A mammoth Rs. 202.2* billion will be allocated for the Ministry of Defence this year, according to the Appropriation Bill for 2010.
Compared to last year’s allocation of Rs. 176.1 billion, this year’s will see an increase of Rs. 26.1 billion for the ministry. As has been the case over the last few years, this year too the Ministry of Defence is set to get a major portion of the Government’s budget allocations.
Coming in at second place in terms of spending is the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils which will be allocated a sum of Rs. 113.3 billion, up by Rs. 2.8 billion from last year’s Rs. 110.5 billion. However, this is a significant reduction from the amount allocated to the ministry in 2008 – Rs. 114.7 billion.
The Ministry of Public Administration Affairs headed by Minister John Seneviratne will receive Rs. 95.5 billion this year, a relatively minor increase from last years Rs. 88.8 billion.
A total of Rs. 83.5 billion will be received by the Ministry of Highways this year – a steady rise from last year’s Rs. 77.1 billion which was, in turn, a sharp increase from the Rs. 52 billion of 2008.
The Ministry of Finance and Planning will be allocated Rs. 63.5 billion, which brings it to fifth place on the spending scale, down from third place last year that saw an allocation of Rs. 68.3 billion for the ministry. This is a continuation of the downward curve of the allocations for the ministry that received Rs. 99.9 billion in 2008.
The newly introduced Ministry of Economic Development, an umbrella ministry covering various aspects of development headed by Minister and Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa, will receive a sum of Rs. 60.8 billion for 2010.
The Ministries of Health, Education, Higher Education and Transport will be allocated Rs. 53.1 billion, Rs. 27.5 billion, Rs. 20.1 billion and Rs. 35.1 billion, respectively. For the Health Ministry, this is a reduction of Rs. 5.5 billion from last year’s Rs. 58.6 billion.
The Ministry of Disaster Management will be allocated Rs. 1.3 billion this year. Last year it received Rs. 2 billion from the Government.
Rs. 26.3 billion and Rs. 96.9 million will be received by the Ministry of Power and Energy and the Ministry of Petroleum Industries, respectively.
Rs. 37.9 billion will be allocated for the Ministry of Agriculture – a decrease of Rs. 5.2 billion from last year.
The Foreign Ministry, now referred to as the Ministry of External Affairs will be allocated Rs. 6.5 billion, a nearly Rs. 1 billion increase from last year’s Rs. 5.6 billion.
A sum of Rs. 3.1 billion will be allocated for the Ministry of Resettlement and Rs. 7.6 billion will be allocated for the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
The Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs which comes under the purview of Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne will receive Rs. 1.2 billion this year.
*Figures have been rounded off to one decimal place. |
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