Corporate leaders, intellectuals share views on Interim Budget 2015
Monday, 2 February 2015 11:48
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The new Government on Thursday presented the Interim Budget 2015 in Parliament offering concessions to all sectors of the economy. Corporate leaders commended the proposals put forward, while some expressed concerns on the new government policy direction of the economy.
The following corporate leaders, intellectuals and associations shared their views with Daily FT:
Senior Economist Prof. Sirimal Abeyratne: “I am a little surprised with the interim budget presented. It certainly has addressed some of the urgent concerns such as cost of living, irregularities on taxation and government expenditure. However, the Government has not yet shown its policy direction of the economy. Hence, it is imperative to regain the lost investor confidence and look into long-term policy directions.”
The Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Hiran Cooray: “As a hotelier, hotel operators and from the association’s perspective we are extremely happy with the measures taken by this interim budget as it would bring down the operational cost significantly. We find this as a very people friendly and progressive budget.”
Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe: “Interim Budgets are very unique and will no doubt be welcomed by people. Price mechanism is the only way by which benefits can be passed on to the consumers across the board. Tax cut on prices to drop in the market and together with the substantial increase in wages of public servants would raise the disposal income of low and middle income households appreciably. In addition, with higher household income, these measures would also help improve income distribution and reduce disparity between high and low income brackets. I hope the private sector will cooperate and follow suit the wage increase suggested by the Minister.”
HVA Group Chairman Rohan Fernando said: “The budget proposed yesterday is centred round the promises made at the last Presidential election against a 100 day program. In relation to that, most of the proposals are substantial and the Government has achieved its objectives whilst maintaining a lower budget deficit around 4.6%. The accent on arresting wastage especially in relation to the expenditure on the Presidential system and the large cabinet of ministers is noteworthy. Highlighting the wasteful schemes in maintaining two airlines at a heavy loss to the exchequer and revisiting the costs estimated for mega development projects also give us hope of a cleaner administration.
However, we need to see the implementation of these proposals which appear to us as pro development involving the private sector. The relief packages offered by the Government will help all and sundry and bring down the costs of basic consumables and the reduction of fuel cost should have direct and indirect effect in transport and manufacturing.
However, the request for increase in salaries in the private sector needs to be looked at in a practical and viable manner. All in all it is a good budget under the circumstances and we in the private sector look towards a definitive pro development budget to be presented after the parliamentary elections in April 2015.”
George Steuart Finance PLC Managing Director Channa de Silva: “The budget has finally looked at the poor and the middle class. Good start to bring down the cost of living. Also the next step is to support all growing industries and SME sectors especially with access to finance and credit lines at reasonable interest rates.”
ESOFT Metro Campus Chairman/Managing Director Dr. Dayan Rajapakse: “Being someone from the education industry, I think the proposal to increase expenditure on education up to 6% of GDP is a strategic move. This shows that the Government believes that economic development of the country can be achieved ‘only through a knowledge based economy’. For that they have to invest on the youth. I hope the budgets will be used to improve the qualitative aspects of education giving emphasis to more demanding fields such as engineering, technology and IT streams.” Comtrust Asset Management Ltd Director/CEO P. Asokan: “The Budget has provided lot of concessions aimed at easing the burden of the poor and the senior citizens. With the proposed salary increments for government servants and reduction in price of essential goods, the disposable income of the people is expected to improve which will lead to increase in savings and contribute for the economic growth of the country. Prevention of unnecessary wasteful expenditure is commendable. Close monitoring is essential to achieve revenue targets and control expenditure. Efforts aimed at getting back the GSP + concessions and removing the restrictions placed on fish exports to Europe are steps in the right direction. Looking forward for a bright and prosperous Sri Lanka.”
Sri Lanka Convention Bureau CEO Vipula Wanigasekera: “The people are obviously happy with the interim budget which offers so many concessions. Well, we needed a ‘Robin Hood’ or ‘Saradiel Strategy’ at some point of time, which seems to have realised now. The beauty here is that the power has transferred to people so the polity needs to bear in mind the strength of the people rather than election gimmicks deployed from time to time. This interim budget reflects the true nature of governance and the Government I believe will have a monitoring mechanism to curb all unnecessary expenditure to sustain the concessions given to the people.”
