The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 I regret that to make these remarks, I must use time allocated to Hon. Harsha de Silva; I thank him. I will be brief on two points.

¶ 02 First, from 10 October, the Government is imposing 18 percent VAT on digital services. Whatever the Minister says, the Gazette is in my hand: it covers cloud computing, web-based applications, e-commerce services, digital marketing, advertising, software services, cybersecurity services, IT support and management, streaming services, e-commerce platforms, social media platforms, on-demand platforms, content-sharing platforms—all at 18 percent VAT. It targets livelihoods of youth—Gen Z, middle-income and rural people engaged in these activities. This is an IMF condition. They came to power saying they would change IMF conditions; instead, they are implementing them. I urge the Government to immediately withdraw this 18 percent VAT on the digital sector that hits livelihoods.

¶ 03 Second, a sensitive matter: the elephant “Bhatia” in the Nikaweratiya wildlife area is injured. While officials and security forces are striving to treat the animal, we must move from ad-hoc reactions to a structured SOS programme like in India and Kenya for treating injured wildlife, especially elephants. Our wildlife and livestock sectors face human resource and material constraints. Let us establish short-, medium- and long-term structured programmes, seek assistance from India and others, and learn lessons so we act systematically, not only when a case goes viral.

¶ 04 Thank you.