The Central Bank of Sri Lanka recently announced that they are currently looking at other avenues to invest the funds of the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) as the opportunities to invest in the government security market diminish.

According to the Central Bank the EPF which stood at Rs.2 trillion, grows at a rate of Rs.300 billion per annum.

“The government’s borrowing requirement is coming down, so we have to find avenues for investing the EPF funds. Clearly, the stock market is one such avenue” Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said.

Speaking further Dr. Coomaraswamy stated that in terms of process and procedures of the EPF there is an Investment committee to undertake investment decisions, which is being monitored by an Investment Oversight Committee, led by a deputy governor and two assistant governors.

“Additionally, security procedures such as CCTV, voice recordings have been introduced in order monitor, in terms of investment activities,” governor added.

Moreover, to increase the transparency of the fund, the Bank stated that investment operations, which include stock market operations, would be published on the EPF website on a quarterly basis.