Sri Lanka's 2025-26 budget gets parliament nod with opposition support

Colombo, Nov 14 (PTI) Sri Lanka's 2025-26 budget was adopted in parliament through a majority vote on Friday.

A total of 160 parliamentarians of the 225-member House voted in favour, while 42 opposed it. Eight members abstained.

A notable feature of the vote was the support extended by at least three opposition MPs representing the Indian-origin Tamil plantation worker community, who voted alongside the government.

The three Tamil opposition MPs supported the proposal to raise the daily wage of plantation workers to LKR 1,750.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also holds the finance portfolio, had presented the budget on November 7, focusing on strengthening tax collection and increasing state revenue, key conditions of the ongoing IMF-led economic revival programme.

The vote followed a week-long debate during which the main opposition accused the government of failing to present credible measures to sustain the recovery under the IMF bailout and steer the economy towards stability.

The main opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, said it was an IMF budget and blamed the government for its inability to outline an economic discourse which would provide economic benefits to the people. PTI CORR SCY SCY