News
|
||||
Budget
passed The Government won support from the JHU and the CWC while the UNP, the TNA and the SLMC voted against the budget. Among those voting for the budget was Rohitha Bogollagama who crossed over to the government last week. There was speculation that more UNF MPs would cross over to the government side during the vote yesterday, but it did not happen. Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama winding up the debate said Mr. Bogollagama's cross over was the beginning for many others to follow. He said the UNP had exposed its political bankruptcy by criticising a budget that had been hailed by most economists and trade unionists. Dr. Amunugama said that \ for the first time, a government had defied the dictates of the IMF and introduced a budget that would be beneficial to the people as a whole. TNA Jaffna district MP Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam said the budget was irrelevant for the people of the North and East because it had addressed very little of their needs. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said his party's opposition to the budget was largely politics and a protest against the government's continuing efforts to win over members of his party. UNP Colombo district MP Bandula Gunawardena who wound up the debate on behalf of the Opposition accused the Finance Minister of showing flawed statistics to mislead the people with unrealistic and unachievable targets being set to achieve economic growth. Agriculture Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that 26 years of bad economic strategy had left the country with a crumbling transport system, bad road networks, a poor agricultural system and almost a non-existent social services system. He said the budget was aimed at salvaging the country from the yoke of import dependency. |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
