Employees of the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) are Government servants whose salaries are determined strictly in line with national public sector salary scales, says Treasury Deputy Secretary Ananda Kithsiri Seneviratne, dismissing suggestions that remuneration at the newly established office should be aligned with that of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
“PDMO employees are Government employees, part of the pensionable Government service. Their salaries are structured according to the national Government salary scale,” he told The Sunday Morning.
He explained that provisions for higher compensation existed only in limited circumstances, specifically for the recruitment of consultants or external experts with specialised skills for specific positions, adding that no such external experts had been recruited so far.
However, Seneviratne noted that in the future, individuals with specialised expertise, particularly in areas such as finance, could be engaged on a contract basis and may command higher remuneration.
“Some recruitment may happen in the future. For certain specialised functions, a team or force may be brought in on a contract basis,” he said, underscoring that such arrangements would be the exception rather than the rule.
His comments come amid contention that salaries at the PDMO are comparatively lower than similar positions within the CBSL – a contention that has risen following the formal transfer of public debt management responsibilities from the Central Bank to the Ministry of Finance.
According to PDMO Director General Udeni Udugahapattuwa, salary structures have not emerged as a point of contention among existing staff and the more significant institutional challenge lies in long-term staff retention and capacity building rather than pay parity with the CBSL.
“All debt management-related operations have already been transferred from the CBSL to the PDMO,” Udugahapattuwa said, noting that all top-tier positions had been filled and around 80% of the total staff cadre had been recruited. “I personally oversaw the recruitment, and the team is now actively working here at the PDMO,” she told The Sunday Morning.
The institutional transition was formally completed following a press release issued by the CBSL on 31 December 2025, announcing the closure of its Public Debt Department (PDD) with effect from 1 January. The CBSL said the move followed the establishment of the PDMO under the Public Debt Management Act No.33 of 2024 within the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development.