The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 [11.00 a.m.]

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to speak as the National People’s Power Government presents its inaugural Budget.

¶ 03 I request everyone to look beyond the figures and attend to the thinking embodied here. This is a new direction and a value-based Budget that reflects our principles — values and principles — upon which our Government stands.

¶ 04 This Budget sets out the basis for our future path: the kind of society we seek to build; the values that must prevail. It emphasizes collectivism, social strengthening interventions, equality, justice, and meaningful democracy — not cosmetic, but with genuine citizen participation — and a stronger market regulation by the State, alongside an active public role, not merely regulation. We call this approach Economic Democracy.

¶ 05 The Opposition says this is “neoliberal” or a continuation of Ranil’s policies, or even what they themselves planned. They misunderstand both our thinking and their own. Was Sri Lanka truly “neoliberal”? In fact, what prevailed was family rule and cronyism — a distorted system using State service as a private fiefdom, politicized decisions, a warped market enabling cronies through patronage and corruption. We inherited not a cleanly run liberal market economy, but a distorted, corrupted economy and society. We must begin from there.

¶ 06 Hence our Budget invites and addresses all vulnerable groups. We have specific focus on women and children. Long-demanded child protection measures are included: reforms to child institutionalization pathways and community reintegration. We support women’s participation in the economy by easing care burdens and other barriers.

¶ 07 We increase allocations to strengthen society, not to burden the individual with all responsibility. That is why allocations to health and education are increased. On VAT and medicines: there is no VAT on medicines. Moreover, VAT on packaging inputs for domestically produced medicines has been removed to encourage local pharma manufacturing.

¶ 08 We significantly increase education funding across the continuum from early childhood to higher education, with capital investment rising by Rs. 6,019 billion [sic; clearly billions of rupees increase stated], and specific provision for special needs education.

¶ 09 To foster social cohesion and national unity, we introduce “Sri Lankan Day” with Rs. 300 million, designed to be inclusive — not excluding communities as before — celebrating diversity as our collective pride.

¶ 10 Democracy requires citizen participation. Our Clean Sri Lanka initiative invites citizens to participate beyond merely voting — that is living democracy.

¶ 11 We inherited bankruptcy and social crisis. We had two choices: retreat in fear and preserve the status quo, or seize the crisis as an opportunity for deep transformation. We chose the latter. This is our first Budget — within tight constraints — but it clearly sets the trajectory.

¶ 12 Accusations that we broke promises are false. “Economic Democracy” is central in our policy manifesto and now enacted. I felt great pride hearing the President articulate policies we shaped over many years now coming alive in our inaugural Budget.

¶ 13 On salaries: claims that teachers were not brought within the top ten salary grades are false. With this increase, Principals are now 7th and Teachers 8th among highest-paid grades. A Principal’s pay rises by Rs. 30,105; a Teacher’s by Rs. 25,360; the minimum grade’s basic rises by Rs. 15,750. We value the public service and are restoring its dignity after years of arbitrary recruitments that eroded trust. Even under constraints, we have increased the basic and will proceed methodically. The people understand what we are doing.

¶ 14 This is a historic Budget, a turning point akin in impact to 1977’s transformation, regardless of one’s political view of it. Our Budget changes the country’s direction, thinking, and social organization. Though it is only the first, it marks clearly the country we seek to build — “A prosperous country, a beautiful life” — not mere words, but now given life. Previous governments spoke of women’s and children’s rights and passed laws; we go beyond laws and policies to realization.