Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2015-09-09

Review of the Government Paddy Purchase Programme – Yala Season - 2015

- On the information provided by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, the Minister of Finance, the Cabinet noted that the Government has made its targets to purchase 120,000 mt of paddy in Yala Season - 2015 and Rs.6 billion is arranged through the two state banks, i.e. the Bank of Ceylon and the People's Bank, for the purpose and accordingly, 102,796.91 mt of paddy has been purchased by the government by 2015-09-07 spending a sum of Rs.4,653 million and that the paddy purchasing programme in the districts of Polonnaruwa, Hambantota and Mannar are yet to be completed due to the delayed harvest. As such, the Cabinet decided to appoint a Cabinet Sub_Committee chaired by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, the Minister of Finance, to submit recommendations to the next Meeting of the Cabinet, after conducting further examinations pertaining to the purchasing of paddy during the Yala Season of 2015.