The Hon. S.M. Marikkar

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, at the outset, I must note this: during the Leader of the House’s speech, it was said that the Rebuilding Sri Lanka fund gave money to all disaster victims. In Kolonnawa, where I received over 12,000 preferences, 30,000 houses were flooded, but for more than 10,000 houses there is no proof and people are branded as illegal occupants, so rent assistance has not been paid to date. Is this fair? You promised Rs. 1 million even if a single roofing sheet was lost. These funds are given to those who voted for you. I will not dwell further.

¶ 02 On the Government’s inefficiency: the Commissioner General of Motor Traffic was arrested; no replacement appointed; the post is vacant. A Minister resigned; no replacement; someone is acting. Many institutions have no proper appointments.

¶ 03 A previous speaker said the rupee is not being propped up. But the CEO of Advocata Institute, Dhananath Fernando, says that in May alone, about US$ 220 million from reserves were sold to hold the rupee. What is the truth?

¶ 04 The Fiscal Report of the Treasury shows 527 state entities, but only 51 tabled their annual reports. Among those 51, with fiscal discipline, they report Rs. 444 billion profit; yet during crisis, they have drawn Rs. 445 billion in borrowings; in 2024, Rs. 539 billion. Where is the return on investment? State-owned assets total Rs. 16.5 trillion—about 50 percent of GDP—held by these entities, yet the aggregate profit is Rs. 444 billion, largely from the financial sector—BoC, People’s Bank, NSB. BoC reports Rs. 120 billion profit.

¶ 05 Where there is a state monopoly, there is profit; where there is competition, state entities are inefficient and loss-making. For example, the CEB shows Rs. 141 billion profit in 2024; but last year’s annual report shows a Rs. 30.23 billion loss. SriLankan Airlines had a Rs. 25.38 billion loss; the Government gave Rs. 23.2 billion capital support; its net loss last year was Rs. 48 billion. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board claims Rs. 31.68 billion profit but received Rs. 45.6 billion budgetary support; net, it is a Rs. 14 billion loss.

¶ 06 The construction industry lost Rs. 759 million last year; in 2024, before your Government reversed policy, it had Rs. 529 billion profit. After bans and stoppages, those profits fell, while Rs. 103 billion budgetary support was given to supposedly profitable entities. Levies and dividends of Rs. 56.5 billion came back; net benefit only Rs. 47 billion, versus Rs. 103 billion support. This is alarming.

¶ 07 Inflation was -0.5 percent last year; now it is 1.6 percent in February, 2.2 in March, 5.4 in April. What if it goes to seven? Who answers?

¶ 08 The Deputy Minister said we are paying OLB prices for fuel. From January to April this year, US$ 1 billion was spent on fuel; last year the whole year was US$ 1.58 billion. It is not just global prices; poor-quality coal meant planned metric tonnage was not achieved, forcing fully-laden oil shipments to compensate for power. In May alone, US$ 521 million were spent on fuel.

¶ 09 The IMF set targets: bring reserves to US$ 9.5 billion by year-end and keep growth at 4 percent. Now you say reserves will be US$ 8.65 billion and growth 3.8 percent. You still need nearly US$ 2 billion. There are no new revenue avenues; no meaningful FDI; only about US$ 10 million came to the stock market. How will you build reserves? You can post fairy tales on social media, but investors will not come. There are ample opportunities in infrastructure, but we need the President to act as the country’s CFO—create a dedicated space in the President’s Office to fast-track investments with regulatory flexibility. That is not happening. Government is collecting from every business via 18 percent VAT and 10 percent corporate tax; the private sector is profitable and paying. The Government should step back from selling sugar, oil, and small items; be a regulator and improve revenue.

¶ 10 Tourism is not “booming” as claimed. Tourist arrivals in April were 135,643—a 22.3 percent decline. Remittances have increased to US$ 861 million. Meanwhile, US tariff changes threaten exports. Wake up. The President understands the need to close loss-making SOEs, even if it costs more now. If not, the economy will suffer.

¶ 11 The 51 SOEs show Rs. 69.8 billion operational losses; with Rs. 103 billion budgetary support, the true loss is Rs. 172 billion. Netting dividends, the group still loses around Rs. 120 billion. Without monopolies, these entities cannot compete. Be a regulator, raise revenue through rule of law, not by trading coconut oil and sugar. If Rs. 120 billion were saved, we could fund six months of fertilizer, or increase fertilizer subsidies by 50 percent for a year.

¶ 12 Hon. Deputy Speaker, your time is up.