The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, we know that, to deliver relief to the people, our public servants – District Secretaries, Divisional Secretaries, Assistant Divisional Secretaries, Grama Niladharis and other field officers – worked tirelessly late into the night, often neglecting their own families, and did so with great responsibility. As a result, a large portion of the assistance has already been delivered. However, we heard throughout yesterday and in some media discussions that doubts were raised as to whether the money would actually be received, and that certain shortcomings were pointed out. In truth, even if our public service is highly efficient, after a disaster of this magnitude, some issues can occur. Around 1.7 million people have been affected and about 490,000 families impacted. In such a situation, a few may get missed initially, and sometimes it may take some time to resolve; that is reasonable. It is regrettable when some fail to understand this reality.

¶ 02 In terms of efficiency, by the 17th, in many places at least 30–35 percent of the Rs. 25,000 grant had already been paid.

¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, looking at my electorate, Biyagama, about 5,500 families were affected. Of these, we have already arranged payment of the Rs. 25,000 grant to 4,767 families – around 87 percent. In addition, for 7,492 families, we have arranged dry rations and other relief. We have also arranged through principals to collect applications to provide the Rs. 15,000 grant for schoolchildren.

¶ 04 We have commenced a structured process to gather information on affected industries and SMEs. As a Government, on the one hand we made policy decisions on what relief must be provided, and on the other hand we are now driving the public administration machinery to implement those decisions swiftly and efficiently.

¶ 05 In such disasters, our first priority in the initial hours is to safeguard lives. The next step is to provide necessary facilities to restore everyday life as quickly as possible.

¶ 06 Hon. Speaker, our next priority is to restore damaged infrastructure. As I stated before, this is the worst disaster in our recent history: 643 lives have been lost; 183 are missing; 1,702,719 people in 490,385 families have been affected. There have been 13,781 fully destroyed houses and 101,055 partially damaged houses. There has been major destruction to infrastructure in electricity, highways, education and agriculture.

¶ 07 We do not yet have a complete monetary or dollar estimate. Different agencies are working on this. We expect the World Bank’s damage assessment report within the coming week. The Supplementary Estimate we present today aims to make the necessary provision to restore damaged infrastructure. Through this Supplementary Estimate, we expect an additional Rs. 500 billion under development assistance. Of this, Rs. 150 billion has already been allocated under recurrent expenditure for affected houses. A further Rs. 100 billion is allocated under capital expenditure for house repairs, out of the remaining Rs. 350 billion in that classification.

¶ 08 A further Rs. 250 billion is included to repair damaged public infrastructure. Some may ask whether, with this additional allocation, the primary expenditure ceiling of 13 percent of GDP would be exceeded. Yes, the primary expenditure ceiling increases by 1.5 percentage points to 14.5 percent of GDP. However, under Section 16(4) of the State Finance Management Act No. 44 of 2024, in a situation of calamity such as this, Parliament has the authority to exceed the primary expenditure ceiling to make necessary allocations. Therefore, this Supplementary Estimate is not in conflict with any provision of the State Finance Management Act.

¶ 09 Another question might be whether this Rs. 500 billion increases our borrowing limit. In fact, under the Disposal Act No. 23 of 2025, we have already approved borrowing up to Rs. 3,740 billion. Within that limit, we can manage this without additional borrowing. However, our previously expected 2026 primary surplus of 2.5 percent of GDP could reduce to around 1 percent due to this extra financing. Even so, we remain compliant with the Public Finance Management framework and within borrowing limits, and can still effect these reallocations.

¶ 10 How did we gain this fiscal space and capacity to allocate about Rs. 500 billion? In 2025, we were able to achieve a primary balance surplus and even save some funds without imposing new taxes, by strengthening fiscal discipline, minimizing corruption and waste, and exceeding revenue targets. This is what we meant when we told the people in our policy statement that we would build a resilient economy. A resilient economy can absorb shocks – whether domestic disasters or international events – without collapsing.

¶ 11 In addition to the Rs. 500 billion, we have already set aside around Rs. 100 billion in the 2026 Budget for disaster management and other related areas. International partners have not abandoned us; within 24 hours, they provided rescue teams and humanitarian assistance. Many are also committing support to the “Rebuilding Sri Lanka” programme. With domestic fiscal strength and support from institutions, individuals, the private sector, and friendly nations, we have the strength to overcome this calamity.

¶ 12 Hon. Speaker, some seem intent on creating panic, on using this situation to grab land or to claim the Opposition has no space. For example, at the recent Gampaha District Coordinating Committee meeting, only one Opposition local authority representative attended; four or five MPs represent that district, but not one attended to contribute ideas on how we tackle this disaster as a team.

¶ 13 Ultimately, countries face disasters. But the responsibility of a nation is to recover and return to normalcy swiftly. As a political movement that rose after a fall, we have experience in getting back up. Drawing from that experience, we will lead the country out of this crisis with strength and courage. We ask all sides to join us in this effort.

¶ 14 Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for the time.