COLOMBO – Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe has directed the Treasury Secretary to “develop a program to address” low interest rates paid to retirees, his media office said, raising questions about whether a senior citizens interest subsidy scheme would be revived.
“For business development, bank interest rates need to be kept low. However, lower interest rates can disadvantage pensioners, so I have directed the Treasury Secretary to develop a program to address this issue,” the President’s Media Division (PMD) quoted the president as saying at a housing deed awarding event.
But real interest rates have been high over the past twelve months, amid good monetary stability provided by the central bank.
Sri Lanka’s 12-month fixed deposit rate was 15.09% in June 2023 and headline inflation, according to the Colombo Consumer Price Index, was only 1.7% in the past 12 months, giving real interest rates of 13.39% to a person who deposited money last year.
The central bank ended inflation around September 2022 after pushing annual interest rates close to 70%.
However, the fixed deposit rate now is 8.38%. The central bank has got legal powers to generate 5-7% inflation, though it has not done so up to now.
-economynext.com
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