News
Govt’s relief budget within IMF parameters
View(s):- Pay hike for public sector employees; recruitments only to fill essential vacancies; no new taxes coming
By Damith Wickremasekera
The National People’s Power Government’s maiden budget, which will be presented to Parliament tomorrow, will offer pay hikes to state sector workers and more government jobs but will be within the parameters identified under the International Monetary Fund’s programme, a senior Finance Ministry official said.
He said the budget’s details had been shared with the IMF in keeping with the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) requirements. The IMF has said approval for the third tranche of $333 million will be contingent upon, among other things, the “submission of the 2025 budget that is consistent with the parameters identified under the programme”
He said recruitments at the state sector would begin after the budget, but they would be only to fill essential vacancies and not a mass recruitment.
The official said that no new taxes would be introduced in the budget, but those in place would remain as the country continued with its economic recovery.
The much-anticipated revision of the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) threshold is also expected to be included in the budget.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also the Minister of Finance, will present his government’s first budget to Parliament tomorrow at 10.30 am. It will be the start of the month-long budget debate, which will conclude on March 21. The second and third readings of the Appropriation Bill will take place on Tuesday.
The vote on the second reading of the bill is scheduled to be held on February 25 at 6 p.m.
“It will be a people-friendly budget,” the office said.
The 2025 Appropriation Bill sets government expenditure at Rs. 4,616 billion, with the highest allocation of Rs. 713 billion going to the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development. Of this amount, Rs. 484 billion is for recurrent expenses and Rs. 229 billion for capital expenditure.
The Defence Ministry allocations remain high at Rs. 442 billion, of which Rs. 382 billion is for recurrent expenditure while Rs. 60 billion is for capital expenditure.
President Dissanayake is the 40th finance minister to present a budget to Parliament, the first being J.R. Jayewardene in 1947. This will be the 79th budget of the country.
Meanwhile, the President’s Office has instructed ministers and senior state sector officials not to undertake any official or personal foreign visits during the budget period, and where necessary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should facilitate required representation for special occasions through Sri Lankan missions abroad.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!