Thursday, 23 October 2014 00:13
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Presenting an alternative budget of sorts, the main Opposition yesterday introduced a slew of proposals they insist would be implemented by a future United National Party (UNP) Government.
In addition to the UNP demand of raising public servant salaries by Rs. 10,000 the price cuts suggested by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake included reduction of petrol by Rs. 50, diesel by Rs. 15 and a cylinder of gas by Rs. 1,000. Fixed income earners would get a minimum of 10% return on Rs. 1 million of deposits along with a pension of Rs. 2,500 that would be paid immediately to any State employee.
Among other relief measures were a guaranteed price for paddy, which would be Rs. 50 per kilo, and onions at Rs. 80 per kilo. Additional policies would also include steps to reduce malnutrition and protect young mothers who would be given an allocation of Rs. 20,000 at the time of giving birth.
Karunanayake also singled out alleged malpractice in the management of the EPF and ETF, emphasising that under a UNP regime they would be competently managed and benefits transferred to the public.
“So these are basically what we have cautiously prepared and it roughly entails additional expenditure of about Rs. 300 billion. I would say that the revenue would be obtained with the reduction of the excessive interest rates of loans that are prevailing. At the moment the average interest rate is about 7.5% for most Chinese loans. Our intention is to reduce that by 2%; then you have a revenue increase of about Rs. 160 billion. Likewise the losses from SriLankan Airlines and Mihin bring in another Rs. 32 billion,” he told reporters.
Karunanayake also insisted the biggest contribution from his party would be to stamp out corruption. He estimated an additional income of Rs. 100 billion to Rs. 200 billion to State coffers but acknowledged that it would take time to reduce fraud. Therefore the UNP had set a relatively modest target of Rs.50 billion that could be earned to public funds as a “realistic prediction”.
“So you could see the expenditure increases by about Rs. 380 billion and the revenue increases are roughly around Rs. 345 billion to Rs. 750 billion. There is a gap but we will be giving you the necessary answers on the day of the Budget when we will be giving our audited proposals,” he added.
