- President Ranil Wickremasinghe reopens Parliament: says he is ready to take unpopular decisions for the sake of the nation: asserts people will realise the importance of those decisions in 2 to 3 years: also says if PAYE tax is abolished, the country will lose Rs.100 bn.
- Police say the CID has recorded a statement from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the recovery of Rs.17.85 million in cash from the President’s House on 9th July 2022.
- Cabinet approves Census and Statistics Dept intention to “update” the CCPI and NCPI with “new base years and new expenditure weightages” with effect from Jan’23: the re-based indices to be “based on consumer spending in 2019”: re-basing exercise expected to “have a positive impact on inflation calculations”.
- Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister Dr Bandula Gunawardana says the Govt
could renegotiate with IMF on exempting allowances other than salary payments of state employees from personal income taxes: also says the staff agreement with IMF is not final. - President’s Office says the Govt spent only Rs.11 mn on the 75th National Independence Day celebrations this year, which is less than the estimated amount.
- Govt takes step back to exempt some allowances for individuals for fuel, drivers and vehicles: Inland Revenue Dept issues circular to that effect: previously, non-cash benefits were added to compute PAYE tax and the move resulted in most Govt employees getting into the tax net for the first time.
- President Ranil Wickremasinghe says Sri Lanka will remain bankrupt for at least 3 more years while he works “to repair the battered Govt finances following an unprecedented economic crisis”: in May’22, CB Governor Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe said “the economy will stabilise in 3 months”.
- Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa says only the SJB can solve the issues faced by people: asserts the current administration can’t provide people with their
basic needs: also says the Govt can only increase taxes and tariffs and the people are suffering. - Central Bank suffers 2nd consecutive weekly setback at the Treasury Bill auctions: able to sell only Rs.53.6 bn out of the original offer of Rs.100 bn: interest rates mainly static at 91-day T-Bills at a staggering 29.88%: 182-day at 28.72% and 364-day at 27.72%.
- Market sources say Securities and Exchange Commission is now headless since the resignation of its Chairman Viraj Dayaratne a month ago.
Sri Lanka Original Narrative Summary: 09/02
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