Finance Minister invites professionals to contribute to Budget

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake

By Senuri de Silva

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake on Tuesday welcomed the professional community of Sri Lanka to present suggestions for the upcoming Budget.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the 28th OPA conference, he said: “I take this opportunity to call the OPA, if I may give them an opportunity in the next week or so, to put forward 10 proposals – I don’t want a 100; 10 proposals of what we the professionals feel need to be embraced in the next Budget, we’ll certainly be giving that opportunity.”

He further invited the organisation to elect a think-tank in order to generate these proposals that would contribute to the development of this country in accordance with this year’s theme of the conference, ‘Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Development’.

The Organisation for Professionals Association of Sri Lanka is a powerful civil society body consisting of 44 member associations and with a total membership of approximately 50,000 professionals in various fields such as medical, legal, engineering, marketing, management and various other professional institutions.

The key focus of the conference was ‘innovation’ and the Minister kept with the theme by inviting the professional community to provide innovative solutions that can be implemented through the Budget that is scheduled to be presented on 20 November. 

He stated that the Government hopes to avoid some of the reasons behind the failure of previous budgets by including the perspective of the professional community in what he described as a ‘futuristic approach’.

The Minister stated: “On 20 November the new Government will be presenting their Budget and in this process we want to show a new dimension to the futuristic approach of the Government. The President is very concerned of the professional approach of the Government of this country. Likewise the Prime Minister is working to ensure that those goals are achieved,” to reiterate the commitment of both the President and the Prime Minister to take the suggestions brought up by this community into account.

The Minister further stated that the Government was committed to prioritising the development of local industries, reducing the expenditure of Government institutions by cutting down on the rampant wastage taking place today, while also finding ways to support research and development and create opportunities for local ingenuity to drive the country’s economy further.

Karunanayake stated that local industries would be supported and technology brought in where it was necessary to strengthen the ‘domestic element,’ adding: “If both are not possible, only then will we recall the foreign services that are there to meet up with the national perspective.”

He added that the Government had recognised the lack of emphasis given to research and development, reasoning “revenues earned are far too little to put money into research”.

However, this will be remedied by getting the private sector involved and encouraged to invest through means such as tax exemptions. “We believe the private sector would come in and take advantage and ensure that tax breaks are given to ensure that more money is put into that.”