The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, I present the Report of the Committee on Public Finance on the following:

¶ 02 (1) Regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969 (published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2384/35 of 17.05.2024);

¶ 03 (2) Regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969 (published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2413/37 of 04.12.2024);

¶ 04 (3) Notification under Section 3(4) of the Strategic Development Projects Act, No. 14 of 2008 (published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2399/16 of 26.08.2024); and

¶ 05 (4) Order under Section 3(3) of the Ports and Airports Development Levy Act, No. 18 of 2011 (published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2377/39 of 28.03.2024).

¶ 06 Mr. Speaker, may I have two minutes to outline a few key points.

¶ 07 First, under the old Food Control Act, there were discrepancies between certain import standards and the Consumer Affairs Authority standards. We notified the Ministry of Health and Mass Media and the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development to resolve this, and that is being addressed.

¶ 08 Second, the Order allowing rice imports was approved, but implementation was delayed due to the parliamentary recess. Nevertheless, Parliament granted approval to allow imports up to 20th December and then up to 10th January. On this, I wish to note: we saw on Sirasa TV’s “Satana” programme the President mentioning an issue regarding data. Our Committee was surprised. Yesterday, when we asked the Additional Secretary and the Director of the Ministry of Agriculture about paddy production and rice production for 2024, and projections for 2025, we were told that the 2024 Maha harvest was 4.39 million metric tons. As a Colombo person, I said that cannot be; the data shows a little over two million metric tons. They then said that figure was annual. That too could not be right. If we do not have even the basic correct data, how can Parliament decide?

¶ 09 We were then told the annual Yala+Maha total is usually around five million metric tons, except last year. I asked the Research Division to provide the combined Yala and Maha paddy production from 2000 to 2024. In 2020 and 2021, it was about 5.1 million metric tons; in the other 22 years it is in the two-to-four million range. On what basis, then, are we forecasting 5+ million metric tons? Please ask the Minister of Agriculture to look into this. Whether wrong data was given to the President or to Parliament is not the point; our Orders must be data-driven. If data are wrong, everything shifts. We were also told one million metric tons of rice has “gone missing,” allegedly hoarded due to import restrictions. I do not know about that. But we asked directly: how did a million metric tons vanish in a year? There was no answer. Through you, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Ministry of Finance to examine this.

¶ 10 Third, we approved moving forward on the Sri Lanka–Singapore FTA. Two weeks ago I raised in this House that, under that agreement, the PAL para-tariff is to be phased out over five years in equal tranches. Customs duty is already zero; this is about PAL. Some Government Members opposed. As Chair, I did not agree to immediate removal, but requested the Government’s stated policy. We were informed that the Government’s position has evolved and phasing down PAL over five years as per the FTA is acceptable. We therefore approved presenting the related measures for debate today. That is the summary.