SJB questions April-August State expenditure sans Parliament approval

• Ranawaka says Article 150 (3) only gives powers to President to draw funds from Consolidated Fund for three months
• Seeks clarification from PM on the issue
• Says 2020 will go down in country’s history as year without a Budget
• Says $ 7.2 b foreign reserves which CBSL built up under last Govt. used to pay off foreign loans

The Samagi Jana Balawe-gaya (SJB) yesterday raised questions over the Government‘s use of funds for the period between April to August this year without the authorisation of Parliament. 

“While the Treasury Secretary had issued a circular dated 10 March that the President had authorised the utilisation of funds under Article 150 (3) of the Constitution, only Parliament has the power to approve a VoA,” SJB Colombo District MP Champika Ranawaka said. 

He said the SBJ’s stance is that Article 150 (3) only gives powers to the President to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund for public expenses till three months from the date on which the new Parliament is summoned to meet.

“It does not grant him powers to draw funds or approve a VoA from the date of dissolving Parliament. The Prime Minister must clarify this in his capacity as the Finance Minister. We hope he will provide Parliament with a detailed account on State revenue during the past eight months of this year, how revenue from various taxes came to the Government and the Government’s recurrent expenditure before the end of the debate,” he said.

Ranawaka said 2020 will go down as a significant year in the country’s history for not having a Budget.

“A similar situation arose in 2015. This was just after a Presidential Election and with a General Election also looming. However, the then Government discussed with all parties concerned and still managed to present a Budget. 

“This Government however, though it came to power in November last year, could not present a Budget this year. It relied on a VoA passed by the previous Government which approved funds up to 30 April this year. We now have another VoA for funds from 1 September to 31 December,” he said.

Opening the debate on the Vote on Account (VoA) for the Opposition, the SJB MP also said that the country’s present fiscal crisis did not come about due to the COVID-19 pandemic but because of the ill-advised economic and tax policies of the Government.

He said the Government’s tax policies implemented from 1 December 2019 has had a disastrous impact on State revenue. Due to these policies, annual State revenue, which had been near Rs. 2 trillion during the previous Government, had plummeted to about Rs. 1 trillion since last December, he alleged.

“By my estimate, State revenue this year will be about Rs. 1,100 billion, whereas the interest on loans alone is about Rs. 1 trillion. As such, this is the first time that the country’s revenue is only enough to pay off the interest on the country’s loans,” he further said.

Ranawaka pointed out that before the pandemic forced the country into lockdown, the economic growth rate during the first three months of 2020, was minus 1.6%. “That was the Government’s report card before COVID-19. According to the Asian Development Bank’s forecast, the economy is due to contract by 0.6% this year. The Government can’t hide behind COVID-19 and claim everything was because of it. The fact remains that the economy was in severe distress long before it came around.”

He also alleged that the $ 7.2 billion foreign reserves which the previous Government’s Central Bank Governor managed to build up were now being used to pay off foreign loans.

He also took aim at the new Government’s protectionist economic policy adding that issuing a blanket ban on imports is only going to further worsen an already difficult situation. “You can’t develop local industries in this manner,” he said. (CK)