Appropriation Bill -2017 presented to Parliament

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake presented the Appropriation Bill -2017 to Parliament today.

Accordingly Government’s expenditure for 2017 will be over Rs 1,819 billion (Rs 1,819,544,000,000) while the  limit on borrowings for 2017 has been set at Rs 1,489 billion (Rs 1,489,205,436,000).

Defence Ministry Allocations for 2017 have taken a dip from the previous year, along with Allocations made to the Ministry of Education, while there has been an increase in the Allocations made to the Office of the President, from 2016.

The Defence Ministry allocation for 2017 is around Rs 284 billion, of which, around Rs 251 billion will go towards Recurrent Expenditure and around Rs 32.2 billion towards Capital Expenditure. In 2016, Defence allocation stood at more than Rs 306 billion, of which more than Rs 257.6 billion went towards Recurrent Expenditure, while Capital Expenditure was around Rs 48.9 billion.

Meanwhile, the allocation to the President’s Office which was Rs 2.3 billion in 2016 has risen to around Rs 7.4 billion for 2017. Of this amount, around Rs 1.9 billion will go towards Recurrent Expenditure, while the rest will be for Operational and Development activities under the President’s Office.

Allocation for the Ministry of Education saw a four-fold increase in 2016, amounting to around Rs 185.9 billion. However, for 2017, this amount will be down to Rs 78.9 billion.

 The Budget will be presented to the House on November 10, while the Budget debate will continue till December