11 August 2020 09:44 am
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday published a special gazette notification on the ministries and their specific functions. The ministers are expected to be sworn-in on Wednesday.
According to the gazette, there will be 28 ministries and 40 state ministries.
The Finance Ministry will have two state ministers. One would be in charge of finance, capital markets and state enterprises reform. The other will be in charge of Samurdhi, microfinance, self-employment and enterprise development.
The Central Bank and all the state banks will be under the Finance Ministry.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to continue as the Finance Minister while former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Prof. Ranjith Bandara, both Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna National List appointees, are widely expected to be appointed as the two Finance
State Ministers.
The Defence Ministry will have one state minister, who will be in charge of internal defence and disaster management.
Certain ministries will have up to three to four state ministers. For example, the Urban Development and Housing Ministry will have three state ministers under it. Likewise, the Education Ministry will have four state ministers operating under it.
Certain institutions, which have a national priority, such as the Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), Board of Investment (BOI), Colombo Port City, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC and its subsidiaries and all IT parks, will be directly under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
While congratulating the prime minister and newly-elected government, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce yesterday welcomed the decision of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to limit the size of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The premier business chamber said it signals headline commitment towards driving productivity and performance in the public sector as well as the management of fiscal deficits.
“On the backdrop of this directional signal, the chamber is optimistic of the commitment of government focus towards the recalibration of public sector expenditure, the empowerment and upskilling of the civil service, a concerted effort towards state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform and spawning of public-private partnerships as modalities of capital mobilisation,” a Ceylon Chamber statement said.
“The chamber looks forward to the establishment of a fresh paradigm with respect to governance, policy formulation and implementation management, featuring the streamlining of ministries
with clear and synergised assignment of subjects, alongside the delineation of policy, regulatory, public enterprise and performance management functions,” it added.
The chamber further recommended that the optimised configuration of ministries be enshrined in legislation in order to ensure continuity in government policy and implementation.
Meanwhile, the chamber said the mandate received reflected among other factors the confidence earned by the president and government through the exemplary outcomes delivered with respect to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, cumulating to the protection of life and livelihoods.
Equally, the chamber is of the view that the mandate also represents aggressive expectations with respect to accelerated and inclusive economic revival and national development in the post-COVID-19 context.