The Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper, PC

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, looking at the 2026 Budget reminds me of something. When the 2025 Budget was presented, as a new MP I almost threw it away — fortunately I kept it. If I had binned it, I could not now point to the repeat telecasts — the reruns — embedded in the President’s latest speech.

¶ 02 The 2026 Budget reads like a fairy tale. Let us look at the spending proposals. Annex 11 states total primary expenditure at Rs. 4,485 billion; recurrent at Rs. 3,105 billion; capital at Rs. 1,380 billion. For the first time in our Budget history, ministry-wise analyses do not separate recurrent and capital — they are lumped together. There is a reason: the Government had pledged to cut recurrent spending by reducing waste and extravagance it blamed on the past 76 years. But look at the 2025 progress report by the Parliamentary Analysis Committee: there has been no reduction in recurrent spending. So, to meet targets, they cut capital spending — that is the truth of this Budget.

¶ 03 Last time, I protested that the Eastern Province got nothing under capital. In response, the Sports Ministry allocated Rs. 150 million to convert the Kalmunai-Sandankeni ground into an indoor stadium. Not a single cent — not even 5% — was spent; no foundation stone laid; no work began. That is your record.

¶ 04 This time we are thankful for Rs. 300 million for an auditorium in Nintavur. But look at the allocations for Ampara and Batticaloa: each receives under Rs. 1,000 million in capital. With total capital at Rs. 1,380 billion, Rs. 1,000 million is 0.00725%. That is all Ampara and Batticaloa (Trincomalee is not omitted) get. Will I be back in 2027 to say even 5% of the Nintavur auditorium funds were not spent? This shows the President has brought a fairy-tale Budget — four-and-a-half hours of speech, and whenever he was challenged, he leaned on the Opposition’s work.

¶ 05 Take VAT registration thresholds. The annual threshold was Rs. 60 million; now reduced to Rs. 36 million. Reducing the daily threshold from Rs. 150,000 to Rs. 100,000 means any business with Rs. 100,000 daily turnover must register and charge 18% VAT. They claimed this would add 30,000 registrants — but what revenue exactly will that yield? This is how the Government plans to raise taxes from the people.

¶ 06 The Inland Revenue Department set an income tax ceiling, while lowering the daily turnover threshold to Rs. 100,000. Consider a private bus with 54 seats running from Kalmunai to Colombo… (speech continues).