(This is an English translation of the 2008 Budget presented by His Excellency the President)
Budget Speech - 2008
PART I
1. Introduction
1. Honourable Speaker, I am presenting the third Budget of our Government to this
House with great respect. I am tabling the Fiscal Management Report - 2008, Revenue
and Expenditure Estimates and publications containing information about the
economy. I am also tabling a Progress Report of last year’s Budget proposals, as a part
of this Speech.
2. Honourable Speaker, as a result of severe terrorist threats that were prevailed for the
last 25 years, the impact of neglected infrastructure development and failure to
strengthen the domestic economy, we inherited an unstable economy, a backward
agriculture sector, and a country in which development was privileged to a limited
area. I presented ‘Mahinda Chinthana: Vision for a New Sri Lanka - A Ten Year
Horizon Development Framework 2006 – 2016’, to this house along with my previous
Budget proposing to strengthen the domestic economy, as an alternative to ‘Regaining
Sri Lanka’ which undermined the role of the public sector and instead relied on
privatization and globalization to solve all economic problems. As expected, the
journey to build a New Sri Lanka was a challenging one. However, the revival of local
entrepreneurs and products is encouraging.
3. Honourable Speaker, the ruthlessness and armed power of terrorists, the continuous
brutal human massacres and colossal damages caused to public property, arms and
powerful explosive detected by the security forces and the armories and many ships
carrying weapons which were destroyed through joint operations launched by the
security forces, demonstrate the magnitude of the threat faced by our country. Despite
the armed strengths and the brutal actions of terror, we were able to rescue the entire
Eastern Province, including areas that were in the control of terrorists’ consequent to
the so- called ceasefire agreement, through a successful humanitarian operation. We
were also able to control the smuggling of arms into the country and restrain illegal
fund raising activities undertaken by the LTTE, by strengthening the legal framework.
We also managed to curb overseas operations of the LTTE with the assistance of many
countries. With the attack launched on the Anuradhapura air force camp, the terrorist
who are desperate and confined to their camps after having faced continuous defeats, more......
download PDF
Budget Speech - 2008
PART I
1. Introduction
1. Honourable Speaker, I am presenting the third Budget of our Government to this
House with great respect. I am tabling the Fiscal Management Report - 2008, Revenue
and Expenditure Estimates and publications containing information about the
economy. I am also tabling a Progress Report of last year’s Budget proposals, as a part
of this Speech.
2. Honourable Speaker, as a result of severe terrorist threats that were prevailed for the
last 25 years, the impact of neglected infrastructure development and failure to
strengthen the domestic economy, we inherited an unstable economy, a backward
agriculture sector, and a country in which development was privileged to a limited
area. I presented ‘Mahinda Chinthana: Vision for a New Sri Lanka - A Ten Year
Horizon Development Framework 2006 – 2016’, to this house along with my previous
Budget proposing to strengthen the domestic economy, as an alternative to ‘Regaining
Sri Lanka’ which undermined the role of the public sector and instead relied on
privatization and globalization to solve all economic problems. As expected, the
journey to build a New Sri Lanka was a challenging one. However, the revival of local
entrepreneurs and products is encouraging.
3. Honourable Speaker, the ruthlessness and armed power of terrorists, the continuous
brutal human massacres and colossal damages caused to public property, arms and
powerful explosive detected by the security forces and the armories and many ships
carrying weapons which were destroyed through joint operations launched by the
security forces, demonstrate the magnitude of the threat faced by our country. Despite
the armed strengths and the brutal actions of terror, we were able to rescue the entire
Eastern Province, including areas that were in the control of terrorists’ consequent to
the so- called ceasefire agreement, through a successful humanitarian operation. We
were also able to control the smuggling of arms into the country and restrain illegal
fund raising activities undertaken by the LTTE, by strengthening the legal framework.
We also managed to curb overseas operations of the LTTE with the assistance of many
countries. With the attack launched on the Anuradhapura air force camp, the terrorist
who are desperate and confined to their camps after having faced continuous defeats, more......
download PDF
