COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Finance and Planning Ministry has informed all non-governmental organisations that they should receive prior approval from the ministry for obtaining foreign funds.

The announcement came through a notice published in newspapers.

The “notice” published in most of the national newspapers is addressed to “All government agencies, local institutions, civil society organisations, and the general public that due diligence be observed on the utilisation of funds received from foreign funding agencies, NGOs and any other source”.

The notice said that various complaints had been lodged at the ministry regarding the utilisation of foreign funds, without adherence to local standards and structures.

The notice comes in the wake of a controversial circular issued by the Ministry of Defence earlier, banning Non-Governmental Organisations from conducting news conferences.

Published in Dawn, July 24th , 2014