Finance State Minister Dr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya yesterday said that the government has taken action to increase the interest of the Employees’ Provident Fund from 9% to 13% in order to benefit 2.7 million employees.
Siyambalapitiya said the decision to increase the interest rate to 13 percent is unique as it was approved in Parliament to give 9 per cent interest to EPF beneficiaries under the domestic debt optimisation.
The State Minister also stated that the fear psychosis was created in the minds of employees that the Employees’ Provident Fund is being destroyed.
The State Minister said that government’s decision to raise the interest rate has foiled the attempts made by those with vested interest to take political mileage by propogating lies. “The EPF is the largest fund in Sri Lanka and there are 2.7 million active members,” he said.
He said that government faced a biggest challenge was related to the existing debt with the Employees’ Provident Fund in the debt optimisation process.
Many quarters including media and society accused that the EPF has to incur a huge loss during the debt restructuring process.
However, the State Minister further stated that most of the people who made the accusations are silent and that the government’s decision to pay 13% interest percentage from the money earned by investing in the Employees’ Provident Fund for 2023 will be a good message to the members.
