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The Third Reading of Budget 2022 was passed in Parliament on Friday by an overwhelming majority of 93 votes. Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s maiden budget received 157 votes in favour and just 64 against, once again asserting that, despite being battered by various crises both within and without, the Parliamentary dominance of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government remains unchallenged.

A vote was held after Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella asked for a division. Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Diana Gamage voted for the Budget with the Government. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader Rauff Hakeem and All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Leader Rishad Bathiudeen voted against, though other members from their parties voted for the Budget. Three MPs, namely Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, W.D.J. Seneviratne and Kumara Welgama were absent when the vote was taken.

Winding up the 16-day Committee Stage Budget debate, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said he would not challenge Opposition members’ speeches regarding the economic crisis the country was going through since he himself had explained it during his Budget speech on November 12. “In truth, we are indeed facing severe foreign exchange crisis. I also admit that our situation with regard to foreign reserves is critical,” he told the House. Earlier, State Minister of Business Development Shehan Semasinghe had disclosed to Parliament that the country’s foreign reserves had fallen to USD 1.5 billion as of November.

Despite the country’s dire economic situation, Mr Rajapaksa assured Parliament that Sri Lanka would not default on its debt repayment obligations next year. “With permission from the President and the Prime Minister, I assure that we will pay every single dollar that we have to pay next year,” he emphasised.

COVID-19 had wreaked havoc in many key sectors that the Government relied on for foreign exchange, the minister pointed out. For example, he said Sri Lanka had earned more than Rs. 3.6 billion from tourism in 2019. This had fallen to a meagre Rs. 100 million this year, he revealed. Foreign remittances from migrant workers too had fallen by Rs. 6 billion this year, he added.

Mr Rajapaksa also claimed that the other factor that resulted in the prevailing economic crisis was the economic mismanagement of the previous Yahapalana Government.

Earlier in the day, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa charged that banks were forcibly converting dollar earnings of resident Sri Lankans into rupees on the instructions of the Central Bank. “Is this the Government’s solution to the foreign exchange issue?” Mr Premadasa questioned, further pointing out that the dollars were being forcibly converted into rupees on the arbitrarily pegged rate of Rs. 200-203 per dollar. “They are implementing a programme of expropriation,” the Opposition Leader charged.

At a time when other countries were encouraging their exporters, entrepreneurs and investors, Sri Lanka was further subjecting them to even more red tape, Mr Premadasa said. “Instead of encouraging them, the Government is further hurting their morale. How can you increase exports in this manner? How can you have export led growth and development in this way?”

Meanwhile, the heads of expenditure of the Justice Ministry saw some Opposition MPs attacking the Government, particularly over what they said was the arbitrary and unjust detention of persons, the withdrawal of cases filed against members and supporters of the former Rajapaksa Government and the appointment of the Presidential Task Force on ‘One Country, One Law,” headed by Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda-aththe Gnanasara Thera.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran questioned why Justice Minister Ali Sabry could not take a stand and resign over the appointment of Ven. Gnanasara Thera as chairman of the Task Force, instead of just threatening to resign. “Merely telling the country and your community that you’re trying to resign but that you are unable to resign is a joke. It doesn’t do you any good,” Mr Sumanthiran stressed.

SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem, though, spoke in favour of Mr Sabry’s stance, saying “it is better to stay and fight rather than to resign and go.”

Mr Hakeem charged that the Government had combined the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Prevention of Terrorism Act to take revenge against minorities and individuals. He referred to the case of former Governor Azath Salley. Mr Hakeem noted that the High Court recently acquitted and released Mr Salley from all charges with regard to creating communal disharmony through a statement he made at a media briefing. He also pointed out that the High Court Judge had found fault with three MPs who had made “false and damaging statements to the police in order to say that he had engaged in hate speech.”

The SLMC Leader also noted that Mr Salley had been in remand for nine months without bail due to the ICCPR and PTA being combined to file charges against him.

Parliament will reconvene at 10.00am on January 11, 2022.