News
JVP: SLPP members won’t be able to distance themselves from Budget 2024
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) MP Vijitha Herath yesterday (14) said that having supported the preparation of the 2024 Budget proposals, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) couldn’t complain now of what was presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Finance Minister.
The Gampaha District lawmaker pointed out that both State Ministers of Finance, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya (SLPP Kegalle District) and Shehan Semasinghe (SLPP Anuradhapura District) had been present at the finalisation of the budget proposals at President Wickremesinghe’s official residence at Mahagamasekara Mawatha (formerly Paget road) on Sunday (12).
MP Herath said so when The Island sought JJB’s response to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and ex-Minister Namal Rajapaksa distancing the SLPP from the budget proposals. The JVP leads the JJB. MP Herath pointed out that SLPPers in the Cabinet, too, endorsed budget proposals therefore the Rajapaksas attempt to question budget proposals didn’t hold water.
Except for President Wickremesinghe and Ministers Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando (both members of the SJB) all other members of the Cabinet, including Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena were either elected on the SLPP ticket or appointed on its National List.
The JVPer stressed that Budget 2024 was Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government’s baby, therefore the SLPP would have no option but to vote for it. Responding to another query, the top JJB spokesperson reminded the SLPP that Wickremesinghe was chosen as Finance Minister and President in April and July, 2022, respectively by the SLPP and then it overwhelmingly endorsed the UNP leader’s mini budget presented on Aug 30, 2022.
A total of 115 MPs voted for the interim budget whereas the JJB’s three members and two All Ceylon Tamil Congress MPs voted against it.
Soon after the presentation of the 2024 Budget MP Namal Rajapaksa said most of the proposals in Budget 2024 had been announced at the mini budget. “Those proposals haven’t been implemented at all therefore they were presented again,” MP Rajapaksa said, declaring that the SLPP was waiting to see whether this year’s presentation too was only talk.
MP Rajapaksa said that as Wickremesinghe presented Budget 2024 as Finance Minister of the Pohottu government, the ruling party’s proposals, too, should have been included.
MP Herath said that as two SLPP MPs functioned as State Ministers of Finance, the party owed an explanation whether the SLPP parliamentary group furnished proposals to the Finance Minister. The JVP insisted that the SLPP couldn’t under any circumstances deny Budget 2024 being its responsibility unless they voted against it.
The President’s party UNP is represented in Parliament by single National List MP Wajira Abeywardena. Lawmaker Herath said that President Wickremesinghe during the budget presentation reminded the SJB that they reached consensus on some of the proposals when they were on the same side. The President was referring to the 2015-2019 Yahapalana administration.
MP Herath said that the contrary to SJB statements, the main Opposition party could easily reach consensus with the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa budget proposals.
The JVPer pointed out that the proposal to divest 20 percent stake in each of the two major State Banks had been a longstanding project of the UNP and President Wickremesinghe seemed hell bent on implementing what he couldn’t do in the 2002-2003 and 2015-2019 periods.
Commenting on the SLFP, MP Herath said that those SLFPers who had received portfolios would back the budget hence the party’s stand is irrelevant, the JVPer said.
The price of oil has fallen to levels not seen since before the Iran war as traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz shipping route gradually resumes.
Global benchmark Brent crude briefly fell below $72.48 (£55) a barrel, the price it was at the day before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, before edging up to $73.23.
Energy prices have been on a wild ride since Iran responded to the strikes by effectively closing the strait, a critical waterway for oil and gas shipments.
The cost of crude has been moving sharply lower since the US and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 17 June which set out a 60-day period for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme and other measures to end the war.
Representatives from the two sides met in Switzerland last weekend for talks to end the war, which resulted in the US partially lifting sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
The number of vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz has risen significantly since the MOU was signed, according to maritime intelligence firm Kpler.
Its latest data suggests 284 vessels have made the transit from 18 June, the day after the deal was signed, although that is is still well below the pre-conflict average of some 138 crossings each day.
The ships passing through the waterway in recent days include those carrying crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), fertiliser and other goods, Kpler told the BBC.
The US and Iran had also formed a “communication line” to prevent misunderstandings “with the aim of safe passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz”, mediators Qatar and Pakistan said in a joint statement on Monday.
There has been a “tremendous shift” with far more ships using the strait in recent days, said Dimitris Maniatis, the chief executive of Marisks, a maritime risk advisory firm working with ships stuck in the region.
A limited number of ships can cross a northern passageway with the permission of Iranian authorities, he said.
The US navy has also provided guidance for vessels to travel through a southern route that is safe from mines and other obstacles that has been laid out since the war, Maniatis said.
But the number of ships crossing the strait is still below levels seen before the war, when it was used by more than 100 ships a day.
Hundreds of ships still appear to be waiting in the Gulf.
Fuel prices at the pump rose sharply when the Iran war began, and now the focus is on how quickly they will fall.
“On the back of the lowest oil price since before the Iran war started, drivers should see the average price of petrol fall below 150p [a litre] in the next week or so,” said Simon Williams, head of policy at UK motoring group the RAC. He added the price of diesel “ought to go back under 160p.
Petrol peaked at 159.53p a litre on 28 May, according to the RAC, while diesel has fallen from a high of 191.54p on 15 April.
The average price of regular gasoline in the US has dropped to around $3.93 a gallon after reaching $4 a gallon in April, its highest since 2022, but is still well above pre-war levels.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered an investigation into major energy companies, accusing Shell, ExxonMobil and other firms of “gouging” drivers by not reducing fuel prices even as oil costs fell.
“Oil prices have come down so much and we are not seeing anything at the pump by comparison the way they should be,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the oil and gas industry in the US, said fuel prices “don’t move in lockstep with crude oil”.
British energy firms have faced similar accusations of unfairly hiking petrol prices since the Iran war.
The UK competition watchdog said last month that there was no widespread evidence of this, adding that average profit margins were “broadly unchanged” between February and March
(BBC)
Representatives from the ’The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce’ met with Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya on Wednesday [24th of June] at the Parliament premises.
During the meeting, discussions focused on the Sri Lanka Economic and Investment Summit 2026 (SLEIS 2026), which is scheduled to be held on 12 and 13 October 2026. Attention was also given to digitalization initiatives, the introduction of digital technologies in schools under new education reforms, and the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Sri Lanka’s education sector.
Representatives of the Chamber noted that the summit would serve as an important platform for encouraging both local and foreign investment, while also contributing to the shaping of the country’s future economic policies.
The meeting was attended by Krishan Balendra, Chairman of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce; Vinod Hirdaramani, Deputy Vice Chairman; Shiran Fernando, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer; Aliki Perera, Deputy Secretary General and Chief Operating Officer; and Anagi Rodrigo-Weerasekera, Chief Economist and Head of Economic Intelligence, along with several other representatives.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
A discussion to review the progress of the housing project under which 4,700 houses are being constructed for the Malayagam community with Indian assistance was held this afternoon (24) at the Presidential Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to the President, Prabath Chandrakeerthi.
Under this housing programme, 2,026 houses are to be provided to families identified by the National Building Research Institute (NBRI) as being at disaster risk. The remaining houses are expected to be allocated to eligible workers residing in the plantation sector.
Accordingly, the houses will be provided to Malayagam community families living on estates belonging to 22 Regional Plantation Companies, as well as estates under the State Plantations Corporation, Janawasama and Elkaduwa Plantations.
For the construction of each house, the Government of India has allocated Rs. 2.8 million, while the Government of Sri Lanka has contributed Rs. 400,000.
During the discussion, Chandrakeerthi instructed officials to ensure that the housing project is completed before the end of this year. He further directed that land identified for the construction of houses be released without delay and that the National Building Research Institute provide the necessary reports to identify suitable land for the project.
The housing project is being implemented jointly by the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, the National Housing Development Authority, the State Engineering Corporation and the Plantation Human Development Trust.
Among those present were Additional Secretary (Development) of the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, K. S. Wijayakeerthi; Director General (Engineering), N. D. N. Pushpakumara; Director General (Planning), W. A. K. S. Damayanthi; the Secretary General of the Planters’ Association; and officials from the National Housing Development Authority, the State Engineering Corporation, relevant institutions and plantation companies.
(PMD)
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