The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Madam Deputy Chairperson of Committees, when Hon. Chanaka Madugoda rose on a point of order, Standing Order 91(e) clearly states every Member must confine observations to the subject under discussion. He spoke entirely off-topic. If he is allowed, so must others be.

¶ 02 Today we discuss two Regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act as well. The previous speaker made many accusations. In the last general election, you got about 62%; at the local polls it fell to 43%—that’s the truth. You accuse others of cobbling “odds and ends” to form power in councils; yet you too formed councils by gathering odds and ends, sometimes with those you previously called thieves. I will say no more on deal-makers.

¶ 03 The Minister said these Orders are to update laws, not burden people. But when the country had collapsed, and 69% of urgent bills came, the NPP opposed almost all, and attacked the IMF. Just three or four days ago at an event with Gita Gopinath on “how Sri Lanka recovered after 2022 and what next,” we discussed IMF; yet at the time you opposed the necessary laws, including the Central Bank independence bill, on principle, arguing CBSL must be controlled by the elected government. Now you praise that law.

¶ 04 We also passed the Public Finance Management Bill, the Public Debt Management Act, and the Economic Transformation Bill—all of which you opposed, even petitioning the Supreme Court. Yet now you cite officials like Mahinda Siriwardana approvingly. Be consistent: if you have a policy, stick to it; don’t be chameleons changing color for numbers.

¶ 05 Digitizing tax payments is good. But there is a major issue: while working on a Unique ID with Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya as consultant, a tender was floated for some 15 million polycarbonate cards. That’s redundant if we have a Unique ID. Aadhaar doesn’t need a physical card; a number, fingerprint, or mobile suffices. If a card is absolutely necessary, use low-cost PVC temporarily and change the Act to reduce card validity from 10 years to 2, so we don’t waste dollars on polycarbonate.

¶ 06 On growth: we hear 4.8% for the last quarter of 2025. But 2024 quarterly growth was 5.1, 4.1, 5.3, and 5.4—so the trend is not clearly upwards. Stabilization is not enough; we need growth, which needs investment. Claims of USD 650 million FDI in Q1 being a record are questionable; some say it’s around USD 0.8 billion in announcements. We must verify, because what matters is actual inflows; we are also seeing closures—yesterday, a foam mattress company said it is shutting; a garment factory closed the day before. Announcements of investors coming do not offset real closures.

¶ 07 On the U.S. tariff issue: the 90-day window expires around the 9th of next month. What has the government done? We were told Sri Lanka and the U.S. would issue a joint statement; it has not materialized after over two and a half months. Exports worth around USD 3.x billion could face MFN+10 risk—about USD 2.94 billion exposure—if reciprocal tariffs are imposed. One plant has shut; then another. That indicates a systemic problem unless resolved. We waited and gave the government time. But there is still no clear plan communicated to us or investors. Instead of doing deals over “odds and ends” in city councils, make the deal with President Trump’s administration to resolve tariffs—that’s the deal we need.

¶ 08 Finally, poverty is rising fast. According to DCS, a family of four in Colombo now requires Rs. 70,328 per month to survive. We need jobs, income, investment. Stop petty politics; do the work properly. That is our constructive critique.

¶ 09 Thank you.