July 06, 2007 (LBO) – The managers of Sri Lanka's largest private sector retirement fund have responded to criticism that its money is being used to fund government expenses, saying funds are invested under professional advice. "The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner, which not one man in a million is able to diagnose," he said. "It has been observed, of late, that certain persons are expressing an opinion that the Government is obtaining funds from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) to meet specific expenses," the Central Bank, which runs the EPF as one of its departments said in a statement.
The Central Bank did not say who made the charges.
Conflict of Interest
The EPF has come under fire earlier for giving returns below inflation to its members as well as its management by the central bank whose other obligations are directly in conflict with that of EPF beneficiaries.
The central bank is obliged to provide low interest rates to the government as its runs the public debt department of the government, and is also the monetary authority which determines interest rates in the country, creating multiple conflicts of interest.
