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President Mahinda Rajapaksa may have just donned the mantle of Chairman of the Commonwealth, but last Thursday, when he presented his Government’s annual Budget to Parliament, in his capacity as Finance Minister, it was a far cry from the fanfare associated with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held just days earlier.

File in hand President Rajapaksa walks in to Parliament to deliver the speech. Pix by Indika Handuwala and Ranjith Perera

In fact, except for the lone voice of maverick MP Mervyn Silva who hailed the President as a victor, as he walked into the Chamber on Thursday afternoon, the usual enthusiasm with which he is greeted when he comes to the House was lacking. Maybe it had in part to do with the decision by the main Opposition United National Party (UNP), as well as the JVP, to boycott the Budget presentation. Hence, except for the presence of a few Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs, it was more of a ruling party show.

The President, appearing for his Government’s ninth successive Budget, walked in characteristically with a simple file in hand, the contents of which millions of people in the country were keen to know. The Budget proposals had been a closely guarded secret this time around, with even Cabinet ministers not privy to its contents, until the President revealed them to the country. There was much good news in what he told Parliament during the two-hour presentation, with the obvious feather in the cap of the Government this year being holding elections to three Provincial Councils, particularly the Northern Province.

“In the North, an overwhelming majority of people have placed their confidence in the democratic process, which was denied to them by the LTTE for 25 long years, and proceeded to use the opportunity to elect its Provincial Council for the first time,” the President said.

He also referred to the successful conclusion of the CHOGM, the “first ever global event held in the country since the Non-Aligned Conference held in 1976.”

He said the conference gave ample opportunities to the world leaders who attended, to witness the country’s economic progress and the stable democracy that prevails. By hosting this summit, 20 years after it was last held in an Asian country, Sri Lanka, while bringing pride to the whole of Asia, was also able to attract global attention to our economy as one of the leading economies emerging in Asia,” he said.

The most anticipated feature in the annual Budget is a wage hike for the public sector, and the President did not disappoint, announcing a Rs 1,200 Cost of Living allowance for State sector employees. He also announced a small increase for pensioners, a pension for farmers over 63 years, Rs 250,000 interest free loans for women entrepreneurs up to the age of 68 years, as well as other public-friendly proposals.

But, what he did not announce was the increase in taxes on almost all imported goods including food items with immediate effect, while another set of new taxes would be heaped on the public starting January 2014. The President wisely left out the bad news in his Budget presentation, leaving his Ministers and MPs to answer Opposition criticisms of the Budget, which are bound to crop up during the month-long debate on the Appropriation Bill 2014.

And while the President was presenting the Budget, UNP MPs who were in the building, but not in the chamber, were a rather distracted lot. Not because of anything the President said, but because a reptile was found inside Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office located on the third floor of the Parliament building.

Ranil Wickremesinghe and other UNP members are all smiles after the episode relating to the reptile in the room is resolved

News of the unusual find was soon doing the rounds, which prompted Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to visit the Opposition Leader’s office and inquire into what had happened there, and take possession of the reptile which was safely put away into plastic bottle by then.

Then the Speaker proceeded to the customary post Budget tea party held at the MPs canteen in Parliament, where the President too spent time chatting with his Party members and officials. Former UNP MP, now North Western Provincial Council Chief Minister, Dayasiri Jayasekera was a star attraction, exchanging pleasantries with the President, as well as many of his former colleagues. He later told a group of journalists that, while he sat in the Speaker’s gallery and watched the Budget presentation, he realised how much he missed being an MP.

When the debate on the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill began on Friday, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, starting the debate on behalf of the Opposition, said this Budget did not reflect the actual economic situation in the country, and that, statistics presented by the Government to show that the economy is doing well are suspect.

“This is not a people-friendly Budget. It is an anti-people Budget,” he said.

Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said the President had taken into consideration the views of the public when preparing the Budget, and these views are reflected in the proposals for next year.