Hon. Dilith Jayaweera

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, it is a pleasure to join the debate on the Government’s inaugural Budget. Though this is a traditional Budget, I wish to go beyond traditional critique and raise several broader points.

¶ 02 Recently, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented their Budget; likewise Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong presented theirs. Those Budgets read like national manifestos—openly declaring their national resources, strengths and capabilities, and setting out a state-and-nation-wide programme to take their countries forward. They radiate vision.

¶ 03 We who love this country and its people expect that, if Sri Lanka has begun a new journey, we should leapfrog to the next level. We must think completely differently about how to push our nation forward. I did not see such elements in this Budget.

¶ 04 From studying how developing and developed countries move forward—how our neighbours surge ahead—we proposed the concept of an “entrepreneurial State.” This is not a state that serves only entrepreneurs but a state of mind that acts entrepreneurially. The NPP originally spoke of a production economy; later, they adopted the word “entrepreneurship.” I welcomed that. Unfortunately, lacking full understanding—or with mala fide intent—the definition seems to have drifted in practice.

¶ 05 The Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship has been allocated Rs. 13 billion. Around 300,000 SMEs have collapsed. If you divide that allocation among them, each would get only about Rs. 16,000—not even enough for a coffin if they “die.” This shows a failure to grasp the scale.

¶ 06 Had we approached the Budget with an entrepreneurial mindset, where is the vision that achieves transformative change? Reading the Budget book, it resembles a document drafted in the old Ranil Wickremesinghe style—the same tables shifted around. For example, the “Vidhatha” programme for technology development appears moved, but the columns remain the same. I do not see a new vision.

¶ 07 Another point: other countries set aside funds to improve the wellbeing of their people even as they drive growth. Our Budget, perhaps anticipating elections, contains long lists under welfare heads, but it is not evident how these lead the country forward. This first Budget should have laid out clear targets to move the country to the next level. Without that, people’s hopes are dimmed.

¶ 08 Many of our large private entrepreneurs—whom Ministers and MPs personally know—now have dual citizenship and live abroad, even if their businesses remain here. Part of our export proceeds pause overseas. We need these entrepreneurs to return with confidence to build a decisive, “gammak thiyena rata”—a country with momentum. Let us work together. If some now in Government had been in Opposition, how many protests would we have seen by now? Yet we refrain from mere noise and instead try to show a path forward.

¶ 09 The glossy book “A Prosperous Country – Beautiful Lives” and the Budget book have no real connection; the cover story does not match the contents. To create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, neither your old socialist economy nor your newly styled “economic democracy,” nor even your mentor Ranil Wickremesinghe’s neoliberalism, need necessarily conflict—if we truly focus on outcomes. Some now try to rebrand this as a socialist Budget. Let us be honest: there is no socialism here. If anything, what is here should be felt by the poorest villager as “our Budget”—but where will they feel it? An extra Rs. 1,500 in drought relief? An extra Rs. 2,000 for chronic kidney patients? Rs. 900 added to monthly wages? None of this will be truly felt at the grassroots. In that sense, this is largely a neoliberal Budget. Yet I am less concerned with labels. We need an entrepreneurial state to bring life back: create youth aspiration, bring back entrepreneurs, attract investment, and build confidence.

¶ 10 On tourism, as the President noted, we must brand our destination. Tourists follow dream brands. Putting up boards in Anuradhapura will not do. Compete with Maldives and other destinations—these are powerful brands. Right now, we attract low-spending tourists because we have not built our brand.

¶ 11 The deficit is Rs. 2.2 trillion, a massive gap. Where is the plan to bridge it? We anticipate foreign support, but that is scarce; loans are our only option, and even that is difficult given our ratings. Without a clear path, how do we proceed?

¶ 12 We spend Rs. 118 billion on higher education, while roughly Rs. 540 billion leaves the country annually to educate our children abroad—much via informal channels like Undial. Unless we create a balanced, quality-open system domestically—call it what you will—this outflow will continue. Our investors and businesspeople are abroad educating their children because our universities are closed too often and new entrants face hazing. We must end this and build quality domestic capacity.

¶ 13 On R&D and data: to progress, we must invest. I saw a friend abroad putting about a billion into research; even paying their salaries is hard. Where in this Budget is meaningful funding for R&D and data systems? People awaited a bold, holistic Budget to energize youth participation in the economy.

¶ 14 Finally, for our migrant workers who bring in around US$ 7 billion, where is a structured programme to support and leverage them?

¶ 15 (Continuation not recorded in the provided text.)