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By Sandun Jayawardana  

The final result was 123 votes for and 80 against. There were two abstentions while 19 MPs were not in the Chamber when the division was taken. They included all 10 MPs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

As he had done during the vote on the second reading, Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani Leader C.V. Wigneswaran abstained. This time though, he was joined by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kandy District MP Velu Kumar. The MP is part of the Tamil Progressive Alliance led by Mano Ganesan, who announced soon after the vote that they had suspended Mr Velu Kumar’s party membership for going against the party’s decision to vote against the Budget.

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya likened trying to rebuild the country’s battered economy to rebuilding a collapsed building from the foundation up

The SJB, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), National People’s Power (NPP) and the two main breakaway Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) factions sitting with the opposition; namely the Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya led by Wimal Weerawansa and the Freedom People’s Congress led by Dullas Alahpperuma, voted against the Budget. The third SLPP opposition group led by Anura Priyadarshana Yapa was split; with Mr Yapa and Chandima Weerakkody voting against the Budget while MPs John Seneviratne, Priyankara Jayaratne and Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle voting for it.

Several MPs who sit as independents with the opposition also voted in support of the Budget. They were Jeewan Thondaman and M. Rameshwaran of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress, Ali Sabri Raheem of the Muslim National Alliance, SLPP MP Nimal Lanza and National Congress Leader A.L.M. Athaullah. SLFP MP Duminda Dissanayake meanwhile, defied his party to vote in favour of the Budget. Mr Dissanayake did the same during the vote on its second reading. His defection takes the number of SLFP MPs supporting the government to nine. That leaves SLFP leader and former President Maithripala Sirisena with only five MPs.

An analysis of Budget 2023 indicates that it was not drafted as per advice given by qualified officials but that it had been guided by selfish political interests, said SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne, opening the final day’s debate where the expenditure heads of the Ministries of Finance and Investment Promotion were taken up. He claimed many of the objectives and forecasts set out in the Budget are unrealistic.

While the government predicts state revenue to increase by 63%, expenditure is set to go up by 31% in 2023, he noted. The economy however, is contracting. He also appealed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to only set targets that Sri Lanka can achieve. Mr Wickramaratne reminded that Sri Lanka has already entered into 16 agreements with the IMF. Nine of the agreements were completed but Sri Lanka gave up on seven others. The country is in danger of giving up on the eighth one even before it is signed, he warned.

“This Budget is neither realistic nor fair. It is going to be a failure,” predicted the MP. Claiming that there were more than 1000 schools without running water and 1800 without toilets, Mr Wickramaratne opined that the government should have allocated more funds towards health and education rather than on infrastructure and defence.  

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya likened trying to rebuild the country’s battered economy to rebuilding a collapsed building from the foundation up. Meanwhile, 60% of families in the country are asking the government for welfare.

He said the opposition opted not to take over even though they were requested to assume power. This was because they knew the state of the economy and were afraid to take on the challenge. “They start off their Budget speeches by saying they support raising government revenue, but towards the middle, they tell us not to levy this or that tax. This is their political interests taking over. Then towards the end, they also ask us to increase salaries and give more relief. What is this contradiction?”

The state minister said all must acknowledge that the situation has somewhat improved, and cited the end of fuel, gas and fertiliser shortages as examples. “The power cuts that lasted for more than 10 hours have been reduced to two. Children are back in school. Yes, there is a shortage of medicines in hospitals but not to an extent where they have to close down. This shows that the President as Finance Minister has managed to improve the economy,” he opined.

It is a lie to say that the economic situation has improved, charged National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He reminded that several ministers had also lied to Parliament about the seriousness of the crisis.

“Some said we had more than enough dollars. I remember the then State Minister of Finance saying the US Dollar was pegged at Rs. 203 and that efforts are being taken to bring it down to Rs. 190. He claimed that our foreign reserves would hit USD 3.5 billion at the end of last December. He also presented a report detailing how the government was going to earn USD 33 billion in revenue,” he pointed out. The NPP leader said the comments by government ministers reflected how they were concealing the real situation to the extent that some were “under self-hypnosis” while others were speaking without an in-depth understanding of the seriousness of the crisis.

The only reason that there are no longer any queues for essentials such as fuel, fertiliser, gas and milk powder is that the country is no longer paying its debts, meaning there are funds left over to purchase them, Mr Dissanayake noted. The economic crisis remains: It has simply been covered with a flimsy piece of paper, he argued.

Taking to the floor on the final day of the debate, President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasised the importance of taking “unpopular decisions” for the sake of the country. He said there was simply no other way but to increase electricity tariffs given that if the government could not show profits, no one would come to the country’s aid.

“We have not increased the electricity bills since 2013 and all of us are responsible for the loss. Now what are we going to do? If you have a deficit of Rs. 400 billion, what are you going to do? There are only three options: print money, put on VAT or charge directly,” he pointed out.

While the people are making sacrifices, those responsible for precipitating the economic crisis have so far escaped punishment, SJB MP Kabir Hashim told the President. “Some of the officials and politicians who were responsible for the crisis remain at large,” he stressed. Mr Hashim appealed to the President to appoint a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) to identify and punish those responsible for the crisis as a first step towards restoring public trust.

President Wickremesinghe said he can appoint a PCoI if the House agrees, but suggested it would be better to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the matter. “I don’t think there’s anything to hide. Our system had a lot of structural defects which got triggered off by reducing the taxes and I think my predecessor, the former President has accepted that,” the President said. President Wickremesinghe said the PSC will also be important to identify the structural deficiencies that led to the crisis.