“Public Finance Management Bill denotes Govt’s intention to fulfil its responsibility”
State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the introduction of the Public Finance Management Bill is a historic achievement and an important decision taken by the Government.
The Minister pointed out that this is a fulfilment of a request made by institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to Sri Lanka, for two decades. He said that the powers assigned to the Treasury Secretary are clearly defined in this Bill. He also pointed out that earlier, the powers of the Treasury Secretary as the Chief Enumeration Officer were not properly defined, which led to the crisis. In addition, Minister Siyambalapitiya said that the relevant Act also gives the people the right to obtain information about assets. He stressed that there is no need for other Governments to be appointed to create formal financial management in this country as the Opposition is demanding, for the presentation of this Bill confirms that the Government is ready to fulfill that responsibility.
The Minister said this while joining the debate on the adjournment of Parliament on Wednesday. He also disclosed that it has been possible to collect around Rs. 500 million as income tax from the tax revenue lost due to the sugar tax fraud. It was revealed that the Government had lost about Rs. 17 billion through the sugar tax fraud and steps were taken to recover some part of that amount from the income tax of the sugar importing companies.
The Minister said that a detailed report on this will be submitted to Parliament soon.
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