Central Bank was not under Finance Ministry purview in 2015: Ravi K.

Thursday, 4 December 2025 06:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

UNP MP and former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake

United National Party (UNP) MP and former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday firmly rejected suggestions made in Parliament on 26 November that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) operated under his purview in 2015, insisting that official records clearly show he had no ministerial oversight of the institution at the time.

He told Parliament that while the CBSL traditionally falls under the purview of the Finance Ministry, an exception was made during the period he held that office.

“The CBSL has historically, and at all times, been under the Finance Minister. Exceptionally, during the period where I held that office, I did not exercise ministerial oversight over the CBSL, the Monetary Board, or its regular reactions during my tenure,” he said. He also said that oversight of the CBSL, the Monetary Board, and related functions had been formally assigned to then-Prime Minister and National Policies and Economic Affairs Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“Cabinet records, Gazette notifications, and administrative circulars confirm this position beyond any doubt,” Karunanayake said.

He also stated that commercial banks, too, did not come under the Finance Ministry at the time in question, but under the Public Enterprises Ministry headed by Kabir Hashim in 2015.

He referred to the public statements of former Prime Minister and President Wickremesinghe and the most recent on 2 May 2025.

“I must acknowledge that the former President, and I acknowledge with thanks, honourable President Ranil Wickremesinghe, on many occasions has spoken of this matter, and the last being 2 May 2025 in a media interview, in which he very categorically assumed that he was fully in responsibility,” Karunanayake said.

He also said former Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Chairman Sunil Handunneththi could attest to the administrative structure and the division of responsibilities that prevailed. “He [Handunneththi] would bear testimony to what I was basically saying,” Karunanayake said.

Responding to a remark that the Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya’s statement in Parliament on 26 November was based on the findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into the CBSL Bond issue, Karunanayake said such a claim was “factually incorrect and misleading.”

The UNP MP said that the factual record exonerates him and urged that Parliamentary statements reflect accurately documented administrative arrangements.