The Hon. Dilith Jayaweera

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, under today’s motion to approve regulations made under the Import and Export (Control) Act, several issues arise that warrant holistic discussion.

¶ 02 We build many debates here for various reasons across Government and Opposition, but ultimately the people must face reality. We have a duty to bring these debates to a justifiable level, with data-driven discussion, especially on the economy.

¶ 03 The reality is that our country faces a severe crisis not fully grasped by the public. Export earnings are around USD 17-18 billion. With tourism and remittances, perhaps another USD 11 billion, totaling USD 28-29 billion. After spending USD 22-23 billion on imports, around USD 6 billion remains but largely sits in commercial banks rather than as official reserves. This shows we are in deep economic difficulty. When Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe left government previously, the rupee was around 285 to the dollar; now it is about 313. The increased burden is around Rs. 1,140 billion. Reserves once cited at Rs. 800 billion were said to have risen to Rs. 1.2 trillion; with the rupee fall we are now worse than before.

¶ 04 The Government said it would spend Rs. 500 billion to recover from the disaster, but the overall direction has gone the other way. If we avoid discussing the underlying economic realities and leave it solely to technocrats, while running numbers here and there, we are deceiving the people. We must clearly explain the reality and rise with the people.

¶ 05 For a country like ours, the external balance sheet—our international investment position (IIP)—is critical: the gap between external assets and liabilities is about USD 53 billion negative. Under any standard, we are in serious trouble—even the IMF says so. Therefore, we must take serious, collective action as a nation, beyond rhetoric.

¶ 06 In our view, this current Government is a continuation of the 2015 “Yahapalana” administration. People think a new government came; it did not. The same actors, including those from the “forest police” the President once took on, are here. This is Ranil Wickremesinghe’s agenda continued.

¶ 07 We face grave internal and external geopolitical risks that can affect our sovereignty, with agreements apparently concluded that impact our future. Meanwhile, public education is being readied for restriction, culture eroded, and the economy steered further toward destruction, with no meaningful wealth creation.

¶ 08 Hon. Presiding Member, how much time remains if I add Hon. Ravi Karunanayake’s time?