COLOMBO, Mar 24: Sri Lanka’s central bank on Sunday agreed to revise a disputed steep pay hike following a parliamentary committee’s recommendation to put on hold its implementation.
On Wednesday, the Commission on Public Finance (COPF) recommended the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to put on hold the implementation of the controversial steep pay hike, which saw salary hikes ranging from 29 to 76 per cent across all grades to the Central Bank staff.
The COPF also asked for the hike’s review by an independent remuneration committee.
“In response to this situation, a majority of the senior management and professionals of CBSL made a collective decision to consider a revision to their salaries,” the bank said in a statement.
“This decision was communicated to the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 16th March 2024, prior to and independent of the recommendations made by COPF,” it said.
The CBSL said that it employs experienced and professional staff under its wing and the recent salary revision was made to retain its experienced staff to function at its full capacity
The COPF made the recommendations after examining the central bank’s action to affect the steep salary hike outside Parliament’s control of public finances.
It said that despite the operational independence given to the central bank, all finances are subject to government control.
A public outcry raged last month over the proposed pay hike and the central bank governor and the senior hierarchy were also summoned by Parliament earlier this month to probe it. (PTI)
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