The Government will present an interim budget for the first quarter of next year from January 1 to April 30, 2020, Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella told the Daily News yesterday.
Kiriella said that the Government has decided not to present a full budget to Parliament for next year and, instead, would present an ‘interim account’.
The Government took this decision because the Presidential election, scheduled to be held in December, would create a situation where there would be no time to present a budget and take it up for debate, he explained.
Under normal circumstances, the Finance Minister presents the budget proposals for the next year during the first or second week in November.
Thereafter, from the next day the budget proposals are debated for an entire month and the final vote is taken sometime in December.
A Vote on Account was presented in Parliament on December 21, 2018 as well for covering the Government expenditure for the first four months of 2019.
This had to be done as the presentation of the budget - 2019 slated for November 2018 was delayed due to the political upheaval in the country after October 26, 2018 .
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera finally presented the budget proposal in Parliament on March 5, 2019.
(Daily News)