Senior Sri Lankan minister says merits of budget cannot be determined by public sector salary increase

A senior minister of the Sri Lankan government says that merits of the 2011 budget should not be decided based on the salary increments granted to the public sector.

Senior Minister for International Monetary Corporation, Dr. Sarath Amunugama told a public gathering in Kandy that the government had the responsibility to think of every citizen and ensure that all of them were financially benefited by the budget.
"The government has to ensure that every citizen gets cash to their hands and not only the 1.2 million public servants. That is what you call economic development," he said.
Dr. Amunugama said that however, the government has granted a considerable salary increase to public servants with the minimum wage earner receiving a salary increase of Rs. 1,100.
"This amount increases according to the different salaries drawn by the public servants," he said.
Dr. Amunugama noted that the merits of the budget could therefore not be determined by the salary increase granted to the public sector.