The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I lay on the Table the Reports of the Committee on Public Finance relating to:

¶ 02 (i) The Pre-Election Budgetary Position Report for 2024;

¶ 03 (ii) Regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969 (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2416/11 of 24.12.2024);

¶ 04 (iii) Regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969 (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2415/35 of 18.12.2024); and

¶ 05 (iv) Order under Section 22 of the Foreign Exchange Act, No. 12 of 2017 (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2415/56 of 19.12.2024).

¶ 06 Ordered to lie upon the Table.

¶ 07 Further, I lay on the Table the Reports of the Committee on Public Finance relating to:

¶ 08 (i) Breach of the inflation target specified under the Monetary Policy Framework; and

¶ 09 (ii) The presentation made by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on “Functions of the Central Bank” under Section 80(2)(a) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Act, No. 16 of 2023.

¶ 10 Ordered to lie upon the Table.

¶ 11 By way of brief comment: Sri Lanka’s inflation target is 5 percent, agreed between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank in 2023, with a tolerance band of ±2 percentage points. If outturn falls outside +7 to +3, a report must be presented to Parliament. That report has been presented. Current inflation is significantly below expectations; the Department of Census and Statistics reported last week that January inflation is below negative 4 percent. The discussion focused on how monetary policy will bring inflation back to target, balancing aggregate demand effects, the rupee, the lifting of the vehicle import ban, and demand revival. The Central Bank expects convergence toward the 5 percent target by the third quarter of 2024. We also urgently require the Technical Secretariat support mandated for the Committee; without it, our work is extremely difficult. I request your intervention, Hon. Speaker.