• Questions why Monetary Board failed to consult members

 National Trade Union Centre (NTUC) denounced the Employees’ Provident Fund's (EPF) recent decision to submit an offer to exchange the portfolio of their Treasury Bonds under the Domestic Debt Optimisation (DDO) programme.

Last week, the EPF informed its members that, as an eligible participant, and with the approval of the Monetary Board of CBSL, it has submitted an offer to exchange the portfolio of Treasury Bonds of the EPF under the DDO programme, in terms of the invitation extended by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies, following a resolution adopted by Parliament in this regard.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (17), NTUC National Convenor Wasantha Samarasinghe alleged that the Government had reportedly insisted the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to make such decision and both the CBSL Governor and the Finance Minister should take the responsibility of the consequences that could occur in future.

He blamed the Monetary Board for not consulting the opinion of the working people in this regard and also said that this decision is completely opposite to what they (working people) expected, questioning the integrity of the board.

“The two options given to the EPF under the parliament approved DDO were exchange option and non-exchange option. Under the exchange option, the EPF can exchange a minimum required amount of existing Treasury bonds. Under the non-exchange option, the existing Treasury bonds will be subject to a 30 percent tax rate on the taxable income of the Treasury bond portfolio. Trade Unions did agree to neither of these proposals. But now the CBSL is going to exchange bonds despite the concerns raised by workers,” he said.

The Monetary Board of the CBSL as the custodian of the EPF, having considered the two options available – Debt Exchange and Non-Exchange, decided to opt for the Debt Exchange offer with a long-term view in the best interest of the members of the Fund. “Accordingly, the EPF tendered Rs.2,667,512,169,237 face value of Treasury Bonds for Debt Exchange, including an additional Rs. 149,890,740,000 in excess of the minimum participation requirement considering its comparative benefits to the Fund.” The Government has issued new Treasury Bonds to EPF with an equivalent face value, the CBSL reported.