‘Rs. 13 b retained from Perpetual Treasuries’

Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said only monies and investments amounting to Rs. 13 billion have been retained from Perpetual Treasuries.

Apart from Rs. 13 billion, no other properties or resources of Perpetual Treasuries have been retained, he said.

He was addressing the media, yesterday at the Central Bank Auditorium while participating in a special press conference.

The governor said measures are being taken to surcharge the monies earned by Perpetual Treasuries in a just manner.

The amount to be surcharged should be calculated through a legal procedure, and not by the Central Bank, he added.

“The Central Bank would assist the court’s procedure. The Perpetual Treasuries Company is responsible to pay the due amount described by the courts,” Senior Deputy Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

He added that owing to the Treasury Bond issue, an increase of interest rates could be monitored.

The Central Bank Finance Committee has not imposed a ban on investing money from employees’ provident funds (EPFs) in the share market. However, the Central Bank has not considered investing EPF monies in the share market at this juncture, he said.

He added that EPF monies are currently limited only to be invested in primary and secondary markets.

However, it has been scheduled to invest these monies in a more systematic and developed process, he added.