Supplementary allocation for Rs. 7.9 b presented in House

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

A supplementary allocation of Rs.7.9 billion was presented to Parliament yesterday, keeping the House informed of the expenses incurred during 1 November to 29 December 2017, to provide for the expenditure incurred for including rehabilitation work in the Kegalle, Kalutara, Matara, Galle and Ratnapura districts due to natural disasters in May last year. 

Minister of Lands and Parliamentary Reforms and Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunatileka moved the paper on supplementary allocations from the Supplementary Support Services and Contingent Liabilities Project appearing under Expenditure Head No. 240 of the Department of National Budget under Section 6(1) of the Appropriation Act.

According to the supplementary allocation, a sum of Rs.1.08 billion has been provided for scholarships for students, including scholarships to students of state universities to enter into top universities around the world and Rs.0.55 billion allocated to pay Golden Key depositors as per the Cabinet decision dated 2 November 2016.

The supplementary allocations are being provided in terms of Clause 6 (1) of the Appropriation Act as required. These are provided strictly for the purposes specified in approved Budget estimates to relevant spending agencies having carried out a needs assessment, giving consideration to relevant financial regulations and approved procedures.

However, the supplementary provision presented yesterday did not change the approved total expenditure limits of the annual estimate by Parliament. The allocation of such purposes has been made under the Project of Budgetary Support Services and Contingent Liabilities of the Department of National Budget and it is under the limit of the Approved Annual Budget. Therefore, either the borrowing limit or the maximum limit of total expenditure will not be increased due to the granting of these supplementary provisions. The purpose of this provision is to facilitate the smooth conduct of public finance management in a more efficient and effective manner.