Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader MP Udaya Gammanpila claims that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) had increased the salaries of its employees by the biggest margin in its history, despite having recorded losses of billions of rupees for two consecutive years.

“The net loss of Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 2023 is Rs. 114 billion. In 2022, the net loss is Rs. 374 billion. If a certain institute incurs losses continuously, the privileges of the institution, bonuses and salary increments will be limited and suspended,” he said, speaking to reports in Colombo today (06). 

However, the former minister charged that despite having continuously incurred great losses for several years, the Central Bank is giving its employees the highest salary hikes. “Even if it’s profitable, it’s still public money.”

Gammanpila stated that one method that the Central Bank can make profit is by providing the government and banks with credit and collecting the interest. This is possible for the Central Bank because it has sole authority for printing money, he said. 

Meanwhile, the profit obtained from the management of government’s official foreign exchange reserves is also a source of income for the Central Bank. That means the funds held by the Central Bank are public money, he asserted. 

Therefore, he called for the immediate resignation of the Governor of and the Governing Board of the Central Bank for “deceiving the country” and for claiming that the central bank is not maintained with the people’s money.