Basil promises relief before Sinhala and Tamil New Year

The Government was prepared to provide relief to the people before the upcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said today. 

The Minister made the statement while delivering concluding remarks at today's All Party Conference (APC) held at President's House in Colombo.. 

Minister Rajapaksa said he also agreed with representations made by the United National Party, Sri Lanka Freedom Party and several other parties that the present Budget needs to be amended to reflect the present situation and funds diverted to provide relief to the people.

If Cabinet approves, the Finance Minister said he is also prepared to present a fresh Budget after the upcoming new year period. 

Mr Rajapaksa made the remarks after representatives of various parties urged the Government to divert funds marked for development work in the 2022 Budget to welfare programmes for the people as they have been hit hard by the prevailing economic crisis.  

Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajakasa also apologised to United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe over the opening statement made by the Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal in his opening remarks at the APC. 

“The All-Party Conference was initiated by the SLFP. I was invited by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. We consider the APC important to discuss the present economic crisis. However, the Central Bank Governor opened his speech blaming our government. We did attend APC to talk about party politics or blame governments. If I reply, this will drag till the time King Wijeya ruled. If he (Wijeya) hadn’t arrived there won’t be the present crisis. During our government, we followed a different policy, where people were able to eat, drink, and they had fuel,” Mr. Wickremesinghe.

President Rajapaksa replying to Mr. Wickremesinghe said he was sorry if there were any hurtful words in Cabraal’s speech.

“There was no intention of blaming anyone. The APC was called with the genuine intention of getting views of all parties,” the President said.

 President Rajapaksa addressing the gathering held at the President’s House requested other parties who have boycotted today’s APC to join in future discussions.

The Sajith Premadasa led Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB),Jathika Jana Balawegaya (formerly JVP), National People’s Front, Ceylon Workers Congress, Sri Lanka Makkal Congress, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, TELO are among parties boycotted the All Party Conference.

Ranil Wickremasinghe addressing the APC said the government has failed to show commitment or transparency with regard to discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“We request to make the IMF full report available to all Parliamentarians. The full report in Pakistan has been released. Many parties did not attend the APC based on this,” he said.