The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage - Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, the NPP Government’s inaugural Budget has been presented by our Hon. President who is also the Finance Minister. Some in the Opposition have no substantive critique and have begun chanting their familiar 88–89 and even 1971 mantras. In contrast, we have a programme—“Prosperous Country – Beautiful Life”—for which the people gave us a mandate, and this Budget is aligned to that.

¶ 02 As the President said in page 6 of the Budget speech: “A Budget is not merely a set of revenue and expenditure proposals for the year ahead; it is a reflection of the Government’s approach to economic revival and overall policy.”

¶ 03 Our economic policy has three core principles: - Elevate production of goods and services; - Engage the public as much as possible in the production process; - Share the fruits of growth as equitably as possible.

¶ 04 Accordingly, we have significantly increased investment in agriculture—rehabilitating irrigation, major canals, and providing fertiliser support—with Rs. 254 billion to drive broad-based growth. Paddy will grow, and so will minor export crops like pepper and cloves. We will expand coconut with a “coconut triangle” in the North allocating 16,000 acres for new cultivation.

¶ 05 We also expect strong growth in services, especially tourism. In 2018 we earned USD 4.48 billion with 2.4 million tourists. The President proposed expanding new destinations to attract three million tourists in 2025, moving towards USD 8 billion quickly.

¶ 06 To reduce regional disparities, we allocate Rs. 11,250 million for provincial development and Rs. 2,000 million for district development—Rs. 13,250 million in total—targeting Northern, Eastern, Southern, Central Highlands, and Western provinces, given the overconcentration of 44% of GDP in the Western Province.

¶ 07 Public services—education, health, and transport—are priorities. Education is the main ladder of social mobility. Sri Lanka has around 10,126 schools, yet past investment focused on about 373 national schools. In this Budget we invest to transform education. In our policy, every child should have access to a fully equipped school within about three kilometres of residence or workplace; we allocate funds to upgrade these.

¶ 08 In higher education, under the UGC’s 17 universities, we will improve facilities and increase Mahapola scholarships and bursaries by Rs. 2,500: Mahapola to Rs. 7,500 and bursaries to Rs. 6,500. This strengthens upward social mobility.

¶ 09 Health must not depend on whether someone has money. Though we pride ourselves on free healthcare, practically around 55% seek private out-of-pocket care. We are reversing that. Contrary to claims, there is no VAT on medicines. Even the prior VAT on packaging materials for domestically produced medicines has been removed. We allocate Rs. 165 billion this year specifically to facilitate medicine procurement. Our aim is a production economy with strengthened public services in education, health, and transport.

¶ 10 Finally, social security is a core principle. For low-income families, the elderly, persons with disabilities, kidney patients, children, and those in care homes, we allocate over Rs. 700 billion for social welfare and protection.