Budget 2008: A damp squib and a calculated hoax on the people say UNP

(November, 08, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ravi Karunanayake, the UNP Parliamentarian addressing the Media today (08 Nov) quipped that the President, who is also the Finance Minister in Sri Lanka is not needed to present a Budget of this nature as it is just some statistics without any programs or plans for the development of the country or the improvement of people’s welfare. A statistical clerk would have performed better, because he would have at least provided true figures. A careful analysis reveals that the President has made every effort not to give actual relief to the people, but rather to provide comic relief to himself and those unconscionable comedians rallying round him in all the treacherous aims while people are being struck by tragedy through his 2008 budget.

This is a budget which is aimless, baseless and directionless. It has only sought ways and means overtly and covertly to impose taxes, price hikes and burdens, he added.

What relief has this budget provided to the people in real terms, none at all, he exclaimed.

The salary increase of Rs. 375.00 for Govt. servants which so loudly the President announces is hardly a relief in the context of the sky high cost of living. Besides, this is nothing when compared with the promised amount based on the cost of living index in the Mahinda Chintana which was never honoured.

The Budget allocates only Rs. 100 million towards Housing Development, but, Rs. 302 million is allocated for President’s Office, and a meager 5 % increase in the Budget expenditure for the education sector, on which the future of the country’s younger generation depends proves the concern the President has shown for the welfare of the people.

Over and above the increase in taxes and levies, there are also hidden levies not even mentioned in the Budget like the 25 % Vat increase whereby every item purchased will shoot up in price.

Juggleries in Budget allocations have also been resorted to is unprecedented in the country’s history of Budget presentations , he said, referring to the sum of Rs.591 billion expenditure allocation in the budget without Parliamentary approval.

At the end of the day, what we see is the characteristic cold calculated ruthless streak of the Rajapakse Administration to develop the Rajapakse’s budget allocations at the expense of the people who are taxed and taxed on every breath of their lives.