The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka - Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation and Minister of Energy
The Minister responded to claims by a previous speaker regarding poverty and electricity generation. He stated that poverty had declined from 24.5 per cent in 2024, when the National People’s Power took office, to around 22 per cent in 2026, and disputed the claim that 900,000 litres of diesel were being used daily for power generation, citing 7 June data showing oil-based thermal generation at 11.68 MW out of 2,417 MW. He asked for the source of the figures and indicated he would clarify before allowing a response.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, I will address two claims made by the previous speaker. On poverty: comparing 2026 to 2024, when the National People’s Power took office, poverty was 24.5 per cent; today it is around 22 per cent. On power generation: he claimed 900,000 litres of diesel per day for electricity generation. On 7 June, thermal oil-based generation was 11.68 MW out of a total of 2,417 MW that day. I ask from where he obtained his figures.
¶ 02 Hon. D.V. Chanaka, please hold on; I asked Hon. Namal Rajapaksa. I will clarify and then you may respond.
¶ 03 [Speech continues.]
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 9 June 2026 ·No. 23706 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka - Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation and Minister of Energy. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 June 2026. No. 23706. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2848