Govt. Is So Bankrupt It Cannot Present A Budget – Vijithe Herath

“There is a new government and a new cabinet. However, there is no new budget. The government is so bankrupt that the government is unable to present new budget proposals,” says General Secretary of the DNA Vijithe Herath.

Speaking at a press conference held at the main office of the DNA Mr. Herath said, “In November last year the government, without presenting a budge, said that a new government would be elected in April and it would not be appropriate to present a budget for three months. Now there is a new government. However, now they say they would present a ‘vote-on-account’ instead of a budget. They say the new budget would be presented only in November. This is due to the absence of a long term financial strategy for the government. The government had an agreement with the IMF. However, the government is not in a position to fulfill the conditions in this agreement.

According to these conditions the budget deficit should be reduced to 7% in 2010 and 5% in 2011. However, the budget deficit in 2009 was 9.2%. The budget deficit has gone up to 10% during the first quarter of this year. The government has only two ways of reducing the budget deficit. One is to increase income. 83% of government income is from taxes; which means taxes should be increased. The other way is to slash spending. Already, 26% from education, 32% from health sector and 35% from the agricultural sector have been slashed when compared with last year’s allocations. Next, they will have to reduce subsidies.     

The allowance promised to be given from January has not been given yet. The government should compulsorily pay the Rs. 750 as ‘cost of living’ allowance this year. This is not anything new but that has to be given. The government is celebrating the ‘International Workers’ Day’ without giving anything to the working people. The issue of the estate workers has not been solved. Teachers’ issues have not been solved. The private sector too has not got their salary increases,” said Mr. Herath.