7 March 2019 12:25 am
By Lahiru Pothmulla
Neither the government nor the opposition seems to be interested in conducting a post-evaluation on the progress in budget proposals, former Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said yesterday.
Speaking at a Viyathmaga news briefing, he said the budgets presented by the Yahapalana Government always lacked a sense of clear vision and were limited to a numbers-play.
“We can see the same set of proposals being repeated in annual budgets because the officials who make proposals are unaware of previous ones. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera knows marketing. Therefore, he presented the budget in an appealing manner. However, if someone were to take a close look at it, they will see the impracticality of the budget,” he said.
He said the government expected national revenue to top Rs.2,464 billion this year. “Such an increment is only possible with higher taxes,” he said.