The Hon. S.M. Marikkar

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, first, a clarification: We are not against the Rs. 200 allowance for estate workers. As a party, we support correcting historic injustices against the estate Tamil community and Tamils of the North, now and in future.

¶ 02 Listening to this Budget, I felt as if the grandson of J.R. Jayewardene had arrived to read it—like Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, Ranasinghe Premadasa, and Ronnie de Mel applauding. Why? Because this so-called left government has presented a liberal budget openly declaring the sale of loss-making state enterprises—after years of strikes and protests claiming state assets must never be sold. For that clarity, I actually thank the President and the government.

¶ 03 Now to “filling the Treasury”: the estimated revenue is being raised from Rs. 4,990 billion to Rs. 5,100 billion by piling tax upon tax—water bills up, electricity up, VAT up, prices up. Anyone can increase revenue that way; you do not need to be an economist. Likewise, you can cut expenditure to narrow the deficit—household mothers do that daily, tightening belts.

¶ 04 Originally, expenditure was Rs. 7,190 billion; it’s cut to about Rs. 6,548 billion. How? Just two weeks ago, the Highways Ministry sent back Rs. 36 billion in unspent funds as they could not implement. Our Sectoral Oversight Committee on Infrastructure and Strategic Development met and reviewed progress across four ministries. Many projects had no progress despite allocations. Bridges in the North are not built though funds were allocated. So, the story that expenditure is “well used” is hollow. Squeeze people for revenue while failing to spend development funds, and anyone can “fill the Treasury” and shrink the deficit.

¶ 05 They promised before coming to power that paying USD 4 billion in debt was “no big deal” and asked if we even needed a government that borrows. Yet, to meet their own spending promises this year, they will need to borrow USD 5.8 billion. Public debt was USD 93.8 billion when they took over; without notable visible development—no new expressways, airports—debt limits have climbed toward USD 105 billion.

¶ 06 We heard fanciful claims—“we have a hundred Kadirgamars,” or that they took over a country with “no dollars and no rupees,” when there were USD 5-point-something billion in reserves at takeover. These are lies. This is a nonsense budget—neither merits nor demerits explained.

¶ 07 Promises to allocate 6 percent of GDP to education? Two budgets later, not delivered. I recall the current Prime Minister even wore a T-shirt campaigning for 6 percent; now silence. They promised to zero-rate VAT on education, food, and health in the first Budget; two budgets in, nothing. They said they would remove the Rs. 50 per litre margin retained by CPC so fuel would drop to Rs. 180 per litre—two budgets in, silent again.

¶ 08 They promised a one-third cut in electricity bills—Rs. 9,000 to 6,000; 6,000 to 4,000; 3,000 to 2,000. No word now. Empty words—like reading a children’s fairy tale for four and a half hours.

¶ 09 They promised a bank to give collateral-free loans to youth entrepreneurs—two budgets gone, nothing. They boasted of the first-ever government with professionals who would not steal a single rupee—yet now they talk of shutting state enterprises because management has failed. Profitable SOEs’ profits have fallen; loss-makers’ losses have grown. Examples: ITN made a Rs. 3 million profit last year; now ITN and Rupavahini together record a Rs. 580 million loss. CEB loss this year is Rs. 10,700 million. Lanka Sugar (Ltd.) loss: Rs. 2,600 million. State Pharmaceutical Corporation loss: Rs. 330 million. State Printing Corporation loss: Rs. 640 million. SLBC loss: Rs. 310 million. So much for “Kadirgamars”—it’s mismanagement.

¶ 10 People struggle from morning tea to night medicine. School absenteeism is up; patients can’t afford drugs. Pensioners have seen no relief. They promised to raise the income tax threshold back to Rs. 200,000 per month; instead, tax applies from Rs. 150,000.

¶ 11 They promised a simple, predictable tariff regime to enable affordable quality inputs. Where is it? They promised to cover medical costs and pay allowances for public officers injured on duty. Silent. They promised an authority to regulate food advertising and an ad ethics code for consumer information. Silent. A National Sports Associations Regulatory Authority—silent. Tax concessions for sports investors and local equipment makers—silent; instead, a tender was floated with a mid-month deadline raising serious concerns. I will table details next week—football pitches, netball, cricket—each to be milked.

¶ 12 They promised a simple tax regime for the power sector—silent. They promised to resolve teachers’ and principals’ salary anomalies quickly—silent. They promised a pension fund under the Pensions Dept. and Central Bank oversight—silent. A social security fund for pensioners—silent. But they did push VAT registration down from Rs. 60 million to Rs. 36 million per annum—Rs. 9 million per quarter, Rs. 3 million per month, Rs. 100,000 per day. Corner groceries turning Rs. 100,000 a day must register for VAT. With typical margins ~30 percent, a Rs. 100,000 turnover yields Rs. 30,000 gross; after wages, utilities, net profit is maybe Rs. 10,000. An 18 percent VAT cannot be absorbed; it will be passed to consumers. Expect price hikes even at small village groceries.

¶ 13 A year into this government, MSMEs hit by the economic and COVID shocks have not recovered; now they’re dragged into VAT at Rs. 100,000 daily turnover, burdening both enterprises and consumers.

¶ 14 On another matter: during the previous government, six companies imported crude palm oil, refined and sold it, liable for VAT and cess totaling about 20.5 percent. They sought written tax concessions from the then President; IRD opined; still, no recovery action has been taken to collect dues—over Rs. 10 billion loss to the state. I raised this last Budget and during Question Time; the Prime Minister agreed they must pay and said action would be taken. Nine months later, not even an assessment report. The Trade Minister also said “we will collect,” but nothing has happened. The State Finance Minister says “we are looking into it.” Are they protecting these companies? Or was there money changing hands? After a year, even preliminary steps have not been taken—this raises legitimate suspicion.

¶ 15 They tout Rs. 15 billion for 50,000 urban housing units in Colombo and mention Obeysekarapura in Kotte. That’s Rs. 300,000 per unit—nonsense. Six years ago, UDA’s per-unit cost for relocation apartments was about Rs. 3.8 million (Rs. 380 lakhs). Now they propose Rs. 300,000? Another Rs. 3 billion for 10,000 houses in provinces—again Rs. 300,000 per house. You cannot even build a proper chicken coop for that. Stop misleading people.

¶ 16 We asked SLLDC officials about flood control in Colombo; they said Rs. 10 billion would be allocated and a special committee under the Prime Minister would act. Yet no line allocation appears for Kelani River flood control and related stormwater management in this Budget, though funds are set for Kalu and Nilwala. Why is Kelani omitted? We ask the government to explain.

¶ 17 They vowed to expose tax evaders and defaulters mortgaged to banks. The President himself says he has the files and names—but not a single name has been revealed.

¶ 18 On IMF: they rely on the program for support. But how will they meet revenue by 2027? They say foreign reserves must reach USD 13 billion next year; currently about USD 6-point-something billion. Tourism revenue is up by only around USD 100 million over last year; remittances up by USD 100–200 million. If IMF tranches stop, where will the large sums come from? The big one-off vehicle import revenue—about Rs. 600 billion including five years of arrears from 220,000 vehicles—cannot be repeated next year. What is the plan to meet targets? Instead of real strategies, they conduct PR—the “Citizens Budget” hand-delivered to Colombo’s business elite for praise, while ignoring the squeezed middle and lower classes.

¶ 19 Since this government came, the rupee has depreciated by 3.9 percent against the dollar—none of the 159 government MPs speak of it. Service export targets from Jan–Sep last year were about USD 19 billion; this year, only USD 15.5 billion so far—a USD 3.5 billion shortfall. You can service domestic debt in rupees, but external debt needs dollars—requiring higher service exports and FDI. They travel abroad; what concrete inflows have come?

¶ 20 They cut the fertilizer subsidy to Rs. 500 million then; now poverty has worsened. Of the Rs. 500 million allocated, only Rs. 168 million was used to cover 1.6 million families. They reduce the deficit by not spending on the poor.

¶ 21 Hon. Speaker, my time is nearly up. I conclude: To those reading fairy tales and boasting of reducing inflation from 12.1 last year to negative 1.4 this year—hold provincial council elections if you dare. Let the people judge you after a year. Thank you.