10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper, PC

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· National List· 18 November 2025 ·Debate: Committee Stage Debate: Appropriation Bill 2026 - Defence and Public Security Expenditure Heads

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Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper argued that SMEs are unable to access proposed bank-based relief because of CRIB-related restrictions. He urged the Government not to proceed with the planned vehicle allocations and requested that at least half of the Rs. 12.5 billion allocated for cabs and departmental vehicles be redirected as relief for SMEs.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Okay, Sir. As I was saying, SMEs cannot access bank relief due to CRIB. Therefore, instead of saying “we will give you money to recover,” when they cannot approach banks, this becomes like catching a cuckoo, locking it in a cage, and asking it to sing. Do not proceed with the vehicle allocations as planned. From the Rs. 12.5 billion for cabs and departmental vehicles, I request at least half be allocated as relief to SMEs.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 18 November 2025 ·No. 22927 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Permalink
/lk/speeches/26132

Cite as: The Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper, PC. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 18 November 2025. No. 22927. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/26132