News
Treasury Secretary proposes to strengthen public finances while reducing money printing
Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana told the media yesterday (18) that the Finance Ministry would take steps to stabilise the economy by strengthening public finances and reducing money printing.
He said in April 2022, about Rs 125 billion had been printed. The government expenditure too had increased despite escalating foreign exchange issues, he added.
The Treasury Secretary made said so ahead of the discussions with the International Monetary Fund in the US.
Siriwardana also told the media that a circular on government spending would be issued in the coming days.
The Treasury Secretary said that the government had to manage resources carefully and reduce the budget deficit as it had caused many problems across the economy.
“There has been a lot of discussion about the money issued by the Central Bank. That is happening because of problems in public finances,” he said.
The new Finance Ministry Secretary said that the state did not have enough revenue and that they were no longer in a position to get foreign loans.
“So, the entire deficit has to be financed domestically. Given that there are limited domestic resources, the Central Bank is compelled to find the money,” he said.
However, this is difficult in the present economic circumstances, the Treasury Secretary said.
Siriwardana said that they had not decided to halt domestically financed capital projects.
The Sri Lankan government on Sunday sent a delegation to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for discussions over ways to get the lender’s loans.
Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry said last Tuesday that the government had decided to suspend normal debt servicing of all affected debts for an interim period till it puts together an orderly and consensual restructuring programme supported by the IMF.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to award the contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates for the Department of Motor Traffic for a period of five (5) years to M/s South Asian Technologies based on the recommendations of the High-Level Standing Procurement Committee and the Procurement Appeal Board.
The National Lotteries board has been established subject to the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. Having identified the requirement of amending that act which was imposed around 62 years to cater the current requirements of the lottery market, the Cabinet of Mnisters at their meeting held on 14.02.2017 granted approval to draft a new bill for the purpose.
Accordingly, the National Lotteries Board has recognized further amendments to be performed to the fundamental draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsmen.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the
resolution furnished by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to direct the Legal Draftsmen to finalize the formulation of the draft bill for the National Lotteries Board as soon as possible including the proposed new amendments as well.
The Werahara office of the Department of Motor Traffic performs issuance of temporary driving licenses in this country based on the driving licenses issued overseas, and measures have been initiated to render the service from a service window of the Department of Motor Traffic established at the Bandaranayake International Airport from 03.08.2025.
The fees charged for issuing temporary driving licenses have been published in Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 prepared under the provisions of the Motor Traffic (Authority 203) Act.
But, as the fee of Rupees 2,000/- charged for the service is not sufficient, the requirement of amending the regulations has been recognized.
The regulations for introducing the revised fees have been published in the government extraordinary gazette
notification No. 2463/04 dated 17.11.2025. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development to
submit the regulations to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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M/s South Asian Technologies awarded contract to supply vehicle number plates
A new act for National Lotteries Board to be introduced
Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 to be amended
Mrs. P. K. L. S. Panduwawala appointed to the post of Surveyor General
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