A review of the recently-released Central Bank Annual Report 2015 was held on Tuesday, May 10.

In an interactive discussion held thereafter, Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva questioned the Governor of the Central Bank with regard to EPF funds invested in the stock market.

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Arjuna Mahendran noted that the government wanted to take the EPF out of the Central bank, and create a separate agency.

He also said ” 1.4 Trillion rupees as we speak, to run its own affairs as a stand alone fund. Now that drew public opposition, and since then that plan has been shelved, but it is certainly something that the members of the EPF would want.”

Responding to a question raised by  Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva, the CBSL Governor noted:

Speaking from a personal perspective, this is not government policy and we’ve been thinking of as an idea, that they float these government or EPF holdings of bank shares in an exchange rated fund which can be floated out the stock exchange.

The Governor went onto note that he is certain that the government can make a profit on those shareholdings that they have acquired, going into the future.

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