President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today assured the Central Bank’s governor and the Monetary Board his fullest and unqualified assurance of freedom to discharge their functions independently and without any extraneous constraints.

This was conveyed at a meeting held with Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and Monetary Board member Sanjeeva Jayawardena, PC earlier today, President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.

At the meeting, the President also sought a briefing on the progress of the IMF programme, as well as on the economic recovery process.

Accordingly, the CBSL governor gave a full briefing on the satisfactory progress of the talks with IMF at the technical stage and emphasized the importance of advancing towards securing IMF assistance expeditiously, which would, in turn, facilitate the all-important, debt restructuring process.

He also briefed the President on the numerous, multi-pronged measures put in place by the Governor, with the support of the Monetary Board, in respect of the economic recovery process. 

The President expressed his confidence in these measures and thanked the governor once again for accepting this post during very trying circumstances.

The President also assured an interactive process and indicated that the Governor and the Monetary Board would be accorded any assistance required in his capacity as the Head of State, including engaging with his international counterparts, at the highest level of state engagement, in order to assist Sri Lanka’s economic recovery process. 

The CBSL governor thanked the President for reposing his confidence and for the assurance of full independence and autonomy.