Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had directed the Central Bank to submit a report to him containing Gazette notifications relating to Treasury Bond issues up to the end of last year 2016.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had asked the Central Bank to provide a detailed report on Treasury Bond issues, executed by way of Gazette notifications, of such issues made in one year, but notified by Gazette only in the following year.
The matter regarding the gazette notification, about bond issues, arose when investigations by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry revealed that a gazette dated 1st January 2015, in which former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was named as the Finance Minister, was in fact issued in November 2016.
In the meantime , Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said, this particular gazette was supposed to have been published about the Treasury Bonds which were issued between 1 January 2015 to 31 January 2015 by the Finance Minister, who holds that portfolio at the beginning of that year, hence the gazette should be issued under the name of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as he was the Finance Minister at that time. “Usually this gazette issue is dated 1st January of the following year and it contains all the information about the bonds issued during a particular year.
As per the Registered Stock and Securities Ordinance, the Government is obliged to inform the public about issuance of government securities. However, with the inclusion of the market dimension, the government cannot determine the amount of bonds to be issued prior to the bonds being issued. Therefore, the gazette notification is issued dating the beginning of the year, indicating the amount of bonds issued throughout the year. Minister Karunanayake further said that this formality is followed in order to avoid any confusion and while simultaneously submitting to provision 4.1 of the Registered Stock and Securities Ordinance, the government will publicize the information about the next bond issue on the day following the bond issue.
Central Bank Governor Dr.Coomaraswamy explained that due to the auction system, followed by the Central Bank, in issuing government securities, it is not practicable to inform the public in advance about the amount of bonds issued and the interest rates at which the issues are made.
