The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake

¶ 01 If we had expeditiously implemented measures like those Minister Lal Kantha proposed for BOO schemes, as Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe is now saying, as Minister Bimal Rathnayake suggests on privatizing SriLankan Airlines and converting it into a commercial enterprise, and as Minister Vijitha Herath says after visiting abroad, this position would have been corrected. Then there would be no need to signal left and turn right. At this moment, we must look at creating some dedicated space for our exporters.

¶ 02 I told you yesterday about our anti-dumping duty. The biggest issue is this: we must protect the consumer of this country, Madam Presiding Member.

¶ 03 Here, we pay 36% in taxes, 15–22% interest to the banks, the highest electricity bills in the world, and high water bills to operate. Transport costs are also extremely high. After you increased wages, total costs rose by 110%. In Bangladesh it is 80%; in Vietnam 90%; in Indonesia 75–80%. When ours is at 100, there is another surcharge on top. Then, despite doing everything possible for SMEs, in the end even their only home is subjected to parate law.

¶ 04 Now, when you proceed with all this, if you buy land, you must pay 18% VAT and 4% Stamp Duty. If you acquire a building, not only is it about 18%, you also need to pay Capital Gains Tax on disposal. So where is the space for the entrepreneur? We must plead with you: please allow us to do business. You need to find Rs. 5 trillion this year to meet expenditure. This is not like budgets of the past. Under the new law, 13% of GDP is used for expenditure. If we do not sustain this journey, next year we will be unable to pay.