Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa has done something which no one else has ever done by presenting a viable and successful budget in Parliament yesterday, said Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardena. He made this statement during his speech in parliament today (13). "We must all accept the fact that our Finance Minister has done something which no one else has done. He presented a viable and successful budget in parliament, despite the country going through a pandemic and financial crisis. Everyone has benefited from this budget, and no one else in the history of Sri Lanka has ever done this or even attempted to do so," claimed Gunawardena. He added that Sri Lanka has been efficient in handling the Covid pandemic, whilst comparing the covid death rates in countries around the world, further emphasising that the crash in the economy is not limited to Sri Lanka but is a global issue. "Look at America, they have had over 800,000 covid deaths. Do the Americans blame Joe Biden for this? In Germany, within one day 50,196 people died of covid. The death rate in Germany has been rising. In Russia, overnight 1237 lives were lost due to covid. In France, last Wednesday, over 10,000 people had contracted the virus," he concluded.