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PARLIAMENT

Awareness programmes for MPs on prevailing economic crisis

It has been decided by the members of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) that a series of programmes should be organized under the initiative of the committee to inform all Members of Parliament about the nature of the current economic crisis, a media release from Parliament’s Communication Department said.

The decision was taken when the Committee on Public Finance met in Parliament on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha De Silva.

Committee on Public Finance Chairman Dr. Harsha De Silva speaks at the committee's meetings on Tuesday.

The members of the Committee on Public Finance were briefed on the Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report -2022 which was tabled in Parliament on July 27, with a presentation by officials including Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena. Due to the various facts explained during this briefing, it was suggested to inform all Members of Parliament about the current economic crisis.

Dr. Harsha de Silva pointed out that the interest rate may increase with the increase of inflation. Therefore, he said that as the first programme, he proposes to educate all Members of Parliament about the relationship between inflation and the interest rate.

Also, there was a lengthy discussion about the decrease in government revenue due to the reduction of tax percentages in the latter half of 2019. Also, the impact of the Covid pandemic on the reduction of government revenue was discussed and the measures taken to increase the government revenue were also discussed.

Minister Vidura Wickramanayake and Members of Parliament Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Duminda Dissanayake, Dr. Sita Arambepola, M.A Sumanthiran, Harshana Rajakaruna, Anupa Pascual and Prof. Ranjith Bandara were present.

 

 


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