The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chair, the President delivered an aggressive speech, pointing fingers, even trying to bait us. We will not take it personally; we respect the office and listened carefully.

¶ 02 In the Budget debate, I made the first Opposition speech and said the President’s address sounded like a sermon by a priest or monk. Today it was confirmed. Why? Because his ideology perfectly overlaps with IMF conditions and Pelawatte rhetoric, even as he claims otherwise. Examples:

¶ 03 He said, “Somehow we will borrow and build roads; invest in power; improve energy.” The ideology is “keep all assets in State hands; do not sell,” and “protect national security from conspirators.” Yet the real question is: where is the conspiracy—within the VP or the NPP? What happened to the hapless Prime Minister?

¶ 04 On IMF: He said they “changed” conditions. Not a word was changed. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s debt restructuring—every letter and digit—has been accepted by President Anura. They claim they took over a collapsed country—negative growth, empty Treasury, USD 1 million reserves, 70% inflation. Nonsense. By end-2024: growth was +5%; tax revenue rose from 8% to 12% of GDP; reserves from USD 20 million to USD 5 billion; interest from 35% down to 8%; inflation from 70% down to 10%. You inherited a running, not a collapsed, economy.

¶ 05 Two key IMF fiscal anchors: - Gross financing needs capped at 13% of GDP; foreign borrowing at 4.5% of GDP; domestic at 8.5%. You cannot “borrow from somewhere and build roads” beyond these caps. - To access policy-based concessional loans from WB/ADB/JICA, you must advance structural reforms. Did you do that yesterday?

¶ 06 They promised Rs. 1.4 trillion in capital outlays including infrastructure, but by August barely 25% is spent. Anyone can shout on stage; deliver the work.

¶ 07 Pelawatte’s line yesterday: the Electricity Act amendments mandate 100% State ownership of all CEB assets, permanently. WB/ADB/JICA opposed. Why? You cannot develop solely on debt; you need equity—domestic and foreign private capital—to reduce the weighted average cost of capital. By prohibiting private equity in transmission, how will you fund the USD 5 billion transmission need? CEB dollar borrowing costs ~11%. Meanwhile, you blocked LTL Transformers’ Rs. 20 billion IPO by reabsorbing it into the State. You created massive conflicts of interest and opened doors to corruption.

¶ 08 You loudly approved a PPA for “Sahasdanavi” at Rs. 20 per unit, based on Rs. 183 per USD. What was actually signed—Rs. 45? PUCSL says unit cost is Rs. 72. Clarify.

¶ 09 On the India-linked UDI and e-NIC: why call a tender for 15 million polycarbonate cards when standard PVC cards cost only cents? Even if Dr. Hans Wijesuriya is well-intentioned, ask whether polycarbonate is necessary and at what cost. Fight corruption on all sides, not selectively. With this ideological tangle, nobody knows the destination.

¶ 10 Hon. Deputy Chair: Time is up.

¶ 11 Give me two more minutes, Madam Chair.

¶ 12 [Extension granted.]

¶ 13 Finally, Mr. President, before questioning our ideology, examine your own. Ours is clear. Thank you.