The Hon. Roshan Akmeemana

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, we debate the 2025 Budget amid diverse opinions. On one side, Opposition “economists” say this is not socialist enough; others say it is neo-liberal but not liberal enough. Some say the public sector wage increase is too high; then in the same breath say it is unaffordable. These are false dilemmas. Ordinary working people, SMEs, fishers and farmers support this Budget.

¶ 02 First, the global and local context: A handful of tech giants are trying to capture the world. The United States—once the temple of democracy and free markets—has moved toward protectionism with retaliatory tariffs. Europe, which lectured us on open markets, is being consumed by the far-right under migration and economic stress. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, sank into a debt crisis through collusion between global finance and local corrupt cronies. In that context we present our first Budget with hopeful vision.

¶ 03 The Opposition asks our economic model. The 20th-century command models collapsed; recent left experiments like Syriza and Podemos had limits—we have studied them critically. Since 2008, neo-liberalism failed; trickle-down does not work; even mainstream economists accept that. What remains are extreme inequalities—1 percent holding a vast share of global wealth—hundreds of millions in hunger and poverty, climate threats, and war risks. The world is in rough seas; no singular grand model fits.

¶ 04 What can we do? At minimum, stop adding to the crisis. Do not carry on with the very neo-liberal policies that caused it. Build a resilient national, production-based economy that can absorb shocks. As Slavoj Žižek says, we need global cooperation instead of neo-liberal globalization. Joseph Stiglitz urged reducing inequality, regulating markets to correct failures, prioritizing public investment, and rejecting austerity. That means reversing the neo-liberal reform thrust. Hence, we expand public investment: nearly Rs. 1,400 billion in capital expenditure, a 60 percent increase over last year, to create counter-cyclical stimulus.

¶ 05 Past Governments cut consumption and imposed austerity—people tightened belts, endured power cuts, could not pay water bills, children went to school hungry. This Budget turns away from austerity. We raise the public sector basic wage; we expect it to lift minimum wages in the private sector too, and help the 60 percent in the informal sector eventually access better jobs. We promote SME credit with guarantees to spur private production.

¶ 06 Public transport modernization, railway upgrades, and strengthening SOEs through a holding company model show our direction—contrary to the old policy of privatizing even profitable entities like SLT. Instead of cutting 500,000 public servants, we are recruiting 30,000 to fill gaps. We have allocated historic sums for education and health, resisting their privatization, and increasing R&D funding and social protection. If you seek our model: it is economic democracy, social justice, and environmental quality.

¶ 07 On the ageing challenge: by 2050, Sri Lanka’s old-age dependency will surge; today’s working generation will be tomorrow’s seniors. We raised public and private sector basic wages to improve retirement benefits and future pensions. We will finance this by taxing higher incomes with capital gains tax and withholding tax above Rs. 1.8 million per month. Achieving a primary surplus of 2.3 percent is not merely IMF-driven; it is about restoring State fiscal capacity. The previous Government chased a surplus by taxing sugar, potatoes, fuel—loading burdens on workers. We are taking a different path.

¶ 08 We also invest to modernize public transport, strengthen SOEs, expand education and health, and boost social safety nets and R&D. Before you ask for our model, first reconcile your own—some of you praise Trump’s protectionism while preaching liberalization. We are moving forward on our framework. Thank you.