They took power by calling the RATA ANURATA and subjected the entire country to the IMF..!

A budget without a solution..!

Has the President become a slave to the IMF..?

Is the salary increase every 6 months a dream?

Sajith Premadasa emphasizes

The budget speech presented today and the policy series of "A Rich Country, a Beautiful Life" presented on the presidential election platform back then should be compared, and it should be investigated to what extent the promises contained in this have been implemented in this budget. Although the country promised to make a big cake in this policy series of "Rata Anurata", it is clear that the country went to the IMF instead of Rata Anurata, and that the budget has been implemented within the limits of the IMF, said Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, speaking to the media regarding the budget.

The Opposition Leader said that according to this budget, the primary balance should be maintained at 2.5 and primary expenditure should be made 13% of the GDP as an expenditure. The 13% limit set in the Public Finance Management Act of 2024 is an IMF agenda and maintaining a primary balance of 2.5 is the IMF's recommendation and clearly a very limited amount of resources has been allocated for investment.

The Opposition Leader further said that this budget does not solve the debt trap of micro, small and medium scale industrialists and eradicate poverty, that high economic growth will not be maintained through entrepreneurship, and that the promises made in relation to the plantation industry, agriculture and fisheries sectors have not been fulfilled.

The opposition leader pointed out that even though he said on the election platform that he would go for a new debt restructuring agreement, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is going straight to the IMF and that even if he comes to power, he should act according to the IMF framework and even if he goes for a populist program, the current president seems to be non-populist and that amendments should be presented to this budget.

The current president has turned his back on the mandate and become a hostage to the IMF and is demanding that this budget speech and the policy series be compared. Although he talks about a salary increase in the public service every 6 months, in the end the salaries will increase by a meager amount in 3 years and that it is not enough for today's cost of living and that the private sector is being treated with a stepmother's care.