Deputy Minister of Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe said on Thursday that the process of establishing a special commission to enhance the salaries and professionalism of Sri Lanka’s public sector employees has commenced under the 2026 Budget framework.
The commission, Jayasinghe said, is expected to address long-standing salary disparities and professionalism issues that have persisted in the public sector for decades. It was first announced by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his 2026 Budget speech as a structural rather than incremental fix to the state-employee compensation framework.
The Deputy Minister did not disclose the commission’s terms of reference, the timeline for its first report, or whether its scope will extend to the broader semi-government and statutory board workforce. Public sector pay reform has historically run into fiscal-space constraints under International Monetary Fund programmes, with prior governments deferring across-the-board adjustments in favour of targeted allowances.
The announcement follows a string of NPP-government appointments and reviews aimed at restructuring state employment, including the removal of the Sabaragamuwa University Vice-Chancellor without prior notice and the Prime Minister’s recent comments on declining higher-education enrolments. The salary commission is expected to be one of the higher-profile budget-implementation tracks of the second half of 2026.
