Nov 09, Colombo: Sri Lankan government's 2013 budget would benefit only the super-rich in the country, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) says.

Economist and UNP parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva says the budget presented to the parliament Thursday did not contain any relief for the ordinary people and farmers, fishermen and the hardworking people of the country have not received any benefit from the budget.

He has explained that the exemption of taxes on sports cars and the permission granted to transfer funds deposited in foreign banks indicated that the government's budget targeted only a small group of people.

The budget proposes exempting taxes on go-carts and specially designed racing vehicles to attract international sporting events and participants to those events to increase revenue from such events to US$ 500 million by 2016 from the current US$ 50 million.

According to Dr. de Silva, 99 percent of the population had been left in the lurch by the government. He questioned if the importing of racing cars would address the issues faced by the people.