‘Budget 2009 :has no solutions in reality’

( November 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Addressing a media conference today (13 Nov) , UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake said, there is only one clear objective in the budget 2009, that is, the Govt. is desperately trying only to sustain the largest Cabinet in the world of 110 Ministers and the massive panel of Presidential advisors at the expense of the masses.

The Govt. has been continuously increasing its obese Cabinet and fleet of Presidential advisors while decreasing the welfare of the people and progress of the country.

The Govt. is talking of developing the local Industries when increasing the taxes ruthlessly and burdening the people . This is what it said the previous year and the year before too. Did our local Industries develop? , he asked. It allocated Rs. 40,000 million in the last year budget for agriculture . Has the country’s agriculture sector developed ? , it is in a worse state than ever before. So are the other Industries , the Tea, rubber and garment Industry, to name a few ,are all in a state of collapse. Every year it is increasing the Budget expenditure towards every sector while the income expected from these are diminishing . The war too is one of them , every year it talks of completing the war , but drags it on to the following year. If only the Govt.’s maladministration, fiscal bungling, corruption and myopic policies are rectified, that alone will be enough to give relief to the people. While the MihinAir has clearly bared itself as a white elephant draining down Rs. 7000 million of people’s money , the Govt. is allocating Rs. 6000 million in the budget to flog this dead horse. Has this Govt. in its financial desperation borrowing from all Banks at exorbitant rates of interest and having no repayment plans gone crazy , like a financial fraudster going mad when he has lost all the money he has collected from swindles? , he questioned. - Sri Lanka Guardian