MP Dr. Harsha de Silva says Sri Lanka can fund disaster recovery without new borrowing, but urges urgent parliamentary approval and transparency for a dedicated rebuilding fund.
Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva has stated that an additional Rs. 500 billion will be required to rescue the country from the current disaster situation, and that a clear estimate should be presented to Parliament without delay.
Speaking on the government’s fiscal capacity, Dr. de Silva said the state already has sufficient cash reserves to manage the situation. He pointed out that Rs. 1,400 billion has been allocated as capital expenditure for the coming year, mainly for infrastructure development such as roads and hospitals. According to him, this allocation allows room for reallocation to address cyclone related damage.
“We have allocated Rs. 1,400 billion as capital expenditure for the coming year. For things like building roads, hospitals. There is money to make a re allocation for the damage caused by this cyclone. I do not believe that we need more money. But there are daily expenses, for things like cleaning houses, about Rs. 500 billion more will be spent. That is bearable.”
Dr. Harsha de Silva also referred to the IMF conditions, noting that while there is a restriction on primary expenditure, the government has flexibility due to the scale of the disaster.
“The IMF has a condition that we can spend only 13% as primary expenditure. But we have some freedom to spend more than that because of this problem. The other thing is that the government has more than a trillion rupees in the bank.”
He further stressed that the proposed ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ fund must be legally established through Parliament to ensure accountability and public trust.
“That fund should be a statutory fund. Otherwise, a fund like Helping Hambantota cannot be created. To create such a thing, it should be brought to Parliament and approved. It has not been done yet.”
Dr. de Silva said the fund should be launched immediately with full transparency, adding that recovery efforts should involve both the government and the private sector.
“My opinion is that the government alone should not do all these things. Both the government and the private sector can do it. The private sector should be allowed to do it. The government should do things that cannot be done.”
