The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Thank you. That is enough.

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Speaker, the Hon. Deputy Minister claimed higher growth, lower inflation, lower interest, and happier people. Yet he earlier answered that 2024 growth was 5%, but for 2025 you project only 3.5%, not 5%. Growth is fundamental; without growth, government can do nothing meaningful. Poverty has increased to 33%. Without growth, where are the jobs? If 2025 growth is 3.5% and 2026 is 3.1%, change your model. How can you come here and say growth will be 3.1% in 2026 and beyond? With 159 MPs, are you not ashamed to declare you will lower growth to 3.1%?

¶ 03 You promised to reduce poverty and to raise growth to 5–6%. President Ranil Wickremesinghe said we need 8.5–9% to be developed by 2048. You said you would do it earlier. With 3%, we will not be developed even by 2075.

¶ 04 You said you stabilized the economy—give that credit to the previous period when inflation and interest fell. Now we need growth. How do you justify projecting lower growth in 2025 than 2024? Do not try to reduce it; increase it.

¶ 05 You said your model is autoregressive—based on the past. But you claimed to bring an “new model.” Where is it? You are trapped by the IMF and do not know what to do.

¶ 06 On electricity tariffs: the President said tariffs would increase in June; the Minister said no. Which is it? Initially, adjustments were every six months; now you agreed to adjust every three months per Evan Papageorgiou. The IMF Board will not approve in June unless you raise tariffs—staff-level agreement or not. Do not mislead the House; the transcript exists.

¶ 07 If actual costs were below forecast due to better hydro or lower demand because you cut growth to 3.1%, then the merit order avoids high-cost plants, marginal and average costs fall, profits rise. Then claw back and pass to consumers; last time you cut by only 1%, but had to reduce 20% after we argued clawback.

¶ 08 Now, for July–December, present the data: forecast vs actual; if profits are higher, return to consumers. Instead, you agreed with the IMF to change in April for June. Since you did not, Papageorgiou says no Board approval despite staff-level.

¶ 09 Meanwhile, you take a Cabinet Paper on 31 January for a combined-cycle plant at “Sahasdanavi,” claiming Rs. 20 per unit. Then you slash solar tariffs from Rs. 27 to as low as Rs. 14.46, arguing you can get Rs. 20 from “Sahasdanavi.” PUCSL asked how you get Rs. 20. They point out you assumed LNG at USD 10/MMBtu, diesel at Rs. 110/unit, and an exchange rate of Rs. 195 per USD in January. Were you smoking something to write Rs. 195 to the Dollar in January?

¶ 10 In reality, at Rs. 300 per USD, LNG at USD 11–15.5 pushes unit costs to about Rs. 43; without any LNG delivered yet for dual-fuel, costs could be around Rs. 72/unit. So why claim Rs. 20 and cut solar? You say least-cost and IMF systems, yet mismanage the economy.

¶ 11 You have not understood how to run this economy; you are imprisoned by IMF ideology. You even cannot agree with PUCSL to make minor tariff changes without IMF. God help this country.