Govt. under fire for insufficient fund allocation for industries

By Saman Indrajith

The government had allocated only eight billion rupees for capital expenditure of the Ministry of Industries, SJB MP Buddhika Pathirana said in Parliament on Wednesday.

“The government talks about food security. But only six billion rupees has been allocated for the Ministry of Food Security. The government has allocated a pittance to these important ministries and talented individuals have been sidelined,” he said.

MP Pathirana said that the government must first formulate policies to develop industries, ensure food security and promote exports.

“President Ranil Wickremesighe is a former a minister of industries. He was not able to come up with an industrial policy. I tried to formulate one but we lost the election in 2019. Nothing has happened since then.Minister of Trade, Commerce and Food Security, Nalin Fernando said that Sathosa was also facing issues due to increased interest rates.

“Sathosa has been a burden to the Treasury for a while, but we have been addressing the issue. We look at the prices in supermarkets and mark our prices accordingly. We sell essential commodities at discounted prices,” he said.