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| Sunday,13 November 2005 |
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Business community hails 2006 Budget The second budget of the UPFA government was hailed by the business community as a well focused and development oriented budget. "This is not an election targeted budget, but a very consultative budget. Many of these proposals have been already initiated and the budget proposals are a continuation of the policies adopted from last year. Chairman of the National Chambers of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) Mrs. N.M.S. Samaratunge said that it is not a budget targeting the elections but a continuation of the policies initiated by the last budget. She said that the NCCSL is happy because many of their proposals have been considered and included in the budget.We see an improvement in the economy and the economic growth rate is close to six percent this year and we hope over six percent in the short term and also a seven to eight percent growth rate in the medium term is realistic, Samaratunge said. The budget focuses on UN millennium development goals and alleviation of poverty. On the macro level it is positive and has addressed areas such as investment, regional development, agriculture and the SME sector. Therefore we welcome Social Responsibility Levy introduced by this budget but hope that the money will be utilised correctly. As the Finance Minister said the chamber welcomes the pro-poor budget because these issues have to be addressed to equally distribute the benefits when the economy is growing. The reintroduction of the stamp is a policy reversal. On the other hand increasing of VAT on financial services will increase the intermediate cost which will finally go to the consumers. NCCSL said that their proposals relating to the printing and packaging industry, transport, renewable energy, infrastructure, agriculture and shipping have been included in the budget. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) in a statement said it is constrained to reiterate that their position is that the budget should not have been presented immediately prior to a Presidential election, the rationale being that the President to be elected shortly should be afforded the manoeuvrability to implement the vision for which he had received a mandate. There was also the concern that a pre-election budget could be used as a political contrivance. "Whilst it would appear that this may not to be the case, our first concern remains." "Our overall assessment of the budget is that it lacks the vitality required to energise the economy and eradicate poverty. Strategies to promote savings and investment, in particular foreign direct investment and development of infrastructure, such as roads, railways and power, have not been adequately addressed." The National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) welcomes the fact that the proposals in the current Budget are a continuation of the Government's Development Policies which were focused on during the previous budget despite the current political scenario. The NCE also notes that a few of the proposals made by the Chambers in relation to the export sector have been included in the Budget Proposals while most of the other proposals which were made and would have been beneficial to the export sector have not been addressed. |
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