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by Ranga Jayasuriya

"The budget has forgotten the existence of the poor in the country," Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse told a press conference yesterday.

The budget, he said, will benefit the rich at the cost of the poor.

"No salary increase for the working class has even been hinted at in the budget although income tax has been reduced from 35 per cent to 30 per cent for the benefit of the rich."

Rajapakse warned that the proposed road tax would affect all segments of society and lead to higher transport costs which he said would result in the rise of "prices of almost all goods".

PA MP Ronnie de Mel said the budget has not presented a clear plan for the development of key areas of the economy.

"A budget is the Government's blueprint to develop key areas of the economy. But there is no plan to develop agriculture, industries, power and energy generation, irrigation, tourism promotion, highways and transport or any other major area in Minister Choksy's budget," the former Finance Minister said.

"This is only an incoherent set of words and statistics."

Mel warned that the country's campaign to attract foreign investors would be futile without further investment in infrastructure development.

"Sri Lanka needs at least three coal power plants to fulfil the electricity demand. The country's only international airport needs to be developed, irrigation facilities should be improved," he said.

He said the budget proposal to set up Funds independent of Parliament would lead to corruption.

"The allocation of all government funds has been subject to Parliament's scrutiny so far," he said, adding that the new proposal runs contrary to "accepted norms of financial control".

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