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| Sunday, 27 November 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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New Budget to focus on Mahinda Chinthana by Surekha Galagoda The rationale for presenting a new budget is to ensure that no time is wasted in implementing the work plan spelt out in the President's Mahinda Chinthana manifesto. Senior Economic Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs Ajith Nivard Cabraal in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer Business said that the people of the country supported and voted for the President and therefore we should give confidence to the people that the plan is being worked out. He said that the budget presented to Parliament on November 8 could not accommodate everything spelt out in the Mahinda Chinthana manifesto as the time between presenting the manifesto and the budget was very short. He said that the budget to be presented in Parliament on December 8 will be pro business and it will include measures to assist micro, small, medium and large enterprises. Cabraal said that the policy changes will be accommodated wherever necessary but assured that none of the relief measures offered by the budget on November 8 will be curtailed. In addition all the recommendations made by the trade chambers in the country will remain as spelt out in the budget of November 8. Speaking of tax measures introduced in the budget, he said that whatever was introduced previously will remain. The allocated defence expenditure is sufficient to keep the modern forces going therefore we will not increase the defence expenditure, Cabraal said. Cabraal said that it is very unlikely that the budget deficit will increase from the projected 7% as President Rajapakse is keen to keep it within this range while relief measures will be financed from other sources of funding. Speaking of the fertiliser subsidy, he said that it will be given immediately but rather than a subsidy it can be called an investment in agriculture. For eg. in USA there is similar assistance for agriculture but they never use the word subsidy. He said that the fertiliser subsidy alone will not help develop the agriculture sector as every sphere relating to agriculture such as land, seed technology, post harvesting technology, storage, packaging, water tank rebuilding and ensuring a market for the produce with mechanisms such as forward sales contracts are necessary to improve the sector. All these are in the Mahinda Chinthana manifesto and they will be implemented during the next six years, he said. In addition an efficient monitoring mechanism will be implemented under the Ministry of Plan Implementation under the direct purview of President Rajapakse to ensure the implementation of these systems. Cabraal said that the President is very conscious of the growth rates that we promised to maintain. The main challenge to achieving this is to ensure that the growth is equally spread among all provinces. At present the per capita income and the GDP contribution of the Western Province is far higher than that of other provinces. According to statistics the WP contributes 50% of the GDP share of the country while the contribution from all other provinces amounts to 50%. This situation has to be changed very quickly if we are to avoid deep-rooted social problems. Therefore, President Rajapakse is very keen to give a lot of support and assistance to develop other provinces while supporting the development of the Western Province. All would be able to see that happening over the next six years so that the country would have a more balanced economy with growth spread equally among all provinces. *** Policies to be prioritised The new budget will prioritise policies spelt out in the Mahinda Chintana manifesto which are scheduled to be implemented from January 2006. The Appropriation Bill will be presented to Parliament to accommodate and prioritise pledges put before the people in the Mahinda Chintana manifesto. According to sources the budget will probably include support for
agriculture and farmer communities, enhanced industrial development,
creating employment, measures focusing on reducing disparities at regional
level and alleviating poverty while empowering the rural communities. |
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