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President sends son to the US to make him an astronaut and closes down schools our children attend - Anura Dissanayake |
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2009-10-07 | 1.15 PM |
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JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, “It is not the Rajapakse government and his ministers, their henchmen and relatives who suffer the consequences of the economic crisis. It is the poor people living in rural villages. The President’s son is studying in the US to become an astronaut. But the school where the poor children study is being closed down. The crisis has not affected the leaders and their luxurious life styles have not changed.”
He made this statement at a media briefing held at the party headquarters on Tuesday (6). JVP Central Committee member Duminda Nagamuwa also participated at the briefing. |
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Anura Kumara Dissanayake also said, “According to information received by us, the government is not going to present a budget for 2010. A supplementary estimate is to be presented instead. Why is the government no presenting budget? Our economy has experienced a considerable downfall. State revenue has seen a drastic decline. The government has experienced a shortfall of Rs. 89,000 million in its 200 revenue. The tax revenue for the first eight months of 2009 has seen a 6.8% as opposed to 2008. The non tax revenue has declined by 27.9%. The 2009 budget was hopeful of recording a deficit of 8%. However, the deficit increased to 10.4% in the first eight months of 2009. According to the International Monetary Fund conditions, the deficit has to be contained at 5% by 2011. Therefore, the government had to present proposals to ensure they achieve this target.
“Regardless of the kind of budget presented, there are expenses in certain areas that cannot be curtailed. The Rs. 664,020 million spent on public sector salaries, Rs. 121,050 million on pensions, Rs. 209,825 million to repay loans and Rs. 146,304 million for defence expenditure have to be allocated. Only the allocations made for health, education and relief measures could be slashed in the budget. The government is not presenting the budget because they know that a budget that slashes relief measures in an election year would be similar to committing suicide.
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