Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the controversial bond issuance yesterday that a confidential International Monetary Fund (IMF) report in his possession had revealed that in 2014 bills amounting to Rs. 1.2 trillion had not been paid by the then Government.
The previous administration, said the Former Governor, had suppressed these arrears in an attempt to “camouflage the problem” and “pretend everything was hunky dory.” Money had not been paid, he said, to, among others, the Road Development Authority (RDA), SriLankan Airlines, and “all sectors of the economy.” All of these bills, however, had been settled by 2015, he said subsequently.
Mahendran brought this to light in response to questions raised by Senior State Counsel Shaheeda Barrie on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL)›s decision to forgo the hybrid system of private placement and auctions and replace it with a totally auction-based system on 27 February 2015.
Questioning the witness, Barrie noted that over 80% of the Government›s debt requirement, prior to this decision, had been raised through private placements. Mahendran, however, opted to call it a lopsided system rather than a hybrid one.
Continue ►
RSS Feed
Twitter
Facebook