Govt. to present revised Budget next month

Wednesday, 27 July 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena yesterday confirmed that the Government will present the revised Budget next month for the remainder of the year.

“The alterations to the numbers relating to the ministries have now been completed. The revised budget proposal will be presented for the remaining months of this year in August,” he said in response to a query posed at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday.

Earlier this month, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led Cabinet of Ministers approved to present a bill to Parliament to amend Appropriation Act No. 30 of 2021 for the year 2022, to revise the original Budget estimates for the rest of the months, as a result of the ongoing worst economic crisis.

The proposal to this effect was submitted by then Prime Minister and current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies Minister.

As per the original budget estimates, the revenue was expected at Rs. 2.3 trillion and the expenditure at Rs. 3.3 trillion.

However, given the worsening economic conditions, the Finance Ministry estimates the actual revenue to fall to Rs.1.6 trillion and expenditure to increase to Rs. 4 trillion, causing an additional budget deficit of Rs. 0.8 trillion.

Experts claimed that sharp tax cuts introduced by former President Rajapaksa Government in 2019 were responsible for the fiscal policy mismanagement.

At present, the authorities are trying to take a U-turn and get back to the same tax framework which existed before December 2019.