The Hon. K.V. Samantha Viddyarathna - Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, at a time of global geopolitical and energy turbulence with war intensifying, not only smaller countries like ours but even strong economies face crises. Domestically, given recent political tremors and crises, the Opposition has tried to capitalize. But their arguments are, frankly, shallow. The intelligent public understands this.

¶ 02 On the global oil issue, many countries have raised fuel prices to manage the situation. In Asia: Cambodia up 68%, Vietnam 50%, Laos 33%, Pakistan 18%, the Philippines 12%, South Korea 10%, Indonesia 9%. We have raised by 8%. Among developed nations: Canada up 28%, the USA 20%, Australia 25%, New Zealand 20%. Our people understand we try to minimize their burden as much as possible. This does not mean there is no pain, but we are managing it.

¶ 03 We face short-term difficulties while planning for long-term victories. Since assuming office, the National People’s Power Government has confronted major challenges. We inherited a country economically and socially collapsed, with stoked nationalism and religious tensions. We do not claim 100% solutions, but we have managed significantly, as the President explained—stabilizing the economy, rebalancing the budget, and achieving national and international gains.

¶ 04 As we tempered the first crisis, we then faced an unprecedented natural disaster—the “Dithwa” cyclone. The Opposition expected us to fail. We do not claim every issue is fully resolved, but we managed it successfully. We will manage energy and related sectors prudently amid global conflict. Under the previous government’s fuel crisis, gas cylinders lined streets for weeks and people died in queues; even the QR system then took a month to set up and weeks more to fix issues. Now, despite complexity, we have avoided such prolonged chaos.

¶ 05 Iran and Israel/the US are firing missiles; the Opposition fires “blank” missiles at us. Our “Iron Dome” is the National People’s Power—working well.

¶ 06 Queues then were caused by mismanagement and lack of dollars. Today dollars exist, but supply chains, freight, and marine insurance are disrupted; some ships are withheld. That is the issue now.

¶ 07 The Opposition Leader has become a “Leader of Calamity,” repeating the same speech—“the Treasury is full; distribute this and that.” The Government and President are distributing fairly where needed; we have filled the Treasury—what you could not do. And we are deploying funds to relieve those in need.

¶ 08 Regarding the cyclone, we neither borrowed abroad nor from institutions. We used a supplementary estimate of Rs. 500 billion to assist affected people unprecedentedly: Rs. 25,000 to clean damaged houses; Rs. 50,000 for damaged kitchen items; Rs. 5 million for total house destruction; all funded from the Treasury. From this fiscal strength we also raised plantation worker wages, improved state salaries, and have approved over 100,000 new jobs after years of freezes. Unlike before, we’re not squandering a topped-up Treasury—we’re deploying it prudently.

¶ 09 Some say we should have foreseen this war since last June/July. If they had such foresight, they should have warned the US, Iran, Australia. Those countries are facing price spikes too. Even some Opposition figures claimed months of foreknowledge; yet they failed to foresee their party’s internal conflicts. Focus on fixing your own house.

¶ 10 We can resolve the fuel issue—give us a little time. We have instituted prudent controls to keep systems continuous—education, agriculture, economy—cannot be allowed to collapse. Cabinet and subcommittees have taken necessary decisions; implementation is underway. We will find solutions post-cyclone as well—but we cannot solve the Opposition’s internal problems.

¶ 11 On my portfolio: the tea industry faced initial export market issues, but auctions are now normalizing. In January and February, low-grown teas fetched around Rs. 180–200/kg; mid-grown around Rs. 150–160 (slightly down in February); high-grown rose from Rs. 140–150 to about Rs. 160 in February. March data will be final at month-end. Coconut and rubber sectors: no major current problems; Gulf markets are minor for rubber exports; for coconut exports, we are preparing management measures if needed.

¶ 12 The Treasury is prepared to provide further relief as needed. We have already assisted farmers and industry and are ready to extend more. To the people: we have a government capable of facing any crisis. We weathered massive shocks and will find solutions to this fuel challenge too. As long as we have the “fuel” that is the people of this country, attempts to destabilize us will fail. We will keep our promises one by one.

¶ 13 Thank you.