ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s banks should explore restructuring loans of salaried employees hit by progressive tax, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said as progressive income taxes were imposed at lower thresholds amid high inflation following a sovereign default.
There have been complaints mainly by picketing state enterprise executives and also other workers of such agencies such Sri Lanka Port Authority that high progressive taxes were putting their bank accounts into overdraft after loan installments were cut.
“Yes, they have mentioned that,” Governor Weerasinghe said responding to questions from reporters.
“We have told the banks earlier as well. Because the interest rates are high and their business being reduced, the SME sector, the repaying capability has reduced.
“We have told them to explore their repaying capabilities and restructure their loans in order to safe guard both sides. At this time also we are asking the banks to do that.”
In the case of some state enterprises, the Pay-As-You-Earn tax, through which income tax is deducted from salaried employees in the past was not paid by the employee but the SOE.
It is not clear whether the volumes of loans involved large enough to cause concerns.
Bad loans of the banking system overall had risen after the rupee collapsed, reducing the spending power in the economy, while rates also went up as money printing was scaled back, foreign funding stopped and the budget deficit widened.
The rate hike has prevented possible hyperinflation and a bigger implosion of the economy by stabilizing the external sector in the wake of previous mis-targeting of interest rates.
In the current currency crisis a delay in an IMF program due to China not giving debt assurances as well as fears of domestic debt re-structure has kept interest rates elevated.
Sri Lanka’s economic bureaucrats in 2020 cut taxes and also printed money, in a classic ‘Barber Boom’ style tactic implemented by UK economists and Chancellor Anthony Barber in 1971 to boost growth and employment.
The ‘Barber Boom’ ended in a currency crisis (at the time the UK did not have a floating rate and the Bretton Woods system was just starting to collapse under policies of Fed economists) and inflation of around 25 percent in the UK.
The UK implemented a three-day working week to conserve energy after stimulus while Sri Lanka saw widespread power cuts as forex shortages hit.
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Similar policies saw a worldwide revival as the US Fed economists injected money during the Covid crisis mis-using monetary policy to counter a real economic shock and boost employment while the government gave stimulus checques.
Now the world is facing an output shock as a hangover the Covid pandemic recedes.
The re-introduction of progressive tax at a maximum rate of 36 percent while tax brackets high jumped with the rupee collapsing from 200 to 360 to the US dollar had reduced disposable incomes further.
Salaries employees were encouraged to get loans in 2020 with the central bank mandating a 7 percent ceiling rate for five years.
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However, any borrower who got loans on floating rates long before the scheme are now facing higher rates. (Colombo/Feb06/2023)
The central bank should have a proper guidelines to the
commercial banks of their loans.
Now central bank should be fully responsible for increasing
USD from 200 to 360.
As a result of doing this market is completely stagnated and destroyed.
The central bank says still there is big inflation in the market.
But when we do research, no inflation arises from
the market activities.
Therefore inflation is a creation of the central bank operating
on upside monitory activities which are not responsible for
borrowers.
Therefore central bank should immediately intervene
the banking activities and establish a section to monitor
the loans are taken by the SME sector case by case.
For government employees also they should intervene with
a proper guideline.
Now the central bank is awaiting silence not doing anything.
Therefore we kindly request the governor and the monitory
board to rectify this matter urgently.
K.wijesuriya