Contradictory figures in proposals show govt.’s inability to prepare annual budget – Rajitha Senaratne

by Saman Indrajith

SJB Kalutara District MP Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says that the government’s budget proposals with contradictory figures is a testimony to the government’s inability to prepare the annual budget.

Participating in the second reading stage debate on the budget proposals, the MP said on page 51 of the budget report, government expenditure has been mentioned as Rs. 3,525 billion but on the very next page, on Page 52, government expenditure has been given as Rs 3,594 billion.

“The difference between the revenue and the expenditure is mentioned on Page 51 as Rs. 1,564 billion and on Page 52 as Rs. 1,665 billion.  The deficit is mentioned as Rs. 23.9 billion on Page 5, but Annexure III mentions it as 3.2 billion,” he said.

Dr. Senaratne said the budget proposals and allocations are not realistic. There is a proposal to build 50,000 kilometers of carpeted roads. The allocation for the purpose is Rs 20,000 million. Usually the cost for one km of carpeted road is around 12 million rupees. Accordingly the allocation would be sufficient only to build 1,600 km.

“There is another proposal to build 10,000 bridges and Rs. 7,000 million has been allocated. The cost per bridge would be around 70 million so they could build only 100 bridges. In the 2019 budget, we allocated Rs. 654 billion for relief and subsidies but this government has allocated only Rs. 581 billion by cutting off Rs. 73 billions. The government cannot release figures of the growth rate for the second and third quarters of this year because they know the figures would come in minus double digits”, he said.

The economy is on a fast track towards total collapse. So far around 45,000 Lankan workers have returned home and there are around 100,000 more to come. They would contribute to the increase in the number of unemployed which is 483,000 at present. There are around 86,000 industries in the country and of them 30,000 have faced the threat of closure,” he said.

Dr. Senaratne said that the government has proposed building pharmaceutical manufacturing institutions as if it is their own concept. “It was during our time that we started the process. We signed agreements for pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and 18 have already commenced work,” he said.

“The government gave a Rs 5,000 allowance twice as COVID-19 relief. It amounted to 0.003 percent of government revenue. Other governments in the world paid salaries to their people for months,” the Kalutara District MP said.