Sri Lanka’s central bank offers explain salary hike to parliament

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s central bank, which has gained independence through monetary law has offered to explain a recent steep salary hikes to its staff, to the parliament.

According to reports, which have not yet been denied, office assistants have been given a salary hike of 47,000 rupees to 199,000 rupees on average, management assistance a 94,000 average to 306,000, a staff officer 184,000 to 514,000.

Heads of Departments were given 430,000 hike to 1,030,000 rupees, Assistant Governors by 522,000 to 1,238 million and Deputy Governors by 712,000 to 1.68 million.

The central bank said in a statement the increases were given according to a three-year collective agreement.

The central bank’s Governor has made a request to the Finance Minister to explain its position following a decision by its governing board.

“CBSL will explain its position upon being offered the requested opportunity or on receipt of a request for information,” the central bank said in a statement.

Sri Lanka has exchange controls, trade controls and high inflation due to anchor conflicts in a deeply flawed operational framework of the agency and some classical economists and critics have called for legal restraints on its liquidity operations to prevent monetary instability.

Instead of imposing constitutional restraint on its actions legislators gave the agency ‘independence’ to print money for growth (target potential output), despite it being a reserve collecting central bank, critics have said.