Cabinet has granted policy approval to amend Sri Lanka’s Foreign Exchange Act No. 12 of 2017 to make unauthorised transfers of funds overseas a criminal offence.

Under the proposed amendment, advance payments made for imports could be treated as unauthorised transfers if the goods are not imported within a reasonable period.

Currently, the Central Bank can impose a financial penalty equal to the value of the unauthorised remittance, but such transactions are not classified as criminal offences.

The proposed changes aim to strengthen the legal powers available to investigative and law-enforcement authorities.