Sri Lanka is now knocking at the door of balancing recurrent expenditure and for all intents and purposes seems to have passed the point of covering daily expenses including government sector salaries pension payments and fuel costs.
The expenditure on salaries and wages of public servants including Provincial Councils increased by 3.9 per cent in the first six months of 2019 as against Rs. 327 billion in the same period of 2018.
The pension payment was Rs. 112 billion, an increase of 17.8 per cent compared to the same period of 2018.
Recurrent expenditure is set to increase surpassing the budgetary estimate of Rs.1.4 trillion for 2019 as the government has already spent around Rs. 1.13 trillion so far making it difficult for the Treasury to meet these expenses after next month, state financial analysts have said.
Total revenue continues its declining trend with first six months earnings of around Rs. 898 billion lower than expectations, provisional data of the Treasury showed.
Under these circumstances, Rs. 22billion Treasury bills are to be issued by the Central Bank through an auction on August 2 and bids will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday 31st July 2019) to tackle the immediate cash requirements.
The Treasury bills will be of Rs. 5 million and multiples of Rs.1 million.upees one million will be issued with maturity periods of 91 Days, 182 Days and 364 Days and amount offered is Rs. 6,500 2,500 13,000 and 22,000 million respectively.
Bids are invited from the Primary Dealers in Government Securities. Bids should be made only through the electronic bidding facility provided by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
The CBSL may accept a higher or lower amount than the offered amounts for each maturity by reallocating amounts between the maturities, depending on the market conditions, but without exceeding the total amount on offer at this auction.
(LI)