10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Anuradhapura· 9 June 2026 ·Oral question: Oral Questions 1-10

Parliamentary Procedure
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The Minister answered Question No. 10 (2039/2026) regarding a People’s Bank pawning agency, stating that its authorization had been suspended by letter dated 7 June 2024, correcting the year mentioned in the question. He said the agency has not yet been assigned to another institution and that no reports had been received about the alleged difficulties caused. He added that officials discussed the matter with the Chairman and officers of People’s Bank on 6 May 2026, resubmitted a request, and expect a detailed report from the bank.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, the answer to Question No. 10 (2039/2026) is as follows.

¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes.

¶ 03 (ii) Yes. People’s Bank informed by letter No. Ni.Saa./Je.Ka./Kē Bhā dated 2024.06.07 that the pawning agency authorization was suspended. The Question mentions 2026; it should be 2024.

¶ 04 (iii) To date it has not been assigned to another institution.

¶ 05 (iv) No reports have been received as to the difficulties alleged.

¶ 06 (v) On 06.05.2026 we held a discussion with the Chairman and officers of People’s Bank and raised these matters. A request has been re-submitted and they will furnish us a report with details.

¶ 07 (b) Not applicable.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 9 June 2026 ·No. 23706 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 June 2026. No. 23706. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2775