The Hon. Nalin Hewage - Deputy Minister of Vocational Education

¶ 01 [4.13 p.m.]

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, discussing this 79th Budget presented by the 40th Minister of Finance, I believe Sri Lanka is in a fortunate position. We have taken a historic step for our future. Perhaps we cannot become the world’s wealthiest country—it is difficult—but we can aim to be the happiest, living in peace. That is the purpose of the bold steps in this Budget.

¶ 03 The Opposition fails to grasp the Budget’s breadth. They nitpick. This is the largest allocation to education in history, yet a lawyer-MP this morning claimed education was not even mentioned. I have not seen an Opposition as agitated in any prior Budget debate; they are deeply unsettled—like someone gored after falling off a tree. After the recent election defeats, the Opposition now “gets gored by the Budget.” Hence their panic.

¶ 04 Earlier “great” liberal economic wizards and gurus drove the country to bankruptcy: no dollars to unload an oil tanker, unable to import gas; people died in queues. They now ask why we do not immediately distribute wealth—as if the Treasury were overflowing. We inherited an emptied, looted Treasury. You cannot change that in a day. We have a five-year mandate; after five years, the Opposition will remain diminished.

¶ 05 We faced a necessary contraction during the crisis, but prolonged contraction destroys jobs, shrinks markets, increases prices, and crushes production. We must now expand. The Buddha said in the Cakkavatti Sihanada Sutta that when wealth is not provided to the poor, crime and social decay rise; thus, wealth is fundamental. Keynes, when asked how to respond to deep recession, said: put people to work—even digging and refilling holes—so money starts circulating; demand then rises and supply follows.

¶ 06 We must expand now: tourism is recovering; remittances are growing; reserves are strengthening; foreign relations improving. The supposed economic “gurus” claimed only they could deal with the world, yet from 1978 to 2020, FDI totaled only USD 22 billion; in 2023 alone, it was a mere USD 230 million. In contrast, during President Anura Kumara’s recent visit to China, Sri Lanka secured USD 3.7 billion for a single project—equivalent to multiple years under the old “gurus.” We need liquidity to flow from the top to the grassroots—into every lane and hamlet—so that all enterprises revive.

¶ 07 The Opposition offers advice, but their record from 2015: growth fell from 5% to 4.5%, 3.6%, 3.2%, and 2.2% by the time they left. Public debt rose from Rs. 7,983 billion to Rs. 14,100 billion—an increase of Rs. 6 trillion in five years. Due to rupee devaluation alone—from Rs. 131 per dollar in 2015 to Rs. 185—our debt burden rose by Rs. 1.72 trillion, without even new borrowing. Of 30 key macro indicators, 26 deteriorated between 2015 and 2019. They also sold strategic assets, wrecked the Central Bank, and worsened the Ease of Doing Business ranking from 88th to 111th. Easter attacks blacklisted tourism. In Ginthota, a major coir factory with 15 acres was virtually given away for Rs. 8.7 million and is now being parceled as land sales—an economic crime. What did local politicians receive?

¶ 08 They also failed our youth. The Central Bank’s 2016 report shows NEET—youth Not in Employment, Education, or Training—at 40%. When 40% are neither studying, training, nor employed, social ills grow. We said over 10 years we would build an economy where every household can afford a vehicle—not that we gift Vitz cars, as some misrepresent.

¶ 09 On transport, substantial funds are allocated to rail because it is the most efficient mode: on highways, about 10 horsepower is needed per ton; on rails with low friction, roughly one. Rail is ten times more efficient. We will integrate economic hubs with stations like Thambuttegama to move produce by rail, reducing empty lorry runs and fuel waste. This is long-term, systems thinking. Those who do not grasp it criticize. This journey has begun and is on a steady course. Thank you.