The Hon. D.V. Chanaka

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, first I extend good wishes and thanks to the President, the Secretary to the Treasury, Secretaries of Ministries, Additional Secretaries, Directors-General, and all officials who contributed to preparing this Budget for the coming year. There will be criticism and praise, but I wish the Government will keep Capital Expenditure above 80 percent execution this year.

¶ 02 People expect Budgets to be implemented. Recurrent items pay salaries and bills, but Capital Expenditure—money that circulates in the real economy—should be executed at least 90 percent. Under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2010–2015 Budgets, capital execution exceeded 95 percent—people saw results. Regretfully, last year you spent less than 50 percent of the allocations.

¶ 03 Even essential drugs and hospital repairs were not funded. You promised 100 towers; only 30 were built. The previous Budget’s promises remain largely unfulfilled. If you had spent even 50 percent, people might expect half of this year’s promises to materialize.

¶ 04 The Sports Minister said explaining this Budget to the Opposition is as hard as educating the blind. That is an insult—especially with a visually impaired Hon. Member in this House for the first time. The Minister should apologize to the country and this House, and the remark should be expunged from the Hansard. We will not permit such insults here.