Govt. seeks Rs.73 b funding for unforeseen spending

The Government is seeking billions of rupees for extra spending on unforeseen COVID-19 public health care activities coupled with infrastructure development projects outside the budget, and has submitted supplementary estimates for parliamentary approval.

The urgent need of extra money for development projects has arisen due to the growing expenditure for mega infrastructure development projects and other construction activities including a cricket stadium, Finance Ministry sources said.

After getting parliamentary approval for Rs. 200 billion supplementary estimates on June 23 this year, for the control of the pandemic and other urgent needs, the government has presented another supplementary estimate of Rs. 73.21 billion this week for similar purposes, they said.

This will increase the extra spending outside the budget to Rs. 273 billion within a short period of two months further widening the 2021 projected budget deficit to 11.13 of GDP from 9.5 percent of GDP in June.

However the Treasury has made provisions to spend an extra Rs.131 billion in recurrent expenditure including due to the coronavirus and capital spending of Rs. 69 billion.

The earlier supplementary estimate of Rs. 200 billion, the highest such allocation passed in parliament in history, is being used to purchase COVID-19 vaccines and to provide relief to groups and economic sectors affected by the epidemic.

The proposed new supplementary estimate of Rs.73.21 billion will be spent for pandemic-related matters in all 24 districts. Also more funds amounting to Rs. 8.04 billion will be allocated for relief to fishermen and to settle the bills for the extension of the Southern Highway from Matara to Hambantoa through this supplementary estimate. A sum of Rs. 26 million is to be spent on the Sooriyawewa international cricket stadium.