Business

Call to ensure credible implementation of budget-2021 proposals

Published

6 years ago

2020/10/29

By Sanath Nanayakkare

In the lead up to the highly anticipated 2021 budget, Verité Research recently announced the latest results and recommendations of their annual budget monitoring study, which tracks the government’s performance and openness on key promises made in its recent annual budgets.

According to Verité Research, in the 2018 budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced that an implementation unit would be set up under the ministry to monitor the execution of the proposals. However, in response to an RTI (Right to Information) request, the Ministry of Finance claimed that such a unit did not exist. Yet, in another response, this statement was contradicted by the same ministry.

“These weaknesses in information disclosure and implementation of budget promises suggest that the budget being implemented is inconsistent with the one declared to parliament and that the government is not fully aware of how public funds are spent”, Verité said.

“For the period January – December 2017, 8% of promises tracked by our platform from the 2017 budget speech were categorised as fulfilled. At the end of the first six months of 2018, the pace of progress was slow – only 8% of promises were progressing in line with their targets. Besides, progress on 33% of proposals is categorised as either broken, neglected or undisclosed. This means that the government is either not doing what it is saying or not saying what it is doing for budget promises worth Rs. 60,200 million. The bulk of expenditure proposals in the 2018 budget (59%) is thus categorised as lagging in terms of their implementation”.

“In 2019, the platform tracked 37 promises worth Rs. 100,875 million from the 2019 budget. According to it, there is a divergence in what is said in budget speeches and what is implemented, in both expenditure proposals and policy proposals. Their analyses found that many expenditure proposals have their allocations reduced every year. In 2019, 41% of the policy proposals tracked by the platform were not implemented”,Verité has found.

Speaking at the online briefing, Lahiri Jayasinghe, Assistant Analyst – Verité Research said that the government is going to present the budget for 2021 against a background of weak global economy and challenging domestic fiscal conditions exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore an effective oversight of the budget implementation process for the Financial Year 2021 would be vital.

“The government has announced its vision for a turnaround of the public sector and elimination of waste and corruption. There’s limited fiscal space for government’s operations. In this background, we suggest that there should be a parliamentary committee or an authoritative body of the Finance Ministry to whom the oversight of the budget implementation process is entrusted in order to ensure a credible implementation process in 2021 and achieve the budget’s intended targets and goals”.

“In 2019, openness on proposals was hindered by the frequent changes to ministerial portfolios. The budget monitoring process revealed that the fragmentation of ministries had resulted in a breakdown of the lines of responsibility. Even those that were tasked with oversight of the budget were not able to provide clarity on the agencies responsible for implementing specific budget proposals”.

“In 2019, no information was available on the implementation of 32% of proposals. This is a significant deterioration from the problem of missing information in the previous year, where only 13% of the proposals fell into this category of ‘no information. For a more credible budget, we recommend the following:

1. Develop and document supporting information and analysis for each proposal prior to including it in the budget.

2. Provide timely and consistent disclosure on budget implementation on ministry websites.

3. Provide better oversight through the executive and legislature (e.g parliamentary committees and structures)

4. Reduce the fragmentation of ministerial portfolios and ensure that a clear line of accountability is maintained on the implementation of each budget proposal”, Lahiri Jayasinghe said.

Deshal de Mel, Research Director joined the session for the Q&A while the presentations were moderated by Chalani Ranwala.

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Business

HNB Finance strengthens Board with four independent directors

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/13

Thilina Walpola

Newly appointed HNB FINANCE PLC Independent Non- Executive Directors (from left): Renuke Wijayawardhane, Shanti Gnanapragasam, Nabiha Mohamed and Dr. Thisuri Wanniarachchi

HNB FINANCE PLC has strengthened its Board with the appointment of four Independent Non-Executive Directors, effective September 8, 2026.

The new directors are Renuke Wijayawardhane, Shanti Gnanapragasam, Nabiha Mohamed and Dr. Thisuri Wanniarachchi, who collectively bring extensive experience in financial regulation, banking, risk management, corporate finance, investment strategy, development finance and public policy.

Wijayawardhane, an Attorney-at-Law and capital market professional, retired in July 2025 as Chief Regulatory Officer of the Colombo Stock Exchange after more than 31 years with the Exchange. His experience covers securities regulation, corporate governance, market infrastructure and compliance.

Gnanapragasam has over four decades of banking experience spanning treasury, risk management, credit and trade finance. She currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Cargills Bank, Wealth Trust and Vision Fund Lanka.

Mohamed is a corporate finance and investment professional who previously served as Lead Transaction Advisor at the State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit of the Ministry of Finance, where she led five divestiture transactions worth over US$600 million.

Dr. Wanniarachchi brings over a decade of experience in development finance, institutional reform and social protection, including work with the World Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka.

Business

Prime Residencies hands over The Palace Gampaha

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/13

Thilina Walpola

Prime Group Chairman Premalal Brahmanage speaking at the event

Prime Lands Residencies PLC has completed and officially handed over The Palace Gampaha, described as the largest planned gated residential community in Gampaha, to its homeowners.

The development, which commenced construction in 2021, is located two kilometres from Gampaha town and 100 metres from the Colombo-Kandy main road.

Spread across 13.5 acres, The Palace Gampaha comprises 480 two- and three-bedroom apartments in a ground-plus-three-floor development, with prices starting from Rs. 27.5 million.

The project allocates about 80% of its land to landscaped areas and common facilities, while the remaining 20% is used for apartment development. Facilities include a swimming pool, gymnasium, clubhouse, library, community kitchen, laundry, mini-mart and a daycare centre managed by the Lyceum Group.

The fully gated community also incorporates solar power for common areas, underground electricity cabling and a sewage treatment plant with water recycling facilities.

Prime Residencies said all statutory approvals required for the handover had been secured, including certifications from the Condominium Management Authority and registration of the Condominium Plan and Deed of Declaration.

Prime Group Chairman Premalal Brahmanage said the project reflected the company’s vision of creating large-scale residential communities designed to enhance the quality of life of Sri Lankan families.

The project is the latest addition to Prime Group’s portfolio of more than 70 gated community and apartment developments.

Business

SLANA warns NVOCC business losing ground amid THC concerns

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/13

Thilina Walpola

SLANA Chairperson Swabha Wickramasinghe presenting a memento to Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Anura Karunathilaka at the eventually

Sri Lanka’s Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) sector is losing ground despite the expansion of the industry in several regional markets, Sri Lanka Association of NVOCC Agents (SLANA) Chairperson Swabha Wickramasinghe said.

Wickramasinghe, re-elected for a third consecutive term at SLANA’s ninth Annual General Meeting last week said the continued difficulty in collecting Colombo Terminal Handling Charges (THC) as a separate land-based cost was among the key challenges facing the industry.

She said the practice placed Sri Lanka at a competitive disadvantage as principals consider the overall economics of operating through Colombo.

“When Sri Lanka becomes less commercially attractive compared with other regional destinations, the consequences eventually reach our members,” she said.

Wickramasinghe said a committee had been proposed at a recent meeting with the Minister and Deputy Minister to evaluate the THC issue, urging the authorities to expedite its appointment and review.

She also called for an early solution to the problem of uncleared salt containers at the Port of Colombo, which has resulted in delays in releasing empty containers.

With more than 75 NVOCC lines operating in Sri Lanka, she stressed the sector’s importance to regional trade, particularly links with India and China.

Ports Minister Anura Karunathilaka said Sri Lanka should expand regional business while exploring areas such as bunkering, freight forwarding and e-commerce logistics.