We vote against budget which is only a bag of promises made by maneuvering statistics – JVP

MONDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2014 

The JVP would vote against the budget proposals presented by the President as it has been made a budget of the family says the Information Secretary of the JVP Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath.

He said this speaking at a media meeting held at the head office of the JVP at Pelawatta yesterday (26th). The Member of the JVP Central Committee and Western Provincial Councilor Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa was also present.

Speaking further Mr. Herath said, “Budget proposals point out the direction the country is moving economically in a particular year. However, the budget presented by the government does not have any vision. As usual, it proves that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has no programme to salvage the economy of the country.

The expectation of the people was an increased income by increasing production. However, Rajapaksa regime, as usual, has buried the country in a heap of debt. The income estimate is Rs. 1689 billion while the total expenditure is Rs.2210 billion.

The government following instructions of IMF has made a jugglery of figures. At present the IMF pressurizes the government to minimize the budget deficit. Earlier, the strategy of the IMF was to get state institutions privatized. Now, the government is pressurized to slash public welfare to decrease the budget deficit.

Accordingly, statistics have been manipulated to show that the budget deficit would be reduced to 4.6% of the GNP. However, the real deficit is not this. The loan installment that has to be paid for next year has not been included in this budget. It is calculated that the loan installment that has to be paid next year is Rs. 84000 million. When this is added the budget deficit for next year would be about 14%.  This appears in technical notes Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance does not present in his budget speech. As such, the country is confronted with a serious situation. While paying a loan of Rs. 840000 million it has estimated to get another Rs. 178000 million as a loan next year. This is burdening the people with more and more debt.

It has been revealed that the net debt per capita is Rs.321,000. It has been confirmed that it would rise to Rs.400,000 at the end of this year.

The government has started a new game. The normal system is to record foreign loans that are obtained in the foreign resources department of the Ministry of Finance. Now, each ministry has been allowed to get loans for various projects. Ceylon Electricity Board is an example. Institutions have been made to find funds for their projects. As such the total foreign debt is not recorded in the foreign resources department of the Ministry of Finance. Another example is getting bank loans to carpet roads. The Chairman of NSB opposed this scheme of getting foreign loans. He explained that getting foreign loans by banks would jeopardize their existence. The result was Mr. Sunil S. Sirisena was pressurized to resign.

When considering the real situation the real debt of the country exceeds 120% of the GNP. This is how getting loans has been made a gamble. The budget proposals presented by the Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa for the 9th time has proved yet again that he has no plan to increase production in the country. It is also very clear that the economy of the country has been dragged towards a precipice.

There is another side regarding the budget. The biggest portion of the budget presented has been reserved for the two brothers. It is a massive portion of 46.17% of the budget. The Ministry of Finance has been allocated Rs.180925 million which is 9.98% of the total spending. The Ministry of Defense gets Rs. 285022 million and it is 15.73% of the expenditure. The Ministry of Economic Development has been allocated Rs. 113000 million which is 6.24% of the budget. The Ministry of Highways gets Rs.200335 million which is 11.05% of the expenditure. The Ministry of Law and Order has been allocated Rs.57500 million which is 3.17% of the expenditure. As such the ministries of Basil Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa have been allocated 46.17% while all the other ministries of 65 ministers have been allocated only Rs.9705510 million.

The Ministry of Fisheries has been allocated only 0.3% of the expenditure. There are such small allocations for a number of ministries. The funds of Ministry of Agriculture have been reduced by Rs. 2360 million. It was allocated Rs. 44470 million this year but only Rs.42110 million has been allocated for 2015.

However, the expenditure of the President that was estimated as Rs.8560 million for this year has been raised by Rs.1030 million to Rs.9590 million for 2015. A days expenditure for the President this year is Rs. 23,400,000. When such a colossal amount of money is allocated for a single person Rs.2360 million has been slashed from the allocations for the Ministry of Agriculture. As such, this is not a budget for the country but a budget for a family. It has become a legacy of the family.

Another special characteristic of this budget is while making the same promises made in earlier budgets there is a new promise to dazzle the masses. This the general characteristics of all the 9 budgets Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa has presented.  In the budget he presented in 2005 a promise was made that 200,000 three wheelers would be given loans without VAT. Also fishermen were promised fishing gear without VAT. In 2006 budget he promised a monthly allowance of Rs.2000 for Daham School teachers. Also, pregnant mothers were promised a monthly allowance of Rs.200. In presenting the budget in 2007 he promised to open 30 to 40 factories that had been closed down by then. However, not a single factory was opened. In the budget for 2009 he promised ‘Mathata Thitha’ (stop intoxicants). However, containers of heroin and ethanol are smuggled into the country dragging the country towards calamity. The Prime Minister’s name too had been mentioned regarding these rackets. In the budget for 2012 a monthly allowance of Rs.3000 was promised for families with disabled persons. In presenting the budget for 2014 he promised controlled prices for potatoes, onions and chilies. However, no programmes have been created to fulfill these promises.

Now the budget for 2015 promises that Rs.40 would be paid for a kilo of paddy. Also, Rs. 300 is promised for a kilo of rubber. However, there are no practical plans to fulfill any of these promises. These are not promises given for an election but promises given through responsible budget proposals. However, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa doesn’t hesitate to break promises given in a responsible budget document.

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa made false promises not only to the people in Sri Lanka but he has made false promises to the state leaders of SAARC countries as well. When the summit of SAARC leaders was held in this country Mr. Rajapaksa said the largest rice storing complex would be built here. He said he would buy paddy at a fixed price of Rs.32 a kilo. However, no mechanism was established for such a project.

When considering the working masses there is nothing mentioned regarding fisherman. Also, the estate sector employees have been completely forgotten. Empty words have been used regarding employees of other sectors. The budget proposals have been used to deceive the people of the whole country.

At the moment the allowances given to state sector employees is Rs. 10,146. They asked from the budget to add all allowances to their salaries. No such thing has been carried out. The minimum salary of state employee has been brought to Rs.15,000. This was done by adding special allowances to the basic salary. However, all allowances have not been added to the basic salary. The demand of the trade unions was to add all allowances to the basic salary and increase the salary by Rs.10,000.

The COL allowance of Rs.2200 has been promised effective from next January. Also, state employees have been promised Rs.3000 and pensioners Rs.2500 as an interim allowance from November. It was said that this interim allowance would be paid in July, 2015 with arrears. These are all fabrications for the election. People are to be deceived like small children being deceived by giving toffees, chocolates and lollies.

At the election for Uva PC Rs.2500 for each family was distributed for people in Monaragala district. This money was spent by the Ministry of Economic Development. In the budget it hints that money would be distributed to people in the whole country. This is not a budget but a bribe given for the election. The JVP would vote against the budget as it is only a bag of promises made with maneuvering statistics.”