By Saman Indrajith
The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) would suffer a loss of Rs 12 trillion owing to the government’s domestic debt restructuring programme, Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament yesterday.
Premadasa said that the independent think tank, Verite Research, had assessed that even based on the prevailing average interest rate, conservatively calculated as 13 percent, the EPF would lose a staggering 12 trillion rupees (USD39 billion) by 2038.
This Domestic Debt Optimisation (DDO) plan had been brought forward without consulting the heads of the EPP and the Employees Trust Fund, he said.
“When the heads of the EPF and the ETF were questioned by the Public Finance Committee it was found that this government had not consulted them before introducing the DDO plan. No government body has assessed the losses to be borne by the workers. The Verite Research in its assessment says that the amount would be more than 12 trillion rupees.”