Sunday Nov 10, 2024
FT
Sunday Nov 10, 2024
Saturday, 22 December 2018 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Ashwin Hemmathagama, Our Lobby Correspondent
The Vote on Account presented to Parliament yesterday is a sign of Sri Lanka’s restored democracy and will bring stability, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, emphasising its need to access public finance while also announcing a fuel price reduction.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe explained the background to bringing in a Vote on Account to cover the first four months of 2019. “We expected to move the Budget 2019 on 5 November. The Budget was aimed to bring further relief to Sri Lankans. We were unable to proceed due to the crisis that took place on 26 October.
“But a few things came into the limelight as a result of this crisis. The finance powers are vested with the Parliament. A majority is required to establish a government, which will control finance. The Speaker’s actions and the decisions of the Judiciary established it. Those claiming positions should have resigned when the no confidence motion was brought. We consider the Government dissolved after the no confidence motion,” he said.
Wickremesinghe also announced a fuel price revision. According to him, the price of petrol 92 octane is reduced by Rs. 10. The new selling price will be Rs. 125 per litre while 95 Octane will be sold at Rs. 149 after the reduction of Rs. 10. Price of Lanka auto diesel was brought down by Rs. 5 and the new selling price is Rs. 101. New selling price of super diesel is Rs. 121 after the reduction of Rs. 10 per litre. The new prices are effective from midnight on Friday.
“We were compelled to bring a Vote on Account as a result of this crisis. A Vote on Account is a move that establishes democracy. We wouldn’t have brought a Vote on Account if the Parliament was dissolved. In the absence of a budget, we didn’t have money to even pay salaries in January. The President dissolved Parliament without any financial allocations for 2019. Development projects including ‘Gamperaliya’ have come to a halt. Necessary instructions have been issued to recommence ‘Gamperaliya’ from the point it was stopped,” he added.
