10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Sajith Premadasa

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Colombo· 22 May 2026 ·Oral question: Standing Order 27(2) Questions: CESS Phase-out and Currency Depreciation

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Sajith Premadasa argued that although requesting time to respond is procedurally permissible, delaying answers on CESS and PAL issues would worsen an already serious situation for domestic industries. He urged immediate solutions for industries affected by the removal of CESS and PAL and reiterated a call for the IMF to release US$ 700 million without conditions.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, requesting time is his right. However, there is already a serious situation regarding CESS and PAL. If he asks for time, answers will come only in the next sitting in two weeks. We tell the IMF today as well to release the US$ 700 million without conditions. But domestic industries affected by CESS and PAL removal need quick solutions and quick answers.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Friday, 22 May 2026 ·No. 23666 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Sajith Premadasa. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 May 2026. No. 23666. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/16931