Pros And Cons Of Budget 2016

by Camelia Nathaniel, Dileesha Abeysundara, and Ashanthi Warunasuriya

Minister Ravi Karunanayake Presenting the Budget

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayke presented the maiden budget of the national government in parliament on Friday. Many parties have commended the budget saying it was a positive budget.

However, some of the opposition parties have differing views. The JVP claims that the budget aims at pushing the country towards a totally liberal economy. The NFF is of the view that it is a photocopy of the UNP’s yali pubudamu Sri Lanka concept, and it will destabilise the production capacity of the country.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is of the view that the budget is more in favour of foreign investment and tourism. He, however, said that although allocations were made, it is questionable as to how the government intends to find the funds.

Former UPFA minister Johnston Fernando said the impact of the budget was so clear even the government MPs walked out. No one understood the budget at all, he said.

The debate of the Second Reading of the budget will be held for nine days starting from November 21 while the vote on the Second Reading will take place at 5.00 pm on December 2.The Committee stage debate will commence on December 3 and will continue 15 days and the vote on the Third Reading will take place on December 19 at 5.00.

Ajith P. Perera - Deputy Power and Renewable Energy Minister

Some members of the opposition claim they don’t understand what the budget proposals state. That is because they were not listening. There is a book printed on the budget proposals so they cannot say they don’t know what it says even if they were not listening to the speech. This budget is people friendly and is good for the economy.

There was also an allegation that Parliamentarians get vehicle permits. That has been removed through this budget. We lose from this as Parliamentarians but this is a good move. State officials get a lot from this as well. In our interim budget we increased the salaries of State employees. What this budget does to them is to set up  the environment for them to move forward. What was important from this budget was to reduce the cost of living and that is exactly what it does. This budget also looks at long term economic stability.

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Eran Wickremaratne - Deputy Public Enterprise Development Minister

When formulating a budget it must be based on short term and long term benefits. As I see it, this budget is a very balanced budget that contains both short and long term benefits. This budget is leaning towards development.

Even in the education sector it was proposed that teachers be given better training with the intention of uplifting the education standards. Further it was proposed to upgrade the infrastructure facilities in schools and university grants were increased by around 30%.

The budget also includes proposals to upgrade the hostel facilities for university students and to also give the university students a lap top each on an interest free basis. Further it was also proposed to set up a new university mainly for management and technology students. Similarly on the enterprise sector there are proposals to introduce loans to banks without guarantors and for those who have identified new ideas  to set up venture capital funds, and grant small scale businesses bank loans and also loans for female entrepreneurs at 5% interest.

There are also proposals to upgrade the government public enterprise establishments and while holding onto the strategic institutions the others will be listed in the share market.

Rs. 500 million was allocated to the bribery and corruption department in order to facilitate their investigative duties.

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Kabir Hashim - Public Enterprise Development Minister

This is a very balanced budget that is aimed at rectifying the flaws in the economy. Usually when funds are allocated for development projects such as building of roads etc, the funding allocations for other sectors automatically takes a back seat.

However in this budget we have not forgotten other areas of society and 6% has been allocated for the education sector, we have also allocated funds for the development of the health sector. Therefore while the infrastructure facilities are being developed we have also made available facilities for social development as well.

On the other hand we see that a big portion has also been allocated for housing and the upliftment of people’s lives. Firstly we need to lift up the people and for this we have devised measures to bridge the social disparity. For this the prime minister has devised a plan implement socio economic measures to uplift the standards of the lower income groups.

Our development plans have been decentralised to benefit the whole country, and we also have plans to develop 2500 cluster villages so that the livelihoods of the rural masses too could be uplifted.

As a whole I see this budget as a positive measure that could provide solutions to many issues of the economy. It is my view that this is a very good budget that is fair to all and a very balanced budget.

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Namal Rajapaksa - UPFA MP

I see that in this national government there are no consistency and the president expressing one view while the prime minister is talking about something else.

The issue I see in this budget is that all proposals on paper are fine but there is an issue in implementing these proposals in the rural areas.

There were many things in the budget that was proposed as concessions but as far as I can see these are not practical proposals and there are bound to be glitches when it comes to implementing these proposals that are indicated in the budget.

This is not good governance, as they have deprived the farmers of even the fertiliser subsidies and now they have come up with a proposal to give the school children a voucher for school uniforms instead of giving them the uniform materials.

Therefore I think that this budget is more of an eye wash rather than a very practical one.

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Champika Ranawaka – Megapolis and Western Development Minister

This is a very good budget that caters to every aspect of society and there are concessions incorporated in this budget for all. The prices of many essential commodities have been reduced, which will be a big help for the ordinary people.

I also see this as a futuristic budget that has given prominence to the education sector with the intention of uplifting the education sector in the country. Rs 90,000 million have been allocated for education.

There are also new tax schemes that have been introduced that will ease the burden on the people but also sustain the economic growth of this country. A proposal was also made to set up a new institution that will empower and strengthen the state sector enterprises.

The health sector too would be further developed with the allocation of Rs 3,000 million to be allocated to build three new Cancer Hospitals in Nallur, Kandy and Matara. Overall I think that this is a very balanced and good budget.

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Vajira Abeywardena - Home  Affairs Minister

The budget has funds allocated to each Grama Sevaka divisions. Each each Grama Sevaka division has been given funds to ensure those areas develop on par with other parts of the country

K. D. Lalkantha - NTUC Head

This budget has failed to address any of the concerns of the working class and provide them with any concessions.

The State sector employees had requested the government to include all allowances due to them in their salaries. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe promised to grant this request to the State sector before the end of September, but he failed to keep his promise. However, the unions and the State sector employees expected the government to take this into consideration when presenting the budget, but again the Maithri/Ranil government disappointed us.

Although the government promised the private sector employees a salary hike of Rs. 2500, now they say they are trying to fulfill this promise within two years. This is unacceptable. The unions will certainly disagree to this ploy by the government. The government has let down the private sector employees as well.

There is another serious issue. The government is planning to introduce a pension scheme for State sector employees from January 2016 – a contributory pension scheme where employees have to contribute a percentage from their salaries to the pension fund. The government claims that the current pension scheme is a burden on the government and this new scheme will lessen this burden.

Moreover, they have neglected even the estate sector with this budget. As a whole, the government has let down all segments of the working class.

The JVP definitely opposes this deceptive budget and will oppose the passing of it in parliament. We urge all other parliamentarians to oppose passing this budget.

We also call upon the general public to prepare to protest against this budget that provides no concessions for the working class.

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Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa - JVP MP

Even though I was listening to the budget being read, I really did not understand the language that the Finance Minister was talking.

As a whole, this budget will create an economy that JR started and Premadasa continued. This budget has given all the facilities that can possibly be given to the international stakeholders. It will destroy the economic structure of this country.

The midterm economic policy was a new liberal concept. Today too we see attempt to create such an economic structure. We totally oppose the provisions given to foreign investors to acquire local lands.

They have also made the education a free market commodity. This budget will also pave the way for the sale of economic, State, and constitutional institutions. Hence, this budget will be instrumental in destroying the national economy.

The budget has not given concessions for the people. It is totally fraudulent, deceptive and favourable for the fraudsters and crooks, but not for the people.

The budget has been designed to suit the national government’s policies. So, we are totally against these UNP–SLFP alliance policies.

However, we see that some fields have been given concessions. But when formulating a country’s budget, all spheres of society and the economy have to be taken into consideration. There is nothing worthwhile in the policies of this budget.

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M. A. Sumanthiran - TNA MP 

Several relief measures have been provided in this budget. At first glance this is a relief budget for the people

Gamini Jayawickrama Perera – Minister of Food Security

This was a good budget with long term, viable development goals. It also encourages development in variety of fields including the educational and IT sectors.

It also will provide lot of reliefs for the common man and lower the cost of living.

We will also see a lot of reliefs and facilities for the tourism sector. We are planning on creating our own free trade zones and duty free locations. As Singapore is now too expensive, we can encourage India and other Asian countries to come here instead. This would also attract more tourists and will boost the tourism industry.

The locals too can benefit from this plan as it will create more job opportunities and will increase their income.

But many in the opposition were in shock as they did not expect such a positive budget.

I commend the Finance minister for coming up with such a positive and viable, people-friendly budget that facilitates development.

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Jayantha Samaraweera – UPFA MP

This budget will destroy the production sector of the country. In 2001, the UNP tried to implement the ‘Yali Pubudamu Sri Lanka’ project and this budget reminds us of that plan.

By reducing the price of milk, the local dairy farmer is further burdened. The farmers are facing a huge dilemma over how they can keep up with production costs and market their produce at competitive rates. This is the same situation for all sectors.

At a glance one may think this is a great budget. But in reality, it is nothing but a sugar coated delusion. With regard to lands, this government is very partial toward foreign investors. This government’s allegiance towards foreign countries is at such an extent, even all taxes on foreign tele-dramas have been removed. Even with the EPF, ETF and pensions, there are great complications which are not favourable for the people.

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Bandula Gunawardena - SLFP MP

This is a deceptive budget aimed at cheating the people. It will pave the way for an open market economy. We feel that this government is trying to play with the people’s money. This budget has even aimed at selling the lands in this country to foreign investors. The government has not even spared the pensioners. They have targeted their pension and try to deprive them of it. They have relaxed the labour market. We can see that the government has given greater prominence to foreign investment with this budget. The government also intends to obtain foreign trade loans as well. They plan to obtain these loans in Yuan.

Although some goods were taken under a maximum retail price tag, implementing it throughout the country is not easy. Prices of gas and fuel will definitely reduce as there is a downward trend in world oil prices. According to economic analysts, reduction in oil prices would save the country Rs. 300 billion this year. Under these circumstances, I feel that the government could have given the people more concessions with this budget. They have failed to increase the State sector basic salaries, and they have also scrapped their permits. The budget speech did not mention the promised motor cycles for the State sector employees. Although they say they have allocated millions for the education sector, at the end of the year, we will definitely have to ask the government on what they had spent these allocations.

There was no mention about the promised price revisions for the tea, rubber, and paddy sector. This budget is based on speculation that foreign investment will come into the country, but nothing has been mentioned about the development of the local economy.

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Dullas Alahapperuma - SLFP parliamentarian (joint opposition)

I see three aspects in this budget. The first is it has no Bandaranayake, Maithri or Mahinda Chinthanaya. Hence, I do not know how to agree with this budget.

The second issue is that this budget was brought in order to complete the work that Ranil Wickremesinghe commenced in 2004. He always said this is the third generation. The first was JR, the second was Premadasa, and his is the third. Hence, this is a market centered budget. There are many incomprehensible aspects of this budget and the main factor is that this is market based budget and one that will dilute the State service. There is nothing mentioned in this budget about the farmers. They have failed to keep their promise of providing concessions for the tea industry as well. In fact, everything the Finance Minister said is not in the budget. According to this budget, the promised Rs. 2500 salary increment for the private sector, only Rs 1500 will be given  this year and Rs. 1000 in 2017. This is a big joke .The government has taken the private sector workers for a ride. There is no mention of salary increments for the State sector either. When talking of the essential commodities, we are ready to take the positives. We accept that the reduction in gas prices will certainly benefit the people. Whether the government will be able to continue in the same way and maintain these concessions is highly doubtful. The government has focused mainly on opening up avenues for foreign investors, and this could be problematic as they are prepared to pay higher prices for lands, and the locals will not be able to do so. Hence, I see this budget is totally focused on bringing in foreign investment.