Government spends revenue to repay loans and instalments
- Monday, 04 November 2013
The government has revealedin
its data that it spends the revenue generated by the country to repay loans and instalments, the JVP said.
JVP politburo member, parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a news conference that the government’s Appropriation Bill for 2014 has shown that the estimated revenue is Rs. 1,542 billion while the government plans to take loans amounting to Rs. 1,200 billion.
“Therefore, the government spends the revenue on repaying loans and instalments. The government uses monies taken through loans for day to day expense. In fact, the government cannot survive without loan,” he said.
“Therefore, the government spends the revenue on repaying loans and instalments. The government uses monies taken through loans for day to day expense. In fact, the government cannot survive without loan,” he said.
In 2012, the government has repaid loans amounting to Rs. 1,017 billion, he added.
“When the government takes loans, the foreign agencies impose conditions and the government has to then follow them,” Dissanayake pointed out.
He observed that the government should prepare the 2014 budget to meet the needs of the people and not a few members of the government.
He charged that a major portion of the 2014 budget has been allocated to the portfolios held by members of the first family and that 50% of the funds allocated to other ministries in the 2012 have not yet been given to the relevant ministries.
Champika Ranawaka’s Casino Rant Highlights JHU Hypocrisy
Shyamon Jayasinghe
The current casino crisis has ruffled a government that is generally unshaken by public outrage over anything. There are many sides to the casino project of Australian gambling magnate James Packer: its economic cost-benefit, the accountability process, and the moral dimension and social repercussions that it may entail. Minister Champika Ranawaka-frontline face of the Jathika Hela Urumaya- has decided to take up arms over the moral and social repercussions. Indeed the public expectation about the JHU at the beginning was that the party would act as a badly needed moral conscience- raiser that can rein in a government prone to excesses. That expectation vanished when that party got reined in by the establishment. Has Chamipka given us new hope?
None, it seems when a high-profile JHU monk in Parliament reportedly made a statement in favour of the casino project. According to the report the monk had stated that Sri Lanka must move ahead with the rest of the world implying thereby that the casino idea is a progressive step forward. The two contradictory stands represent in different ways the religious hypocrisy of the “morals party.” We sinners know that it is not surprising for religious groups to be hypocritical. When such groups are tied to the political bandwagon their hypocrisy is metaphorically naked.
The pro-casino monk has agreed to the government proposal with the proviso that the Five-Star casino should be confined only to foreigners. It is bad for the locals but good for foreigners. The monk has had a moment of alzheimers when he forgot that the Dhamma is for all humanity and not merely for locals. If one takes up the position that allowing this casino is something morally outrageous isn’t it bad nestling it in Colombo- the capital of Dhammadeepa- with a massive tax haven to boot? Read More
