Supplementary Estimate of Rs 695 billion passed in Parliament

The Supplementary Estimate of Rs. 695 billion for Government expenditure was passed in Parliament today (June 08).

The debate on the Supplementary Estimate of Rs. 695 billion, presented by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, was taken up for debate until the evening.

The Committee on Public Finance, chaired by MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, gave its approval to the said Supplementary Estimate yesterday.

Out of this estimate of Rs. 695 billion, Rs. 395 billion is for recurrent expenditure. The remaining Rs. 300 billion is allocated for capital expenses.

Meanwhile, Rs. 87 billion will be spent on continuing the payment of the monthly allowance of Rs. 5,000 given to public sector employees since January 2022.

Further, a sum of Rs. 40 billion has been allotted to pay the monthly allowance for pensioners, and Rs. 15 billion for the Rs. 1,000 allowance paid to the Samurdhi recipients.

According to the Communications Department of the Parliament, Rs. 50 billion is planned to be allocated to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to settle payments to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Rs. 12 billion for green agriculture, and Rs. 50 billion for the fertilizer subsidies.

The estimate seeks the approval to allocate Rs. 25 billion for the provision of food and other revenue shortfalls in institutions such as security forces, hospitals and prisons due to the soaring prices, and a further Rs. 4.5 billion recurrent expenditures and Rs. 21 billion for loan interests.