Treasury grapples with practical issues on macroeconomic management
View(s):The Treasury is grappling with practical issues in handling the country’s macroeconomic management and financial transaction functions as it has become time consuming to coordinate with the Central Bank (CB), state banks – Bank of Ceylon and the People’s Bank – and several other key institutions which are not under the purview of the Finance Ministry, official sources revealed.
Treasury officials have found it difficult to liaise with the CB, External Resources Department, Employees’ Provident Fund, Securities and Exchange Commission, Credit Information Bureau and the Census and Statistics Department coming under the Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs and the two state banks functioning under the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development.A smooth coordination and prompt response of the officials of these institutions is essential for the Treasury to carry out its functions, a senior official told the Business Times adding that the Treasury had to undergo difficulties in handling the currency and cash flow issue which is a joint exercise done by both the Minister of Finance and the Central Bank.
The other problem is the financial transaction since state banks come under the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development.
All the Treasury accounts are maintained in state banks and therefore the documentation of transactions has to go through the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Public Enterprise Development, he stressed.
The Ministry of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs, according to the gazette notification, has been assigned the functions of “formulation of monetary policies and macroeconomic management in coordination with the Central Bank” and “liaising with donor agencies and international financial institutions”.
Treasury officials are confused when handling functions of macroeconomic management with some assigned to the CB.
Appointments and promotions of the Treasury and the CB have also become a problem as some of the officials working in those institutions are on secondment from the CB or the Treasury, he added.
R. Paskaralingam, the veteran retired public administrator who is now the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisor, is also involved in some Treasury work though he is attached to another ministry. There are moves to request the president to take up these issues as they hamper the smooth work flow of the Treasury.