Daily News Editorial

Let saner counsel prevail

14 October 2016

The UPFA segment in the Unity Government, true to form, is playing populist politics. Some of its stalwarts such as Dilan Perera are forever on the war path with the UNP, taking great pains to distance his party from the policies of the Greens. The Deputy Minister is acting as if he has no part in the Government. The Chief Minister of the Western Province Isuru Devapriya was also seen on TV the other day attempting to undermine the authority of the Prime Minister.

UPFA General Secretary Minister Mahinda Amaraweera is no better. One recalls Amaraweera taking issue with the UNP for its move to store paddy at the Mattala airport warehouses. He is also on record stating that they would not allow projects started by Mahinda Rajapaksa in Hambantota to be halted. Hailing from the deep South as Rajapaksa, it could be that Amaraweera was not keen to rub the Hambantota voters on the wrong side by speaking ill of Rajapaksa.

Be that as it may, Amaraweera has told a vernacular newspaper that, they of the SLFP, had made certain pro-people proposals to the government and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to be incorporated in the budget and that their support for the budget is contingent on these proposals being implemented. Though not revealing what these proposals were, the Minister said they of the SLFP will ensure that maximum relief is provided to the people through the budget and that they would not stand for any additional tax burdens being imposed on the people or the pruning down of the existing benefits enjoyed by them.

The SLFP members in the Unity Government may well be anticipating a fund of public goodwill that will accrue to them by forcing the government to implement their suggestions and score politically. But taking the credit, they also hope to steal a march on the UNP at future elections. But they are going about things the wrong way.

A budget is the most important financial document, that will chart the government's fiscal policy and the economic path for the ensuing year. Hence it will have to take many important factors into consideration and weigh in the pros and cons before a budget is being prepared. A national budget is also studied by our international lenders and prospective investors.

True, a budget is normally a balancing act, offering ‘something’ to the have nots, low income groups, the consumer and generally the marginalized while at the same time paying attention to the macroeconomic picture. This is the reason why budgets are prepared after many inputs by experts, economists and professionals, expending a lot of thought and the proverbial burning of the midnight oil. There is therefore no room for unwise and haphazard suggestions that may send a budget into tail spin.

In this context the government can ill afford to implement all the suggestions made by the SLFP, merely to make political capital while portraying the UNP as the villain of the piece. True, the public expect some form of relief from the government at every budget and often times a government's survival too had depended on what it offers to the people in their annual budgets.

But, as the present government keeps on saying ad nausem, the economy is in a parlous state, as a result of the mindless profligacy and the astronomical debt left behind by the Rajapaksas. These debts have to be repaid and the government needs to find the revenue for this if the country is not to be caught up in the vicious cycle of having to re-borrow to pay the debts that keep mounting. Besides, aid to the country is contingent on the government reducing the budget deficit and maintaining a tight fiscal regime.

Hence, there are many variables that go into the preparation of the national budget and it is not as simple as the SLFP wants to make the people believe, for its own advantage. The Government, no doubt, could draw up a populist budget where the UNP will benefit politically more than the SLFP. But it will sooner rather than later have to come to terms with realities.

The SLFP which is demanding freebies, as it were, it has to be said, has no grasp of the way the UNP gets about things. The UNP is famously known for being good administrators and it goes against the grain for the Grand Old Party to act in a haphazard nay irresponsible manner especially where the country's finances are concerned. It would certainly not have “cut” and “chopped” the national budget, as it was forced to do, the last time over, due to pressure brought upon it by its alliance partner. Hopefully we wont see a repetition of it this time around.

President Sirisena would do well to advise his followers to go slow on their demands, particularly given the current financial position of the country. After all, national elections are a good four years away. Hopefully the country's economy would see a turnaround by that time wherein all stakeholders could reap in the political dividends.