The Hon. K. Sujith Sanjaya Perera

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to contribute to the debate on the Government’s inaugural Budget. Both Government and Opposition have expressed views. Government MPs say this is the best Budget in Sri Lankan history. But many Budgets have been presented before. Historically, no government has achieved even 50% of its development and other proposals.

¶ 02 This Government came to power with many promises—to meet people’s needs, reduce prices, reduce fuel prices, reduce electricity bills. For three months people waited, thinking the Budget would deliver immediate relief. From the people’s perspective, this Budget has not provided such immediate relief. The economy of our people is at a very low level.

¶ 03 They also said they would reduce VAT or taxes on essential foods. Nowhere in this Budget has the VAT on essentials been reduced. They spoke then about taxes on fuel—how much is charged on diesel and petrol. None of those promises have been fulfilled in this Budget. No relief for fuel or electricity bills.

¶ 04 They said VAT on schoolbooks and stationery would be reduced. No such proposal is included.

¶ 05 It appears you have tried to cover all areas, making many happy to some extent, but people expect immediate relief rather than long-term promises.

¶ 06 On salaries, public servants had big expectations—tangible increases felt in the pay packet. Even your own ministers struggle to explain how the increase actually works. From what we can see, the real addition this year amounts to about Rs. 5,700, though you speak of Rs. 15,000 and various figures. It seems that full amounts would materialize only by 2027 or 2028.

¶ 07 The Budget deficit is about Rs. 2,200 billion. You speak of financing it domestically or via grants and external sources—like many finance ministers before—but such plans often did not materialize. Thus, we fear more taxes on people and more items being taxed.

¶ 08 Given time limits, I will focus on regional issues. On estate workers’ wages: the President has stated raising wages by Rs. 1,700. Your manifesto spoke of Rs. 2,000. Now it is “we hope to discuss raising to 1,700,” not “we will raise.” Earlier President Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would raise by Rs. 1,700, but could not; finally, close to the end, discussions led to Rs. 1,350. I doubt this increase will happen; estate workers have little reason to trust.

¶ 09 On estate housing: many ministers spoke emotionally about estate workers’ problems and housing. The Budget allocates around Rs. 4,000 million for housing projects for estate workers. With today’s costs, you cannot build even a thousand houses a year from that. There are around a million people living on estates when you include families. If you are sincere, at least allocate seven perches per family by coordinating with estate companies so they can build their own houses. This would be more realistic.

¶ 10 On small tea-holders: I heard claims of allocations, but the Budget speech mentions cinnamon, not specific, clear support for small tea-holders. Smallholders are in dire straits—drought, low green leaf prices (struggling even to get Rs. 150 per kilo), fertilizer at Rs. 9,000–11,000 and often of poor quality, and high agrochemical prices. Give fertilizer support to small tea-holders as you do for paddy. Without that, they cannot control weeds or pests; factories face high electricity and fuel costs which they pass on to smallholders.

¶ 11 This country’s tea exports receive about 75% of their supply from smallholders. The Government has a duty to support this vital foreign exchange earner. That is my proposal. Thank you.