As per to the agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund, a fundamental rights petition has been filed before the Supreme Court, challenging the government’s decision to optimize domestic debt.
The petition was filed by Professor G. L. Peiris, Mujibur Rahman and Harshana Rajakaruna.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Finance Board, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney General have been named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioners say that under the Domestic Debt Optimization Program, when the Employees’ Provident Fund invests in government securities, the interest rates paid for it have been lowered.
According to the Employees’ Provident Fund, there are active accounts of about 2.5 million working people, and their funds are largely invested in treasury bills and bonds, and through local credit optimization, the interest rates paid on the funds so invested have been lowered to 9%.
