Appropriation Bill 2016:

President’s Office gets Rs 9.6 b less

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Appropriation Bill 2016 has slashed financial provisions for the office of the incumbent president by a whopping Rs. 9.6 billion, allocating a mere Rs. 2.3 billion as compared to the Rs 11.9 billion allocated to the same office by the UPFA Government last year. The estimated expenditure for the President’s office for 2016 is Rs 2.3 billion

(Rs. 2,392,075,000) which is less than Rs. 9.6 billion allocated to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office in the 2015 Budget.

According to the Appropriation Bill 2016 presented to Parliament by the Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella, on Friday (October 23) , the government’s estimated expenditure for the next year is Rs. 1,941 billion ( Rs.1,941,450,438,000) with the lion’s share of Rs. 306 billion (Rs. 306,657, 824, 000) being allocated for the Ministry of Defence. The Appropriation Bill 2016 will be the first full budget of the National Unity Government, as it had previously presented an interim budget on January 29 under its 100 Day Program. The 2016 Budget will be delivered by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake on November 20.

The debate on the second reading of the budget will last for 12 allotted days from November 21 and the vote on the second reading will be taken on December 5. The Committee Stage Debate will continue for 12 days from December 7 and the third reading vote will be taken on December 19.Of the government’s total expenditure for 2016, Rs. 1,314 billion will be recurrent expenditure and Rs. 626 billion will be capital expenditure.

The estimated allocation for the Ministry of Education for 2016 is Rs.185.9 billion (Rs.185,976,030,000), which is a fourfold increase compared to the UPFA Government’s allocation of Rs. 47.6 billion in the 2015 Budget. Large allocations have been made for the Ministries of Local Government and Provincial Councils (Rs. 237 billion), University Education and Highways (Rs. 171 billion) Public Administration and Management (Rs. 156 billion), Finance and Planning (Rs.107 billion) and Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine (Rs. 174 billion).