The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, briefly:

¶ 02 Sathosa procures paddy, but we lack our own mills—both our mills were broken; repairs cost around Rs. 400 million, so we can’t do it all at once. Therefore, we tendered to accredited suppliers for conversion. We set a controlled price and are selling accordingly. We buy paddy at a support price—about Rs. 120 per kilo—using bank loans, and also from the open market at Rs. 110–115 when feasible. We have already allocated Rs. 10 billion to the PMB—enough to buy 100,000 MT, with scope to add another 25,000 MT—and Rs. 5 billion to Sathosa to buy 40,000 MT, which can be pledged for further financing to expand purchases by 80 percent. We are actively buying; do not be misled by videos at locked warehouses.

¶ 03 On your specific cost question: to produce one kilo of rice, about 1.6 kg of paddy is needed. We are packing in 5 kg bags. Conversion (milling, packing, delivery) is around Rs. 35 per kg. We give paddy to the contractor and receive rice per agreed yield and cost. Sathosa then transports and sells—Nadu at about Rs. 230 per kg, lower for bulk supplies.

¶ 04 On the casino entry fee: in Sri Lanka it will be US$50 per person. There has been no proper withholding on winnings—going forward, a 14 percent tax on winnings must be paid at payout, monitored by the Authority.

¶ 05 On reserves: we have plans to reach US$7 billion via tourism growth, increased FDI, and other external inflows; I can brief further separately. On Government revenue, we are bringing into the net what was previously leaking; state enterprises that were shut or run down are being strengthened. The state must occupy part of the supply chain to stabilize prices—we cannot just shout from Pettah or Polonnaruwa; we must act, and we are acting.