waiting for a government proposal,” Weerasinghe said.

Sri Lanka’s investors are waiting on assurances to be made on debt restructuring and optimization, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said, “It is up to the government to clear the uncertainty, because from our side we have done that part.”

The central bank cut the key policy rates by 250 basis points to spur a faltering economic growth as inflation was decelerating faster than it projected.

The speculation of DDR has hit the market and the risk premium has kept the market lending rates well above the central bank’s policy rates. The government has yet to present its plans on DDR.

Weerasinghe said the central bank has done its best to reduce the risk premium through bringing down the market lending rates while keeping the policy rates unchanged.

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has discussed progress of International Monetary Fund program and debt restructuring during a visit of Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura, statement said.

“The discussion primarily focused on the progress of the IMF program between Sri Lanka and the IMF,” a statement from President’s office said.

“Attention was also paid to the on-going debt restructuring negotiations.”

However Officials from IMF have said Sri Lanka has to focus on expanding taxes.

“We discussed the importance of fiscal measures, in particular revenue measures, for a return to macroeconomic stability,” Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura said in a statement.

The finance ministry this week issued rules requiring everyone above 18 year of age to register to pay income tax.

“I was encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to negotiate a debt strategy in a timely and transparent manner.

The market generated a revenue of 738 million rupees, while the daily average was 1 billion rupees.

Top gainers in trade were Vallibel One, LOLC Finance and Browns Investment. (Colombo/June02/2023)