Public Finance Committee to consider amendment to VoA for additional Rs. 367 b

Tuesday, 18 February 2020 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Additional funds to be drawn from Consolidated Fund and Supplementary Estimates
Amendment also seeks to raise limit on borrowings to over Rs. 1 trillion
VoA amendment will enable Government to raise loans within or outside Sri Lanka
PM will present resolution to House on Thursday

By Chandani Kirinde

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance will today consider the proposed amendment to the Vote on Account (VoA) to obtain an additional sum of Rs. 367 billion for Government expenses.

Prime Minister and Finance Minister

Mahinda Rajapaksa

The resolution on the amendment to the VoA also seeks to increase the limit on borrowings to Rs. 1,088 billion from the Rs. 721 billion which was approved by Parliament last October.

Parliament last year approved Rs. 757 billion for Government expenses from January to April but this amount will be raised to Rs. 1,124 billion through the resolution to be presented to Parliament on Thursday by Prime Minister and Finance, Economy and Policy Development Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The additional funds will be paid out of the Consolidated Fund under provisions for expenditure made by the Appropriation Act of 2019 and by Supplementary Estimates.

The increase in the limit on borrowing up to Rs. 1,088 billion will enable the Government to raise loans within or outside Sri Lanka. The details of the loan are to be incorporated in the Final Budget Position Report which is required to be tabled in Parliament under Section 13 of the Fiscal Management (Responsibility) Act No. 3 of 2003.

A bulk of the money will go towards settling outstanding payments to contractors and suppliers of Government projects undertaken by the previous Government while money will also be allocated to various ministries and departments mainly for recurrent expenditure.

The debate on the amended VoA will take place on Thursday from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Public Finance Committee headed by TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran which meets tomorrow will also discuss the observations made by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in relation to the Forensic Audit Reports on the issuance of Treasury bonds.

CBSL officials have been summoned before the committee today to discuss their observations on the forensic reports.