Customs imports income declines
Walter LIYANARACHCHI
The biggest money spinner for Government coffers are Income Tax,
Customs and Excise.
However the income generation of the customs had come down due to the
declining trend in imports since people are not interested in imported
items, said Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs Dr.
Sarath Amunugama.
Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs Sarath
Amunugama addressing the Business Community |
The Minister was addressing the ceremony held to launch a book titled
“Key persons’ Forum Collection of Speeches 2008” recently.
The book was presented by the Country Representative of Friedrich
Nauman Foundation Sagarika Delgoda and the event was organised jointly
by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL)
and Small and Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED).
The financial institutions such as the Public Accounts Committee and
the Committee of Public Enterprises (COPE) are in place to deal with
financial matters of the Government.
But there is strong criticism that these institutions are dealing
with late exercises or in other words post mortem exercises.
Therefore, what the critics say is that these committees are of less
value, the Minister said.
One of the solutions for this type of problems is establishing
consultative committees.
These committees consist of representatives from all parties.
These committees go through especially on supplementary estimates
before presenting them to Parliament for debate, he said.
He said that although the Finance Ministers present budgets in
Parliament they are unable to predict what changes would take place in
the world economy in the forthcoming year. No one can say whether oil
prices would come down or go up.
Therefore, the Finance Minister is not only in an complex position
but also in an indefinite position. That is why the hedging issues or
miscalculation problems arise.
The Minister pledged to extend the fullest support for the business
community when they need his assistance. |