Cabinet grants approval for Appropriation (Amendment) Bill

The Cabinet of Ministers has given the approval for the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill to amend the Appropriation Act No. 30 of 2021 which is scheduled to be presented to the parliament today (Aug 30) for the coming months of the fiscal year 2022.

The interim budget was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers this morning.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies, will deliver the interim budget speech or the second reading of the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill after the parliament convenes at 1.00 p.m.

The parliament is all set to convene at 1.00 p.m.

After the interim budget speech is delivered, the parliament will be adjourned for the day. The debate on the interim budget speech is scheduled for tomorrow (Aug 31) and the day after (Sep 01) from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

On September 02, the second reading of the interim budget speech will be debated from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., after which the Bill is slated to be passed after the committee stage and third reading.

The Appropriation Bill presented by the former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who was the Minister of Finance at the time, was passed in Parliament following a debate held on the Bill for the purpose of providing necessary service expenses and arrangements for the fiscal year 2022.

Thereby, the Appropriation Bill was endorsed and certified as an Act on December 10, 2021 and was herein called the Appropriation Act No. 30 of 2021.

After Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed the office of President, the parliament was prorogued on July 28, 2022 and the third session of the Ninth Parliament was declared open on August 03, 2022. While presenting his government’s policy statement, President Wickremesinghe stated that he would soon present a new budget.

As a result, this Appropriation Bill for the remainder of the 2022 fiscal year as a new government is presented to parliament as an amendment to the previously presented Appropriation Bill.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, presented the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill to amend the Appropriation Act No. 30 of 2021 to the Parliament for the first reading on August 09, 2022.

According to the previously presented Appropriation Bill, an amount of Rs. 2,796.4 billion was estimated for the 2022 fiscal year from January 01, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

However, as per the new amendment, for the year 2022, the amount allocated to bear the ministerial service expenses of the government, the estimated amount has been increased to Rs. 3,275.8 billion and accordingly the expenditure required for the ministerial service activities has increased by Rs. 479.4 billion.

For the financial year 2022, the credit amount obtained from within or outside of Sri Lanka will be increased from Rs. 3,200 billion to Rs. 4,082 billion. Accordingly, subject to the approval of the parliament, the borrowing limit of the government is increased by about Rs. 882 billion.

Meanwhile, the estimated expenditure of the government’s estimated cost or debt servicing cost authorized by law to be an expense to the Consolidated Fund has been given the space to be increased from Rs. 2,623 billion to Rs. 2,901.  

Given that the money under the Appropriation Act No. 30 of 2021 approved earlier for the fiscal year 2021 has not been spent for the programs specified under the specific headlines of the respective ministries, such money has also been authorized to be spent further under this amendment.

Accordingly, the estimated amount for the 2022 fiscal year presented under Appropriation Act No. 30 of 2021 is also revised for special expenditure units (expenditure for the offices of the Commission including the President) and the amount allocated to ministries.

Highest allocation is made to the Ministry of Public Administration & Local Government (Rs. 735 billion) while the lowest is made to the Ministry of Water Supply (Rs. 31 billion).

The Ministry of Finance & Economic Stabilization and the Ministry of Defence have been allotted, Rs. 467 billion and Rs. 376 billion, respectively.