Nandalal Weerasinghe who was overlooked 4 times for the post of Governor moved to Australia to spend his retirement. Came back hurriedly to accept the appointment of Governor that had eluded him several times, when Cabraal was forced to resign by the Finance Minister, no one had wanted the job. The Governor’s first action was increasing rates by 100% and defaulting on a $ 78 Million USD payment.
The outcome of his appointment six months later is pandemonium in the markets. If this policy supported by Siriwardana is continued, it wont be long before local banks collapse because borrowers can’t service the loans. A collapse of the banking system could result in an unrepairable damage to the economy.
The huge increase in interest rates has also caused a shock to the informal economy. Nandalal according to some analysts has had no expertise beyond the CBSL and has been reacting in a straight jacket to the crisis. Why do we need an expensive Central Bank funded by the tax payers if the outcome is only economic mayhem.
Now the CBSL Governor with his sidekick Mahinda Siriwardana has brought in a set of tax proposals on behalf of the IMF that will end up not being “pay as you earn” but “pay everything you earn” What does the Tax Payer get in return? Not even social security. His own EPF and ETF too is embezzled by the CBSL. The entire tax revenue is misappropriated by officials and Politicians.
The new tax proposals clearly shows there is a total lack of consultation and has been done on the behest of the IMF. This is now clearly evident. The tax proposals need to be modified before implementation or else the next Aragalaya will end up in Nandalal’s and Siriwardana’s house. Both of them earn more than 2 million a month tax free salaries and in addition are on an IMF USD pension. Both of them have been put by the government to negotiate on behalf of the 22 million people.
In addition, Nandalal is a Australian PR.
The President and the government need their heads examined to put a team like this to negotiate with the IMF. For a start they are conflicted and lacks experience.
The government must modify the tax proposals or face extinct, whilst Nandalal and Weerasinghe will continue in office with the support Sajith Premadasa. The opposition leader has clearly demonstrated that political advantage is more important than the country’s interest. The Threshold for tax must be made 1.2 million annually, Change the rate of tax from 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and must be capped at 30%. Make withholding tax on interest a final tax for individuals, increase the rate to 10% with a senior citizen relief of Rs 1.2 million per annum.
We cannot allow bureaucratic parasites feeding on Sri Lankan taxpayers to destroy the livelihoods of ordinary law abiding people. Former Minister Weerawanse for a change was spot on when he said Nandalal Weerasinghe was paving the way for a revolution. What can he do if the President of the Country has no backbone.
