Sri Lanka caretaker government’s spending allocations for the next three months are to be made periodically under presidential authority for the second time this year.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has authorised the withdrawal of money from the Consolidated Fund making new financial allocations for the country’s spending agencies and ministries in accordance with Article 150 Para (3) of the Constitution.
This action has been taken towards the uninterrupted continuation of Government services and development activities for a period of three months from June 1 to August 31 this year.
The Treasury has allocated Rs.1043 billion for government spending for the period June to August 2020.
A sum of Rs. 644.1 billion rupees has been allocated for current spending for the next three months, and Rs. 398.8 billion for capital spending including debt repayments.
According to a Treasury circular, the highest allocation of Rs. 546.18 billion has been made for the Finance, Economic and Policy Development Ministry.
The Public Administration Ministry has been allocated Rs.154 billion, Defence Ministry Rs.107.26 billion and the Healthcare and Indigenous Medical Services Ministry Rs. 43.1 billion.
Due to a decrease of state revenue in the context of the prevailing pandemic situation and the increase of expenditure and the disaster situation caused by climate change, fiscal space has shrunk even further, the Finance Ministry said.
(LIN)