The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Public Finance Committee Report

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, I present the Report of the Committee on Public Finance on the following, which were referred to the Committee: - Citizens Budget - National Budget 2026; - Key Expenditure Components by Ministry - Budget Estimates 2026; - Budget, Economic and Fiscal Position Report - 2026; - Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report 2025; - Tax Expenditure Statement - 2024/2025; - Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy 2026-2030 and Annual Borrowing Plan - 2026; - Major Public Investment Projects - 2026/2028; - Cadre Information - Public Sector 2025; - Regulations under Section 71 read with Section 52 of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, No. 11 of 2021; - Rules under Section 32 read with Section 25 of the Excise Ordinance (Chapter 52) regarding Excise License Fees; - Regulations under Section 20 read with Sections 4(1) and 14 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969 as amended by Acts No. 48 of 1985 and No. 28 of 1987 (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2458/43 of 15th October, 2025); - Supplementary Estimate No. 4 of 2025, Head 243 - Programme 01 for the financial year commencing on 1st January, 2025 and ending on 31st December, 2025 under the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; - Strategic Development Projects (Amendment) Bill; - Regulations under Section 20 read with Sections 4(1) and 14 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2459/46 of 24th October, 2025); - Order under Sections 2 and 5 of the Special Commodity Levy Act, No. 48 of 2007 relating to Special Commodity Levy; - Resolution under Section 10 of the Customs Ordinance (Chapter 235) relating to Import Duties (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2457/06 of 09th October, 2025); - Resolution under Section 10 of the Customs Ordinance (Chapter 235) relating to Import Duties (Gazette Extraordinary No. 2461/40 of 07th November, 2025); - Regulation under Section 6 of the Value Added Tax Act, No. 14 of 2002, as amended by Act No. 19 of 2019, relating to the value of goods imported; and - Order under Section 3(3) of the Ports and Airports Development Levy Act, No. 18 of 2011.

¶ 03 Ordered to lie upon the Table.

¶ 04 Hon. Speaker, may I have a minute. If you would believe it, our Committee is meeting for the 50th time today. We have met even on public holidays. The Hon. Prime Minister brought an urgent matter to the Committee; we are taking it up and will report tomorrow so it can be passed by Cabinet without issue.

¶ 05 We also discussed the NMRA registration waiver matter. The Committee met on 9th September; we were asked to approve urgently, yet the issue remains unresolved to date. We requested for a year to staff the Parliamentary Budget Office; allocation is only Rs. 9 million. We work voluntarily, without extra pay, vehicles or perks, even till midnight. Please extend your support. We have met 50 times.

¶ 06 We engaged foreign delegations—the World Bank, IMF, US Congress—held seminars, handled Bills, Orders, Regulations, Reports, Notifications, Rules, Resolutions, work programmes, Budget Estimates and Supplementary Estimates, and passed numerous regulations. We conducted oversight and performance reviews, met the Central Bank thrice, and presented special reports on the Budget. We are non-partisan and request Parliament’s support.

¶ 07 Some Members do not attend. If they cannot attend, please replace them so others can. If a Member misses three times, kindly remove them.

¶ 08 On reports, I tabled about 20. One relates to around 900 third-country vehicles held up. We presented a report today.