The Hon. Ashoka Gunasena

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, we are now speaking on the 2026 Budget, which determines our people’s lives, economy, culture, and the country’s future. The past year gives a basis to assess the 2026 Budget. For decades, people have suffered under measures implemented through previous budgets. Because of that suffering, they decided that to escape it, a political movement like ours must win.

¶ 02 As a result of that victory, we presented our first Budget for 2025 and, within that year, the people have seen how far we have come economically, socially, and culturally. Therefore, any fair-minded person assessing 2025 before moving into 2026 can understand our direction.

¶ 03 We are at the end of 2025. The people have an opinion on this political movement that will change the path Sri Lanka has followed so far. In preparing this Budget, everyone across the country has been targeted: newborns and children, youth, and elders. It is a Budget that connects all groups to a path of wellbeing and to a future that prioritizes production.

¶ 04 From Opposition speeches in this House, what did we hear? They spoke as if of gambling dens, where people pass around money and one person, grabbing a lump sum, briefly feels rich. Likewise were the budgets they presented when in power—gimmicks to please but not to build production. For example, they promised banks to pay 15 percent interest on retirees’ deposits but the State did not pay that to the banks, aiming simply to drag retirees into their campaigns while neglecting the risk to the banking system and the economy. That is why I say their budgets were like gambling in a fair.

¶ 05 Had those budgets driven production, our country would not have fallen so low. The people, burdened by this, took a political decision and handed us the country. The economy was depressed. From that position, we have presented our second Budget. We bear the responsibility to rebuild the economy, and this Budget is presented as a government that has accepted that challenge. We have identified six key strategies to bring people in all sectors into development and production, and to make lives better with good housing for all.

¶ 06 Further, because earlier governments failed to pay the interest promised to banks for retirees’ deposits, banks were destabilized. Now our responsibility is to rebuild those banks. This Budget includes paying the interest due from the Government to those banks.

¶ 07 This is a Budget prepared to lift the country by shouldering the sins of past governments. Whatever the previous regime, this Budget sets a direction for rebuilding a collapsed nation. Any fair citizen can compare where we were and where we are heading—towards stabilization rather than collapse.

¶ 08 I also heard an Opposition MP today talking about the IMF and VAT on health equipment. Whether he knows it or not, our Government has ended the corrupt antigen test procurement schemes seen during COVID-19. They now say we aren’t reducing VAT on health equipment, but we saw how they engaged in corruption with antigen tests. Our Government has put a stop to that. Therefore, people need not fear about health; a government that does not steal is now in place. The people know this. The era of state-backed theft is over. This Budget shows the direction we are taking—towards making our people’s future brighter. With that, I conclude. Thank you.