Education Secretary of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Pubudu Jayagoda has strongly criticised the 2025 Budget, presented by President Anura Dissanayaka, calling it an extension of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) austerity agenda and a continuation of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s economic policies.

“When President Dissanayaka arrived in Parliament to present the Budget, he carried it in a paper folder instead of the traditional briefcase. The truth is, there are no ‘secrets’ in this Budget that require a briefcase—it simply presents the same austerity programme imposed on Sri Lanka by the IMF and follows the policies that defined Wickremesinghe’s rule over the past few years,” Jayagoda said.

Jayagoda argued that Wickremesinghe had previously served as the “mouthpiece” for the IMF and global financial institutions and Dissanayaka was now playing that role. “Even without Ranil, his policies continue to move forward,” Jayagoda added, drawing parallels between Sri Lanka’s political landscape and Britain’s neoliberal shift under Margaret Thatcher. “After Thatcher retired, a journalist asked her about her greatest political achievement.

She replied, ‘Tony Blair and Blairism.’ The Labour Party, which once fought against neoliberalism, later embraced it under Blair’s leadership. The same has happened here—Harsha de Silva, a key advocate of neoliberal capitalism and an IMF supporter, openly stated that Dissanayaka’s Budget speech was a victory for them,” Jayagoda said.

He noted that in 1978, when the UNP introduced its neoliberal economic agenda, its strongest critic had been the JVP. “Now, the IMF programme is being carried out by the JVP’s leader. This is their greatest success—getting the Opposition to implement their policies,” he said.

Condemned the government’s failure to address the cost-of-living crisis, Jayagoda said: “This Budget offers no solutions for rising prices. People are not naive enough to mistake these token handouts for genuine relief. Instead of discussing serious economic policies, the government is busy distributing small allowances—Rs. 5,000 to one, Rs.7,500 to another—while the structural issues remain unaddressed. This economic programme must be defeated. People must organise and push back before these policies cause further damage to the country.”