The Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake - President, Minister of Defence; Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; and Minister of Digital Economy

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, you know that in the past the House did not even allocate the full number of days for debates on Budgets previously presented. We, however, gave the full number of days and held a debate. Watching this debate, some raised points in pain; some in anger; and some were valid.

¶ 02 Their pain and anger are understandable. When land at Hantana is lost, they will feel pain—no surprise. There is sadness. A file at the Presidential Secretariat was missing. Who requested it? How was it cancelled? When told it was coming, we waited; when it did not come, we cancelled. We understand their pain and anger. But when valid points are presented, we are a political movement willing to absorb what is good and reject what is bad.

¶ 03 We are a movement that believes the economy on this trajectory must be turned decisively, and we work towards that. But we also know how to take that turn. If we had a sound, crisis-free economy, the turn could be swift. When the economy is in a difficult place, the turn must be achieved over time, in a planned way. We understand your restlessness. We will take a decisive turn from the long-followed policy path, carefully and in the people’s interest.

¶ 04 To take that turn, the first task is to stabilize the current economic condition. Without stabilization, an economy beset by crises cannot withstand large turns. Understand this well: a vehicle with dislodged wheels cannot turn; first, fix the wheels. Therefore, in a planned way, we are working to stabilize the economy.

¶ 05 What did we inherit? On one side, a State officially declared bankrupt—a State, officially bankrupt...