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Eran proposes raising PAYE threshold to Rs 200,000 a month

Published

3 years ago

2023/11/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Eran

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Historically, Sri Lankan governments have failed to reduce the budget deficit, SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne says.

Sri Lankan governments have consistently looked at maximising revenue but paid minimal attention to curtailing expenditure, MP Wickramaratne has said.

Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had not factored in state expenditures when the latest bailout programme was designed, he said.

Compared to the 2022 budget, state expenditure had increased by 47 percent for 2024, Wickramaratne said.

“The expenses are about 11 percent higher compared to the 2023 budget. The total expenses of 2022 were Rs. 4.473 billion . The 2023 budget set the state expenses at Rs 5,854 billion. This has increased to Rs 6,563 billion in 2024,” he said.

The SJB MP said that during a crisis, the country must first curtail expenses.

“We must also look at how the government is spending our money. We have borrowed money and invested in things that will only make profits in the long term. For example, airports, ports, cricket stadiums and highways. It is not that these are important, but we have not been spending our savings on these projects, we have borrowed. And we have borrowed from foreign sources. We should have focused on trade and investments with the borrowed money,” he said.

There was a proposal to establish a budget office, he said. This has also been approved by parliament, the SJB MP said. However, the budget office has not been established in parliament yet, Wickramaratne said.

“We have always taken decisions thinking of elections. The current president was not selected in a national election. He is also the finance minister. He was ushered in due to the upheavals of 2022. If he can, for a moment, forget about elections, he can get the economy back on track. He could have presented a long term budget because it will take years to end this crisis. He can lay the foundation for economic recovery. But this was an election budget,” he said.

The SJB MP said the government has allocated 20 percent more funding to pay interest compared to 2023. Sri Lanka’s debt payment installments are about 72 percent of its annual revenue, he said.

“We are leading the world on this front. We need to stabilise the economy, and we need to get back on a growth trajectory. We can do this by taxing ourselves alone. People have no money to invest. We must increase the threshold for PAYE tax to 200,000 rupees a month,” he said.

Given that there are no domestic savings, Sri Lanka needs to attract a large number of foreign investors, Wickramaratne said. However, trust in Sri Lanka is low at the moment, he said.

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Related Topics:Mp Eran Wickramaratne SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne

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Malaysia declares emergency in Sarawak as haze from Indonesia worsens

Published

15 hours ago

2026/09/5

Priyan

This aerial photo taken from a commercial plane shows haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing a residential district in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak state on the island of Borneo, on September 5, 2026 (Aljazeera)

Malaysia has declared a state of emergency in a district in Sarawak state after haze caused by wildfires in neighbouring Indonesia increased air pollution to “hazardous” levels.

King Sultan Ibrahim “has consented to the declaration of emergency throughout Serian Division, Sarawak, following haze conditions that have reached air pollution levels hazardous to public health and safety”, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

The declaration followed a formal request from the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee after the region’s Air Pollutant Index reached levels warranting consideration of a local emergency.

Under the order, 647 schools in Serian will close from Monday until at least the end of next week, alongside government and private offices, plantations, construction sites and quarries, with only essential services continuing to operate.

The state’s disaster management authorities said a three-day cloud-seeding operation launched on Thursday would be extended to at least Monday, citing forecasts of “more conducive cloud formations” during that period.

Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee chairman Douglas Uggah Embas, speaking at a news conference in Kuching, stressed that the emergency applied only to Serian, not the entire state, but urged residents there to take the situation seriously.

“Please minimise outdoor activities and avoid strenuous activities outdoors,” he said.

Sarawak, in the northern part of Borneo island, has been heavily affected by haze for weeks, as have the neighbouring states of Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.

(Aljazeera)

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Sun directly overhead Moratuwa, Kesbewa, Handapangoda, Idalgashinna, Yudhaganawa, Kotiyagala and Panama about 12.08 noon today (05)

Published

18 hours ago

2026/09/5

Priyan

The sun is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka from 28th of August to 07th of September due to its apparent southward relative motion.

The nearest places of Sri Lanka over which the sun is
overhead today (05) are Moratuwa, Kesbewa, Handapangoda, Idalgashinna, Yudhaganawa, Kotiyagala and Panama about 12.08 noon

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Namal remanded until Sept. 18 over Airbus deal investigation

Published

20 hours ago

2026/09/5

Thilina Walpola

Namal Rajapaksa being brought to the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organiser and Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa was yesterday remanded until September 18 by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court following his arrest by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) in connection with an investigation into the controversial SriLankan Airlines Airbus aircraft transaction.

Rajapaksa appeared before the CIABOC at around 9.15 am yesterday to record a statement after being summoned over the transaction. He was taken into custody following several hours of questioning and subsequently produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate.

The investigation centres on allegations surrounding the acquisition of six Airbus A330 and eight A350 aircraft by SriLankan Airlines in 2013, in connection with an alleged USD 2 million bribe.

Former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena and his wife, Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, had previously been named in connection with the alleged bribery.

Chandrasena was arrested on March 12 as part of an investigation launched by the CIABOC under the Anti-Corruption Act and was subsequently released on bail. He was later found dead on May 8 while on bail, with police suspecting that his death was a suicide.

Open warrants have been issued for the arrest of Wijenayake, who is named as the second suspect, and Shamindra Rajapaksa, named as the third suspect, in the case pending before the Fort Magistrate’s Court in connection with the Airbus transaction.

The investigation has also received assistance from Airbus, with a delegation from the company’s parent group in France visiting Sri Lanka during the first week of August. The delegation provided statements and other assistance to the CIABOC as part of the ongoing inquiry.

Rajapaksa’s arrest and remand yesterday mark a further development in the widening investigation into the controversial aircraft deal.