Inaccurate financial data is presented to the public in the budget : Sumanthiran

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran has highlighted several disparities between the budget speech and the actual contents of the budget. In an interview published in the Lankadeepa newspaper today (March 05) Sumanthiran underscored inaccuracies in the data that has been provided. Sumanthiran said that while it is clear that those who prepared the budget have in their possession confidential information regarding the accurate budgetary information, that these accurate budget figures are not disclosed to the public. Highlighting the lack of information that was submitted to the committee in the first place, Sumanthiran noted that the budgetary estimates that were received were different to what is said in the budget speech, adding that "This has been somewhat of a game for a long time". The Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance noted that inquiries into a five-year foreign loan had exposed a difference of 52.8%. Sumanthiran adds that when officials were questioned on this difference, they had claimed that there was a fluctuation in terms of currency since debt repayments are made in dollars. However, Sumanthiran re-iterated that while such fluctuations could occur that it does not justify such a large disparity. He said, "Ultimately this has become a game where data is manipulated, and state revenues are overestimated and state expenditure is underestimated, resulting in the government to have insufficient funds to spend on the general public." The Committee on Public Finance had also exposed the lack of oversight in keeping an inventory of vehicles issued to ministers following cabinet reshuffles, adding that in some cases new vehicles are provided to ministers when the whereabouts of vehicles that are no older than 6 or 7 months are unknown. Sumanthiran also revealed that whilst the committee had requested for the fuel price formula during a meeting convened on January 25th, this information is yet to be submitted, adding that the only data that was provided were the fuel prices for the month in question. He claimed that officials of the finance ministry had not even attended the last meeting. Drawing attention to the national budget department which is an institution that comes under the purview of the ministry of finance, Sumanthiran said, "We can define it as just another cost center run by a few officials attached to the ministry of finance". Whilst noting that the purpose of continuing such a department is to use additional funds which were not allocated through the budget, Sumanthiran claimed that such institutions have been established with no scientific basis. Sumanthiran concludes that based on the difference between the reported data and reality, he believes that the economic crisis Sri Lanka is facing is far worse than expected. In response to this revelation, UPFA MP Shehan Semasinghe publicly questioned Sumanthiran as to why he still continues to support the government if he knows that the state expenses are been understated and loans are being taken. He continued to say that in still supporting the Prime Minister on an act of distorting the figures in the budget that he publicly shows that he is acting based on a mutual understanding on the matter with the PM. On a separate note, the parliamentarian said that by bringing the economy down to its knees that Ranil Wickremesinghe plans to protect himself by imposing soaring taxes and increasing the state revenue.