COLOMBO –President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday (30) issued emergency regulations under the Public Security Ordinance and appointed a Major General to oversee food distribution as prices of goods went up and the rupee fell in the wake of dysfunctional bond auctions and money printing.
“President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has promulgated regulations under the Public Security Ordnance on the supply of essential goods from midnight today,” his spokesman Kingley Ratnayake tweeted on Monday.
The President’s Media Division in a statement on Monday said the regulations had been issued to give powers to officials to ensure essential items including, paddy, rice and sugar are sold at government-mandated prices or prices based on imported costs at Customs.
It will also allow State banks that had given credit to import goods to recover their loans, it added, noting that Major General M. D. S. P. Nivunhella had been appointed Commissioner-General Essential Services, to coordinate the distribution of food.
The regulations came as a Rs 50 billion bond auction failed to draw buyers due to controlled ceiling yields, leaving 92% of the offer unsold.
On Friday (27), Rs 12 billion was printed after last Wednesday’s (25) Treasury bill auction failed to sell all offered bills.
However, on September 01, a 2% hike in reserve ratio will absorb some of the liquidity from failed auctions.
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