News

EPF asked to pay 30% tax unless it participates in domestic debt restructuring process

Published

3 years ago

2023/06/30

(L-R) CBSL Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwardena, Senior Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga and Deputy Treasury Secretary A.K. Seneviratne addressing the media on domestic debt restructuring in Colombo yesterday.

Banks, which pay taxes over 50%, least affected

By Sanath Nanayakkare

If the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and other pension funds did not wish to participate in the proposed domestic debt restructuring process, there will be an application of higher annual income tax of 30%, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said yesterday. The EPF is currently taxed at the rate of 14%.

Dr. Weerasinghe said so, addressing the media in Colombo.Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. R. Samaratunga, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena were also present. Dr. Weerasinghe said, “Banking sector has already borne a significant burden of the fiscal adjustment and the economic crisis in several ways. The banking sector has been paying higher tax rates than other corporations.

The total tax burden on the banking sector, which is serving 57 million customer deposits, is more than 50%. Through high tax payment, the banking sector is helping the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts. Further, banks gave moratoriums and faced the brunt of non-performing loans during the Covid-19 pandemic. So, any disturbance to financial system stability could be costly. And disruptions to the banking system will adversely impact the effective transmission of monetary policy. So, the main effort is preserving the 57 million customer deposits in the banks and letting no room for a bank run.

“In contrast, superannuation funds are subject to a tax of 14%. It has been proposed for superannuation bonds to be exchanged for longer term maturity T-Bonds at a coupon rate of 12% until 2025m which will be 9% minimum beyond 2025. So, there is at least 9% return on EPF funds ensured on a long-term basis while there will be no reduction on the current balance of any individual’s EPF. In the event it has to be lowered below 9%, the Treasury has agreed to fill the balance.

“If superannuation funds don’t want to take part in this process, they will be liable to be taxed at 30% instead of the current 14%.”

The minimum participation requirement for EPF is set at 50% for outstanding bonds maturing in 2023 and 100% of bonds maturing between 2024 and 2032, according to CBSL.

Speaking further the CBSL Governor said:

“What we expect from this is to bring the government debt stock to a sustainable level within 10 years as per the agreement with the IMF. The number one benchmark in this context is reducing the public debt to GDP to 95 % from 128%. Secondly, the Gross Financing Needs (GFN) of the government needs to be reduced to below 13% of GDP from 34.6 % of GDP between now and 2032. Thirdly, Foreign Debt Servicing needs to be reduced to below 4.5 % of GDP from the current 9.4 % of GDP within the same period. If these targets are achieved, it should help close external financing gaps of USD 16.9 billion. For this, we need to restructure loans obtained from official bilateral creditors such as Japan and China.

Then there is the need for restructuring international sovereign bonds (ISBs) and negotiations are underway for these two elements. Our foreign exchange debt service target is set at 4.5% max. of GDP in 2027-2032. Thirdly, it is important to restructure domestic debt in some form and that is why we are presenting a plan to execute it. One available option in optimizing government debt is to increase taxes and improve the Primary Account Balance. These measures have already been taken. So, the remaining option is restructuring government debt stock through optimization of Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds. At present Treasury Bill stock is worth LKR 4.1 trillion. 62.4 % of it is owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). CBSL has already agreed that its holdings of Treasury Bills would be converted to Treasury Bonds because this will help reduce gross financing needs of the government. And there are

Treasury Bonds worth of Rs. 8.7 trillion of which 20.5% is from superannuation funds including the Employee Provident fund (EPF); 36% from the banks and the balance from insurance funds and other private funds. So, we are looking at the best solution which can protect the banks, depositors and the EPF. That’s why CBSL has agreed to take part in these domestic debt optimization negotiations,” Dr. Weerasinghe said.

All News Advertisement

Related Topics:Banks CBSL depositors EPF Featured financing Government

Up Next

Stay on course and don’t go back to the past – Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy

Don't Miss

Harsha de Silva left out of COPF

Click to comment

Latest News

Landslide Early Warnings issued to the districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya extended

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

The landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya by the Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation have been extended till 0600 hrs on 15th February 2026.

Accordingly,
The Level II [AMBER] warnings issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Walapane and Nildandahinna in the Nuwar Eliya district and the
Level I [YELLOW] warning issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Pathadumbara in the Kandy district have been extended.

Latest News

Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces and Badulla and Nuwara-Eliya districts

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 11.30 a.m. 14 February 2026 valid for the period until 11.30 p.m. 14 February 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces and in Badulla and Nuwara-Eliya districts after 1.00 p.m. There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers.

The General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:

The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

Latest News

Teacher recruitment examinations will be conducted in accordance with the relevant court decisions – PM

Published

18 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the forthcoming two teacher recruitment examinations will be conducted in accordance with the relevant court decisions pertaining to the ongoing legal proceedings and further noted that, taking into consideration the requests received, steps have been taken to make a request to Court’s approval to revise the conditions of the effective date of degree completion.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing a meeting held at Monaragala Royal College to brief education authorities of the Monaragala District on the new education reforms.

Under the new education reforms, Smart Boards will be provided to 132 schools in the Monaragala District as part of the program to equip secondary schools with modern technology. As a symbolic step under this initiative, Smart Boards were presented to 10 secondary schools under the Prime Minister’s patronage. This program is being implemented with the intervention of the Digital Task Force operating under the Prime Minister’s Office. It was also emphasized that a new digital policy, formulated with special attention to child protection, will be introduced in April.

As part of her visit to the Monaragala District on the 13 th of February, the Prime Minister observed the implementation of the new learning methodologies introduced for Grade One under the new education reforms. She visited Kumbukkana Sri Shanmugam Tamil Maha Vidyalaya and Maduruketiya Maha Vidyalaya in Monaragala to observe the educational activities of Grade One students.

Considering the increase of student numbers and the development of infrastructure facilities, the Prime Minister also approved a proposal submitted by the School Development Society to rename Maduruketiya Maha Vidyalaya as Monaragala Dharmaraja Maha Vidyalaya.

Teachers briefed the Prime Minister that the new education system, supported by revised workbooks and activity-based learning methods, has proven to be effective, with students participating enthusiastically.

Addressing education officials further at the meeting held at Monaragala Royal College, the Prime Minister stated:

“Although this will not provide a complete solution to the existing teacher vacancies, these examinations can offer considerable relief. According to the Court’s previous determination, the effective date of degree completion had been set as 30.06.2025. However, considering numerous requests and following the cabinet approval we have sought Court’s consent to revise this date. We will act in accordance with the decision granted.

Funds allocated for school infrastructure must be utilized transparently and in line with proper planning, and progress must be reported accordingly. We cannot move forward by dividing ourselves along national, provincial, rural, or urban lines. As education authorities, you must make swift and accurate decisions based on correct data.

Further, discussions are already underway within the Piriven Committee of the Ministry of Education to develop Piriven education and to address the issues faced by Piriven teachers.”

The event was attended by the members of the Maha Sangha, Uva Province Governor Attorney-at-Law Kapila Jayasekara, Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce R.M. Jayawardhana, Member of Parliament Ajith Agalakada, Uva Provincial Education Secretary Nihal Gunarathne, and several officials from the education sector.