The Hon. (Dr.) Anil Jayantha - Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, today’s debate concerns the Bill at Second Reading and the regulations and rules presented for approval. Given the external shock of the global war situation and its economic impact on Sri Lanka, it is worth examining the importance of these amendments.

¶ 02 Since assuming office, our foremost challenge was stabilising a broken economy. Despite obstacles, by 2025 we achieved a significant degree of macroeconomic stability across commonly accepted indicators. Then, unexpectedly, our people were hit by the “8962” cyclone—a severe external event—causing great loss. Our interventions provided relief without excessively burdening the Treasury, due to our fiscal discipline and focus on public finance consolidation. Beyond the 13 per cent primary expenditure reductions, we provided a Rs. 500 billion supplementary allocation to implement relief.

¶ 03 In the current international context of war-related disruptions impacting energy (gas, fuel) and fertilizer, we have deployed programmes accordingly and discussed targeted allocations to cushion economically vulnerable groups.

¶ 04 An Opposition Member asked how we will fund this. We will not seek an additional budget. We will use the Budget reserve, though it is not sufficient by itself; the balance will be managed by adjusting other expenditure heads. We will bring the detailed approach to Parliament in due course.

¶ 05 Regarding the Strategic Development Projects Act regulation: policymaking is a flowing process. Based on current conditions and anticipated developments, we must make the most appropriate adjustments. Identified deficiencies are addressed by bringing better, rule-based amendments. If further improvements are needed, we can make them.

¶ 06 This will not be the last amendment; good governance requires constant improvement. The objective of the SDPA is to promote large-scale projects by providing reasonable tax incentives and administrative facilitation.

¶ 07 We are moving from discretion to a rule-based system with four key criteria: foreign exchange inflows (with sector thresholds from USD 50 million to USD 300 million), domestic job creation, technology transfer, and infrastructure development. Two important features are ex ante and ex post cost-benefit analysis. The Ministry of Finance will independently evaluate costs, benefits, and socio-cultural impacts before approval, and conduct continuous reviews thereafter, with a mandatory five-year review. If agreed targets are not met, we can act, including terminating the project.