The Hon. (Prof.) Anil Jayantha

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I was stressing how important education is to uplift Sri Lanka from the precipice and to build a respected nation where people can live with dignity.

¶ 02 In that sense, I said that a small allowance alone will not revive education and society. Due to policies and measures pursued by successive governments, today a large number of schoolchildren lack books, new knowledge resources, even proper meals and clothing, and some are forced to look after younger siblings, creating tragedy. Therefore, this allowance is to rescue those children from that situation and instill a sense of learning. Our long-term goal is to build an economy where every schoolchild’s basic needs—food, clothing, school supplies—are not problems. That is our effort.

¶ 03 There was a view that limiting to Aswesuma beneficiaries is unfair and it should be broader. Given current fiscal constraints, we brought this supplementary estimate. If we were to give to all about four million schoolchildren, it would cost around Rs. 23 billion at this stage, which is difficult. However, anyone who believes they should receive can apply through the Welfare Benefits Board system. The problem in selection arose especially due to the rush to collect data via QR codes in villages and families, leading to incorrect data entry—a technical issue, not arbitrary decisions. There are 22 selection criteria; we should review their adequacy. Over 100,000 have been identified but not paid; about 67,000 lack bank accounts, causing issues. These gaps must be fixed going forward.

¶ 04 Hon. Presiding Member, I also wish to say this. When we took government, various views were raised about the situation we faced. Some say what is in our policy documents is not being done. I suggest they reread our policy document. Do not take words in isolation. The overarching theme is “A Prosperous Country, a Beautiful Life”. The strategies and programs are aligned to make that a reality. Do not extract phrases to misinterpret. For example, the Opposition claimed we said VAT would be abolished in 24 hours. We have not said such a thing anywhere. We said we will rebuild the State and create a prosperous country and beautiful life; the paths and programs are set out accordingly.

¶ 05 Developing an economy is not a simple arithmetic of two plus two. Social and political contexts change, as do global politics. Decisions must be taken accordingly, without changing our core objective. We adapt our actions to circumstances.

¶ 06 We all know Sri Lanka is burdened with unsustainable debt—more than 100 percent of GDP. Countries that have succeeded from such positions are largely advanced economies; poor countries rarely do. Some took actions that eliminated debt sustainability. Therefore, we said we must restructure debt to bring it to a sustainable level, and we will intervene differently if we form a government.

¶ 07 Debt restructuring has domestic and external components, and within external, multiple categories. Multilaterals are not part of the restructuring. We focused on bilateral and commercial (sovereign bond) debt. When we took office, 99 percent of agreements were already concluded. We could have changed course, but that would have led to chaos and anarchy. Therefore, we acted pragmatically and realistically. The Opposition might wish we followed their path to fall into trouble; we will not. Our top priority was to stabilize the country. We have done so successfully. The domestic market is stable; the foreign exchange market is stable. This is reflected in the stock market and exchange rate. On December 20th, after the sovereign bond exchange and final agreement, Sri Lanka’s foreign debt rating will inevitably improve. That stability will help us to move the economy forward.

¶ 08 Some Opposition members said during the Indian visit we entered into various agreements that would disadvantage the country. I emphasize we do not live in the 17th or 18th century. The world is advancing with technology. Disputes in agreements arise from political vision and corruption. Today the world is open. All our discussions were conducted openly and transparently.