Hon. K.D. Lal Kantha

¶ 01 We have paid special attention to workers—public and private—who suffered injustices, and to all other highly burdened groups in society.

¶ 02 Our movement has always stood with the oppressed. Our origins are rooted in the struggles of the oppressed and those subjected to injustice. This Budget reflects sustained attention to those people. If someone says the affluent are happy now, let me be clear: we have not excluded them either. Foreign and domestic investors alike have space. Economic democracy accommodates them too; they are not at fault merely for investing. I have answered those who were bandying about competing economic doctrines.

¶ 03 There are many economic models in the world. We reject Smith’s classical liberalism; we reject social liberalism that arose from Smith’s lineage; we reject the neoliberalism of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s adherents; and we reject the total state-control model of socialism. We embrace economic democracy. For the first time in Sri Lanka, the doctrine of economic democracy has been set and presented in a Budget—credit to our President and to the Minister of Finance, Comrade Anura Dissanayake.

¶ 04 Thank you very much.