Measures taken by the Central Bank to tighten monetary policy, has slowed down private sector credit growth and there is plenty of space to grow under the present monetary policy stance. The country’s economy will grow in the range of 5 to 5.5 percent and inflation will be around 5 percent.
There is enough money in the economy to grow, Governor Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said. Addressing the media on Tuesday in Colombo, he said that in terms of achieving the goals, the country is moving in the right direction. It was announced at the media briefing that the current monetary policy stance is appropriate.
Meanwhile, in another development, the Central Bank has also set up an enforcement division to bring wrongdoers to book more persistently. “We want to aggressively prosecute wrongdoers. The Central Bank (CB) could have done bit more on that front. We aim at changing the present culture,” the Governor said.
The newly set up enforcement division will also resolve some of the outstanding issues.
The Bank wants to be more persistent and concerted in our effort to prosecute wrongdoers, he said.
According to Dr. Coomaraswamy, the CB’s probe on the alleged bond scam would continue independently, but they would study the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) report as well as the initial findings made by the three-member committee appointed by the Prime Minister this year to look in to the matter.
“My understanding of the Monetary Board is that they want to follow the evidence as they come out in an objective way,” he said.
The COPE presented its findings on the alleged bond scam last week and said that former Governor Arjun Mahendran, who is the father-in-law of the ultimate owner of Perpetual Treasuries, was directly responsible for the scam and recommended legal action against him. - SJ