MP Dilith Jayaweera has challenged Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya’s statement in Parliament that President Anura Dissanayake’s recent foreign trips cost only Rs. 1.8 million. He expressed disbelief that such a small amount could cover visits to three countries, questioning the accuracy of the figure.
Jayaweera remarked that it was unrealistic to assume the President could have traveled to multiple countries with such limited funds, even sarcastically suggesting that he might have traveled on a footboard. He emphasized that simply reducing expenses would not generate profits and argued that more attention should be given to revenue generation. Addressing concerns about how the budget deficit would be covered and the country’s debt repaid, he warned against misleading the public with unrealistic claims.
During the parliamentary session, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya provided comparisons of foreign travel expenses incurred by past presidents. She stated that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa spent more than Rs. 357 million on foreign trips between 2010 and 2014. Maithripala Sirisena’s expenses between 2015 and 2019 exceeded Rs. 380 million, while Gotabaya Rajapaksa spent over Rs. 120 million between 2020 and 2022. According to her, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s travel expenses from 2023 to 2024 amounted to over Rs. 530 million
In contrast, she reiterated that President Anura Dissanayake’s foreign travel expenses from September 2024 to February 2025 totaled only Rs. 1.8 million, significantly lower than those of his predecessors.
